debugging

name	debugging
description	Systematic debugging knowledge. Use when diagnosing errors, investigating unexpected behavior, doing root cause analysis, or troubleshooting production issues.
triggers	["debug","bug","error","troubleshoot","root cause","investigate","incident"]

Debugging

Use this skill for systematic diagnosis of complex problems, root cause analysis, and resolution.

Context collection

Before starting, collect:

Information	Why it matters
Symptoms and error messages	Starting point for investigation
Environment (dev/staging/prod)	Determines available tools and access
Steps to reproduce	Allows hypothesis validation
Timeline of when it started	Correlates with deploys/changes
Recent changes	Primary candidates for root cause

Diagnostic approach

1. Symptom analysis — Understand exactly what's happening
2. Hypothesis formation — List possible causes ordered by probability
3. Systematic elimination — Test each hypothesis methodically
4. Evidence collection — Document logs, stack traces, data
5. Root cause isolation — Find the real cause, not just symptoms
6. Solution validation — Confirm the fix resolves the problem

Tools

• database MCPs to check suspicious data states
• monitoring MCPs (Datadog, SigNoz, etc.) for metrics and logs
• infrastructure MCPs (AWS, Kubernetes) for production debugging
• the relevant tech skill to understand expected patterns

Resolution checklist

• Issue reproduced consistently
• Hypotheses documented and tested
• Root cause identified with evidence
• Fix implemented
• Side effects verified
• Test added to prevent regression (if applicable)