# Defence Before Fix (DBF)

> A phase that runs before a defect is fixed: the instance is treated as evidence of a class, and the defence that detects the class is built and seen to fire before the fix is made.

DBF is a method by Joseph Edmonds of Edmonds Commerce, first published 22 February 2026. Method specification 1.0.1, detector specification 1.0.0 and toolchain specification 0.2.0, published 8 September 2026, under CC BY 4.0. The method specification is the source of truth; where anything else disagrees with it, the specification is correct.

## Start here if you are an agent

- [Project prompt](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/defence-before-fix-project-prompt.md): the method in the form to follow when you find a defect, generated from the specification's Appendix A.

## Documents, raw markdown

- [Defence Before Fix: Method Specification](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/raw/SPEC.md): Method specification 1.0.1, the normative document: what a practitioner does when a defect is found, in six numbered clauses with the reasoning for each, conformance for a remediation, a rule and a toolchain, and how the method operates under AI-assisted development.
- [Defence Before Fix: Detector Specification](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/raw/DETECTOR-SPEC.md): Detector specification 1.0.0, addressed to anyone who maintains a linter or static analyser: what a tool that reads code must offer so that a practitioner can write, prove, run and resolve a rule in it, and how conformance is graded on evidence.
- [Defence Before Fix: Toolchain Specification](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/raw/TOOLING-SPEC.md): Toolchain specification 0.2.0: what a project's assembled tooling must offer beyond its detectors, measured at the project level, from listing and the project record to self-audit, and the two conformance levels for a project that ships tooling.
- [Defence Before Fix: Primer](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/raw/PRIMER.md): The short introduction, written at reading pace: why the bug you have just found is evidence worth keeping, and why the net is built before the catch is landed.
- [Defence Before Fix: Provenance](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/raw/PROVENANCE.md): Who coined the term, when it was first published, and what is and is not being claimed for it.
- [Defence Before Fix: Changelog](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/raw/CHANGELOG.md): Changes to each document, versioned independently, so that a toolchain clause can be added without reissuing the method.

## Rendered pages

- [Defence Before Fix](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/): The home page: the definition, the six clauses, the documents, the tools that implement the method and the article in which it was first published.
- [Defence Before Fix: Method Specification](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/SPEC.html): Method specification 1.0.1, the normative document: what a practitioner does when a defect is found, in six numbered clauses with the reasoning for each, conformance for a remediation, a rule and a toolchain, and how the method operates under AI-assisted development.
- [Defence Before Fix: Detector Specification](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/DETECTOR-SPEC.html): Detector specification 1.0.0, addressed to anyone who maintains a linter or static analyser: what a tool that reads code must offer so that a practitioner can write, prove, run and resolve a rule in it, and how conformance is graded on evidence.
- [Defence Before Fix: Toolchain Specification](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/TOOLING-SPEC.html): Toolchain specification 0.2.0: what a project's assembled tooling must offer beyond its detectors, measured at the project level, from listing and the project record to self-audit, and the two conformance levels for a project that ships tooling.
- [Defence Before Fix: Primer](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/PRIMER.html): The short introduction, written at reading pace: why the bug you have just found is evidence worth keeping, and why the net is built before the catch is landed.
- [Defence Before Fix: Tools Register](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/tools/): A register of QA tools grouped by language, each graded for readiness and for conformance, with a page per tool saying how it is and is not conformant, clause by clause.
- [Defence Before Fix: Provenance](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/PROVENANCE.html): Who coined the term, when it was first published, and what is and is not being claimed for it.
- [Defence Before Fix: Changelog](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/CHANGELOG.html): Changes to each document, versioned independently, so that a toolchain clause can be added without reissuing the method.
- [Defence Before Fix: Project Prompt for Agents](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/defence-before-fix-project-prompt.md): Raw markdown, generated from the specification's Appendix A: the method in the form an agent follows when it finds a defect, where the raw documents are, what to expect from a conforming toolchain, and how a project declares the version it follows.

## Optional

- [Everything in one file](https://defence-before-fix.github.io/llms-full.txt)
- [Source repository](https://github.com/Defence-Before-Fix/defence-before-fix.github.io)
- [Original article](https://ltscommerce.dev/articles/defence-before-fix-static-analysis): where the term was first published, on 22 February 2026.