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General approach

Start from the innermost layer (core/database) and work outward to HTTP. Don’t debug through the full stack when you can isolate the issue.

1. Check logs

tail -100 logs/app.log | grep -A 10 "ERROR"

Errors are logged with stack traces. Look for the first non-Boundary frame in the trace.

2. Add temporary logging

;; Output appears in REPL/server stdout, not log files
(println "DEBUG:" {:field value :other other-value})

Remove all println statements before committing.

3. Test via REPL

Bypass the HTTP layer and call services directly:

(def user-svc (get integrant.repl.state/system :boundary/user-service))
(ports/find-user-by-email user-svc "alice@example.com")

4. Inspect HTTP requests

Add temporary logging in handlers:

(println "DEBUG request:"
         {:method  (:request-method request)
          :params  (:params request)
          :headers (select-keys (:headers request) ["hx-request" "authorization"])})

5. Query the database directly

(def ds (get-in integrant.repl.state/system [:boundary/db-context :datasource]))
(require '[next.jdbc :as jdbc])
(jdbc/execute! ds ["SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ?" "alice@example.com"])

Common problems and solutions

nil where a field value is expected

Cause: snake_case / kebab-case mismatch.

Check: is the field :password_hash (snake) where the code expects :password-hash (kebab)?

Fix: always use cc/snake-case→kebab-case-map at the persistence boundary.

reset didn’t pick up changes

Cause: You changed a defrecord.

Fix:

(halt)
(go)

HTTP 500 with "Exception reached HTTP boundary without :type in ex-data"

Cause: An ex-info without :type, or an unwrapped Java exception.

Fix: wrap in try-catch with a typed error:

(try
  (UUID/fromString id-string)
  (catch IllegalArgumentException _
    (throw (ex-info "Invalid UUID" {:type :validation-error :value id-string}))))

SQL error: unknown column name

Cause: Schema and database migration are out of sync.

Fix: check that the field exists in both schema.clj, the migration SQL, and shell/persistence.clj.

Tests fail with unbalanced parentheses

Fix:

clj-paren-repair <file-with-issue>

Auth tests fail with "JWT secret not found"

Fix:

JWT_SECRET="dev-secret-32-chars-minimum" clojure -M:test:db/h2 :user