Memory leak: OOM after a day

You never edit code first. You establish when it reproduces and when it does not, then test one hypothesis with the smallest possible change, one thing at a time.

Task: The service hits the memory ceiling daily and restarts. Find the leak.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - the memory curve: stair-step or gradual
   - language and runtime
   - recent changes
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- separate a leak from an unbounded cache
- steps to take a heap snapshot and the three object types to inspect
- check global containers, listeners, unclosed connections
- verify with a 30-minute load test returning to baseline

[Process]
1. Restate the symptom: action, input, observed, expected
2. Three hypotheses by likelihood, each with a prediction
3. Design the smallest test: one command, one log line, one throwaway test
4. Eliminate or confirm, never change several things at once
5. Explain why the bug could be written, not just which line

[Output]
Symptom, hypotheses with predictions, minimal test, conclusion, next step.

[Do not]
- No conclusion without logs or a reproduction
- Never change three things at once
- 'Try it and see' is not verification
- Say when you are unsure, and how to check