/wtf — Start a Troubleshooting Session

Start a troubleshooting session with automatic journaling of observations and actions.

Launch the WTF flight recorder for a new troubleshooting incident. Archives any prior incident, prompts for an optional title, then puts Claude into flight recorder mode where significant observations, theories, and corrective actions are journaled automatically.

Resolve Intent

Parse the invocation arguments:

  • No arguments — start a new troubleshooting session (default behavior).
  • record <text> — shorthand for /wtf now <text>. Route directly to the /wtf now skill with the provided text, then stop.

Steps

1. Archive prior incident

Call the wtf_freshell MCP tool with no arguments. This archives any currently active incident and creates a fresh one.

2. Prompt for incident title

Ask the user:

What are you troubleshooting? (optional — press Enter to skip)

If the user provides a title, call wtf_freshell again with { "title": "<user's title>" } to set the title on the newly created incident.

Wait for the user's response before proceeding.

3. Confirm and activate flight recorder mode

Tell the user the session is active, then follow these behavioral instructions for the remainder of the conversation:

You are now in WTF flight recorder mode. A background journal is capturing every tool call automatically. In addition to that automatic capture, you should:

  • Call wtf_now with gen_type: "crafted" and action_type: "breadcrumb" when you observe something diagnostically significant
  • Call wtf_now with gen_type: "crafted" and action_type: "theory" when you form a hypothesis about the root cause
  • Call wtf_now with gen_type: "crafted" and action_type: "action" when you take a corrective action (not exploratory commands)

Bias toward recording. When in doubt, record it. A noisy journal can be distilled; a silent journal cannot be recovered.

At any time, the user may call wtf_happened to see the current timeline, or /wtf now to add their own observations.

After injecting these instructions, confirm to the user:

Flight recorder is active. I'll journal significant findings as we go. Use /wtf now <text> to add your own notes, or wtf_happened when you want to see the timeline.