Nietzschian Debugger

"What doesn't kill your code makes it stronger."

It won't fix your bug. It'll fix you. Every other tool hands you the answer; Nietzschian Debugger hands the question back.

You paste your bug. It doesn't fix it. Instead, it:

• Challenges your assumptions about what's happening
• Forces you to confront the evidence you're avoiding
• Tears apart your weak reasoning until only truth remains
• Guides you to the "aha!" moment — YOUR moment, not the AI's

Why?

AI is making developers weaker. Copy-paste from ChatGPT, ship, repeat. Nobody understands their own code anymore. Nietzschian Debugger forges stronger developers — through struggle, not shortcuts.

This isn't anti-AI — it runs on Claude, on purpose. It's anti-outsourcing-your-thinking. Every other tool uses the model to hand you the answer; this one uses it to hand the question back.

"He who has a why to debug can bear almost any how."

Installation

# Python 3.10+
pip install nietzschian-debugger
nietzschian debug "your bug"

Note: the current tool is the Python package above. The old npx nietzschian-debugger serves a stale pre-rewrite build — it has been deprecated in favour of the pip install.

Requirements:

• Python >= 3.10
• An Anthropic API key (BYOK — bring your own key)

Setup

Set your Anthropic API key:

# Linux / macOS
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-ant-..."

# Windows (CMD)
set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Quick Start

# Start a debugging session (default: nietzsche intensity)
nietzschian debug "My API returns 500 but only on Tuesdays"

# Gentle mode — for when you need guidance, not punishment
nietzschian debug --intensity socrates "My login endpoint fails randomly"

# Maximum intensity — for seniors who want pain
nietzschian debug --intensity zarathustra "Memory leak in production"

# Point it at specific code
nietzschian debug "Auth fails in ./src/middleware/auth.ts"

Three Intensity Levels

How a Session Looks

$ nietzschian debug "login endpoint returns 403, but only for users who signed up before last week; new signups work; same code path; Node/Express"

Nietzschian Debugger [Nietzsche mode]


[Turn 1]
You said "same code path" — but the data is screaming that something
changed between last week and today.

What is different about the user record itself between those who signed
up before last week and those who signed up after?

> I assumed the records were identical. Let me actually compare one.

[Turn 2]
"Assumed." There is the word you built a week of debugging on. Stop
assuming and read two rows side by side.

What field exists on an old account that a new signup was never given?

> ...the old ones carry a legacy role claim the new ones don't, and the
  auth middleware rejects any token without it.

[Turn 3]
There it is. The bug was never in the code — it was in your certainty
that "same code path" meant "same data." You stopped looking exactly
where the difference lived.

> found it

Session Complete -- 3 questions to root cause (Solved)

Your Debugging Profile:
┣ Assumption-checking    ████████░░  strong
┣ Evidence-gathering     ██████░░░░  moderate
┗ Root cause speed       ████████░░  strong

"Man is something that shall be overcome."
 -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Session Commands

Features

• Never Gives Answers — Every response is a question. The tool will NEVER tell you the fix.
• Real Code Reading — Reference a file path and it reads YOUR actual code, not generic examples.
• Contextual Philosophy — Nietzsche when you're avoiding, Seneca when overwhelmed, Sun Tzu when you need strategy.
• Growth Score — Track your debugging skills across sessions with visual bar charts.
• Session History — All sessions saved locally in .nietzschian/sessions/ for trend tracking.
• Sliding Context — Long sessions don't crash; older turns are transparently summarized.

The Philosophy

Who Is This For?

• Junior developers who want to actually learn, not just copy-paste
• Senior developers who miss the struggle that made them good
• Engineering managers who want their team thinking, not just prompting
• Bootcamp students building real debugging intuition
• Anyone who believes the best developer is a self-reliant one

Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/DilawarShafiq/nietzschian-debugger.git
cd nietzschian-debugger
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests (121 tests)
pytest

# Run the CLI locally
nietzschian debug "test problem"

Tech Stack

• Python >= 3.10
• Claude API via the Anthropic SDK
• Click for the CLI, Rich for the terminal UI
• pytest for testing

License

MIT