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

The anti-AI. Every other tool gives you answers. Nietzschian Debugger confronts you with questions.

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

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.

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

Published release (npm, v0.1.0)

npx nietzschian-debugger

Current source (Python 3.10+)

pip install git+https://github.com/DilawarShafiq/nietzschian-debugger.git nietzschian debug "your bug"

Requirements:

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

Level Style Best For

socrates Warm, guiding, scaffolded questions Juniors, learning fundamentals

nietzsche Direct, confrontational, no hand-holding Daily debugging (default)

zarathustra Brutal, adversarial, hostile to weak reasoning Seniors who want real pain

How a Session Looks

Nietzschian Debugger v0.1.0 — intensity: nietzsche

You: My login endpoint returns 403 for some users

Nietzschian: You say "some users." That's vague. What separates the ones who fail from the ones who don't?

You: I'm not sure, it seems random

Nietzschian: "Random" is the word we use when we haven't looked hard enough. What do the server logs say for the 403 responses? Go look. I'll wait.

You: Let me check... oh, they all have expired JWT tokens

Nietzschian: Now we're getting somewhere. Why would some users have expired tokens while others don't? What changed recently in your auth system?

You: ... oh. We changed the token TTL last week and didn't invalidate existing sessions.

Nietzschian: There it is. You didn't need me to tell you — you needed to be forced to look.

Session Complete — 4 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

Command Effect

solved or found it End session — you found the root cause

I give up Get one lifeline question, then exit

exit or quit Abandon session immediately

Ctrl+C / Ctrl+D Force quit

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

Traditional AI Nietzschian Debugger

"Here's the fix" "What have you tried?"

Makes you dependent Makes you dangerous

You learn nothing You learn everything

Fast but shallow Painful but permanent

AI gets smarter YOU get smarter

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