---
name: "trace-support-issue-read-only-method"
description: "Use when you need to Trace a customer-reported problem through your code in read-only mode. Open every related repo, switch the assistant to read-only mode, trace back from the exact symptom, then classify the cause"
---

# Open every related repo, switch the assistant to read-only mode, trace back from the exact symptom, then classify the cause

Job: [Trace a customer-reported problem through your code in read-only mode](https://aiagents.org/canai/trace-support-issue-read-only)

## Need

- ai agent

## Steps

1. Open all repos that could plausibly touch the symptom in one multi-root workspace (frontend, backend, docs).
2. Switch to a read-only or ask mode.
3. Prompt: "A customer reports: [exact symptom, for example 'this button is disabled']. Trace backward from this UI/behavior through the code and docs. List the conditions that produce it, with file references, and say which repo each comes from."
4. After you know the cause, decide whether it is expected behavior, a bug or a docs gap.
5. Use it when you support a product and can open its code and docs. Read-only mode keeps the assistant from changing anything while it investigates.
6. Note: Steps from OpenTacit's technique page, credited to Kody Fisher and Zach Hudson (CC BY 4.0).

## Credit

Method author OpenTacit (Kody Fisher, Zach Hudson; CC BY 4.0)
Source: https://opentacit.com/t/start-a-support-investigation-read-only-from-the-symptom/