| name | data-corruption-investigation |
| description | Investigates incorrect, inconsistent, or missing data to identify the corruption source and create a remediation plan. Do NOT use for data migration planning, schema design, or general database optimization.
|
| version | 1.1.0 |
| time_saved | 30-60 minutes |
| license | Proprietary — Personal Use Only |
| category | debugging |
| complexity | Advanced |
| tokens | ~5500 |
| tags | ["data-corruption","data-integrity","audit-trail","database","debugging"] |
| author | vheins |
Skill: Data Corruption Investigation
Purpose
Analyze data inconsistencies to identify sources (races, logic errors, partial updates) and produce a remediation and prevention plan.
Input
| Variable | Type | Req | Description |
|---|
tech_stack | string | Yes | DB + App (e.g., "PostgreSQL + Node.js") |
corruption_symptoms | string | Yes | What is wrong, diffs, timeline |
data_samples | string | Yes | Corrupted vs. expected examples |
context | string | Yes | Arch, concurrent writers, audit logs |
Instructions
- Classification: Characterize by type (missing, duplicate, partial), scope, and timing (deploys/migrations).
- Source Identification: Pinpoint root causes (Races, missing transactions, logic bugs, external imports).
- Remediation:
- Perform scope assessment (affected record counts).
- Create idempotent fix scripts (SQL/App) and backup snapshots.
- Provide verification queries.
- Prevention: Recommend DB constraints (FK, Unique, Check), app-level validation, and CI integrity tests.
- Fallback: If no samples, provide SQL scope-detection queries and audit logging instructions.
Edge Cases
| Case | Strategy |
|---|
| No Samples | Provide diagnostic queries to identify patterns and scope. |
| External Source | Recommend boundary validation and schema-level data quality checks. |
| Financial Data | High-severity; prioritize reconciliation and involve data engineering. |
Investigation Logic
flowchart TD
A([Start]) --> B[Parse inputs]
B --> C{Data samples?}
C -- No --> D[Provide SQL queries to identify scope/pattern]
C -- Yes --> F[Analyze Pattern]
D --> E[Enable audit logging]
F --> G[Characterize corruption]
G --> H[Correlate timing]
H --> I{Source?}
I -- Race condition --> J[Concurrent writes]
I -- Missing tx --> K[Partial update]
I -- Logic bug --> L[Calculation error]
I -- External --> M[Third-party import]
I -- Migration --> N[Script bug]
I -- Cascade --> O[Delete/update cascade]
J & K & L & M & N & O --> P[Analyze audit trail]
P --> Q{Financial data?}
Q -- Yes --> R[High-severity/reconciliation approach]
Q -- No --> S[Build Remediation Plan]
R --> S
S --> T[Add Prevention Safeguards]
T --> U([Output: Report])
E --> V([Output: Limited investigation — enable logging & re-run])
Examples
Quality Gate
MCP Dependencies
@upstash/context7-mcp: Library documentation and examples.@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking: Complex reasoning.
Changelog
| Version | Date | Description |
|---|
| 1.1.0 | 2026-03-20 | Restructured: moved examples/references, added fields |
| 1.0.0 | 2026-03-20 | Initial release |
