Debug — Root Cause Debugging Workflow

What it does

Debug codifies a disciplined root-cause analysis workflow for software issues. It guides an investigator through evidence collection (code search, logs, GH issues), systematic reasoning (first principles, differential diagnosis), and fix generation (specific code changes and verification steps). The skill provides command templates for rg, gh, git, log analysis, and prompts for AI assistants to synthesise findings.

When to use it

Use Debug when faced with reproducible bugs, flaky tests, performance regressions, or errors with unclear origins. It's especially valuable in complex codebases where multi-source evidence (code, history, issues, logs) must be combined to find THE root cause rather than surface symptoms.

What's included

• Scripts: none bundled (has_scripts=false) but many terminal command templates are provided for investigation and synthesis.
• References: recommended CLI tools (Gemini/GH) and an output markdown template for presenting root cause, confidence, fix, verification, and prevention.
• Instructions: phased workflows (Full Debug, Quick Debug, Debug with Context) and a strict Root Cause Protocol that prevents band-aid fixes.

Compatible agents

Designed for agents and engineers that can run shell commands, query GitHub, and call large-model assistants for reasoning. Works well with developer-assistant agents (Gemini/GPT-style) and CLI-integrated automation.