The Try Check Pattern: Debugging Code That Won't Update

Category: Debugging / Development Practices
Difficulty: Beginner
Tags: debugging, caching, best-practices, development

The Universal Problem

You've updated your code. You've restarted your server. You've cleared caches. You've tried different browsers, different terminals, even rebooted your machine.

But the old code keeps running.

This happens everywhere:

The Try Check Pattern: Universal Solution

Instead of guessing whether your changes are deployed, make it observable.

The Pattern

Add a version marker to your code that changes with every update:

// Frontend (JavaScript)
console.log('🔍 Try Check: v3.0');

// Backend API (any language)
{
  "try_check": "v3.0",
  "data": { ... }
}

The rule: Increment the version every time you make a change.

If you see the old try check value → You're fighting a cache, not a code problem
If you see the new try check value → Your code is executing, debug the logic

Real-World Example

We spent 2+ hours debugging a Kanban feature. Our code had extensive debugging but kept returning the old response. Once we added a try check and saw it was missing, we knew immediately it was a caching issue, not a code problem. This saved hours of debugging in the wrong direction.

Implementation Examples

Works across all languages and frameworks - Python, Node.js, PHP, Go, Ruby, Java. Add try checks to API responses, console logs, database queries, HTML comments, or log files.

Common Caching Layers

The One-Line Summary

If you can't see your changes, add a try check. Old value = caching. New value = your code works.