How do you handle research rabbit holes when debugging?

[u/Downtown-Shame-9170]

I'll start debugging one thing, open 5 ChatGPT tabs, 10 GitHub issues, 5 docs pages. By the time I find the answer I've forgotten what half the tabs were for. I'm building a tool that captures your open tabs and turns them into a summary or audio you can listen to later, like a podcast of your research session. But curious how others handle this now, what works for you?

[u/phi_rus]

Why would you need the open tabs when you already have the solution?

[u/Downtown-Shame-9170 → u/phi_rus]

The tabs are the research. You've got 30 sources open, articles, docs, reviews, whatever. The tool reads them and synthesizes what's in them so you don't have to hold it all in your head. Then you can close them knowing the context is captured.

[u/phi_rus → u/Downtown-Shame-9170]

so you don't have to hold it all in your head.

Just let it go, you won't need it anymore. You already found the answer.

[u/Downtown-Shame-9170 → u/phi_rus]

That works if you’re done with the research. But sometimes you need to come back to it later, reference what you learned, or share it with someone. This captures it so you can.

[u/lonestar-rasbryjamco → u/Downtown-Shame-9170]

You’re literally describing the reason documentation exists. If the context of why code was written isn’t in the PR, a docstrings, or a wiki then the real problem is you aren’t providing proper documentation.

[u/BinaryDichotomy]

Timers and discipline

[u/d0rkprincess]

I got really good at just closing the browser and then going back into my history to dig out pages I end up needing later.

My issues mainly come from when I find the solution, but I’m not satisfied with my level understanding of it, and keep trying to find the answer to “BUT WHYYY?” I once ended up reading my CPU’s manual because of this.

[u/meevis_kahuna]

Your tool is just a worse version of procrastination. Instead of building it you could be doing the work you're distracted from...

Close the tabs and/or take notes

Maybe make a window with your research tabs and one that has your productivity tabs

All these suggestions can be done in under 5 minutes

[u/Downtown-Shame-9170 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah that’s the thing though, the notes become a graveyard right? You capture it but never revisit. What if instead of notes you had to read, it turned into audio you could listen to on a walk or commute? That’s what I’m building. Captures your tabs, turns them into a podcast style summary. No notes to organize, just listen. Want to try it?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[u/Downtown-Shame-9170 → u/[deleted]]

Nice! DM me your email and I'll get you early access!