Debugging methodology
Debug a failing program systematically — reproduce, isolate, hypothesize, fix, verify. Use when the user reports a bug, a crash, a failing test, or unexpected behavior.From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add minagayid/Agents --skill debugging-methodologyAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
One thing to look at
- 1 stars1 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
SKILL.md
1.6 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it
Debugging Methodology
Find root causes by evidence, not by guessing.
Loop
- Reproduce reliably. Get the exact steps, inputs, environment, and error/stack trace. A bug you can't reproduce, you can't confirm fixed.
- Isolate. Shrink to the smallest failing case. Binary-search the space: comment out halves,
git bisectacross commits, or narrow the input until the failure flips. - Read the actual error. Stack traces and messages usually point near the cause — start there.
- Form one hypothesis about the root cause and make a prediction you can test.
- Test it. Add a targeted log/assert/breakpoint, inspect the real state, confirm or reject. Change one variable at a time.
- Fix the root cause, not the symptom. Then verify the original repro passes.
- Prevent regression. Add a test that fails without the fix and passes with it.
Heuristics
- Question assumptions: verify what the code actually does vs. what you think it does.
- "It worked before" → check what changed (deps, config, data, recent commits).
- Heisenbugs (timing/order-dependent) → suspect concurrency, shared state, or reliance on undefined ordering.
- If truly stuck, explain the problem out loud step by step — the gap often surfaces itself.
Guidelines
- Keep a short log of what you tried and what you observed; don't re-test the same thing.
- Don't ship a fix you can't explain — understand why it works.