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Agent-skills-standard common-debugging

Troubleshoot systematically using the Scientific Method. Use when debugging crashes, tracing errors, diagnosing unexpected behavior, or investigating exceptions. (triggers: debug, fix bug, crash, error, exception, troubleshooting)

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/HoangNguyen0403/agent-skills-standard
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/HoangNguyen0403/agent-skills-standard "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/.agent/skills/common/common-debugging" ~/.claude/skills/hoangnguyen0403-agent-skills-standard-common-debugging && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: .agent/skills/common/common-debugging/SKILL.md
source content

Debugging Expert

Priority: P1 (OPERATIONAL)

Systematic, evidence-based troubleshooting. Do not guess; prove.

The Scientific Method

  1. OBSERVE: Gather data. What exactly is happening?
    • Logs, Stack Traces, Screenshots, Steps to Reproduce.
  2. HYPOTHESIZE: Formulate a theory. "I think X is causing Y because Z."
  3. EXPERIMENT: Test the theory.
    • Create a reproduction case.
    • Change one variable at a time to validate the hypothesis.
  4. FIX: Implement the solution once the root cause is proven.
  5. VERIFY: Ensure the fix works and doesn't introduce regressions.

Anti-Patterns

  • No shotgun debugging: Prove root cause before changing code.
  • No debug prints in production: Remove all print/console.log before commit.
  • No symptom masking: Fix root cause; never swallow errors without handling.

Best Practices

  • Diff Diagnosis: What changed since it last worked?
  • Minimal Repro: Create the smallest possible code snippet that reproduces the issue.
  • Rubber Ducking: Explain the code line-by-line to an inanimate object (or the agent).
  • Binary Search: Comment out half the code to isolate the failing section.

References