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salmandevsalmandev/everything-gemini/skills/root-cause-debugger/SKILL.md

root-cause-debugger

Skill2 starsChanged 28 days agoApache-2.0View on GitHub

Systematically diagnoses complex regressions, silent data corruptions, race conditions, and elusive bugs using binary search (git bisect), log analysis, and reproduction harnesses.

3 other projects use a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

4 rules. 0 are common, 4 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 3 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 4

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Never start guessing fixes without an automated test or minimal script that reliably triggers the failure.

    line 14
  2. Distinctive:

    Add targeted debug statements or breakpoints to confirm or falsify each hypothesis sequentially.

    line 19
  3. Distinctive:

    If the bug is a regression that didn't exist in an earlier commit:

    line 22
  4. Distinctive:

    Commit an automated test that explicitly verifies the regression never recurs.

    line 35

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 3 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Root Cause Debugger

This skill provides an evidence-based debugging procedure to eliminate guessing and find root causes rapidly.

5-Step Debugging Protocol

1. Build a Minimal Reproducer (MRE)

  • Never start guessing fixes without an automated test or minimal script that reliably triggers the failure.
  • Strip away unrelated modules until only the failing component remains.

2. Formulate & Test Hypotheses

  • List the top 2-3 plausible hypotheses for why the failure occurs.
  • Add targeted debug statements or breakpoints to confirm or falsify each hypothesis sequentially.

3. Binary Search History with git bisect

If the bug is a regression that didn't exist in an earlier commit:

git bisect start
git bisect bad HEAD
git bisect good <known-good-commit>
git bisect run ./test-runner.sh

This isolates the exact offending commit in $O(\log n)$ steps.

4. Implement Minimal Surgical Fix

  • Resolve the root cause directly at its source. Avoid superficial patches that merely silence error messages.

5. Add Regression Shield Test

  • Commit an automated test that explicitly verifies the regression never recurs.

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