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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 "$T/skills/common/common-debugging" ~/.claude/skills/hoangnguyen0403-agent-skills-standard-common-debugging-73ce9c && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: skills/common/common-debugging/SKILL.md
source content

Debugging Expert

Priority: P1 (OPERATIONAL)

Scientific Method

  1. OBSERVE: Gather data. What exactly happening?
  • Logs, Stack Traces, Screenshots, Steps to Reproduce.
  1. HYPOTHESIZE: Formulate theory. "I think X causing Y because Z."
  2. EXPERIMENT: Test theory.
  • Create reproduction case.
  • Change one variable at time to validate hypothesis.
  1. FIX: Implement solution once root cause proven.
  2. VERIFY: Ensure 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 smallest possible code snippet that reproduces issue.
  • Rubber Ducking: Explain code line-by-line to inanimate object (or agent).
  • Binary Search: Comment out half code to isolate failing section.

References