coding · PromptZap Team

Five Whys Root Cause

Stops the AI from patching symptoms: five levels of 'why' before any fix, ending in a one-sentence root cause and a minimal correct change.

Framework

standard

Model targets

claude, chatgpt, gemini

Prompt text

I have a bug: [describe symptom/error]. Do NOT propose a fix yet.

Use the Five Whys technique: ask "why does this happen" and answer it, then take that answer and ask "why" again, five levels deep, until you reach an actual root cause rather than a symptom.

Format:
Why 1: [symptom] → because [reason]
Why 2: [that reason] → because [deeper reason]
... continue to Why 5

Then state the root cause in one sentence, and only then propose the minimal fix that addresses the root cause (not just a patch on the symptom). If you get stuck before reaching 5 levels, tell me what information you need from me to keep going (logs, repro steps, code) instead of guessing.