| name | ci-debug |
| description | Debug failing GitHub Actions CI runs for DotSerial. Use when a CI build or test is failing on GitHub Actions and you need to understand why and fix it.
|
| allowed-tools | shell |
DotSerial CI Debug Skill
When a CI run fails, follow this systematic process using the GitHub MCP tools.
Step 1 — Identify the failing run
Use GitHub MCP tools to list recent workflow runs:
- Tool:
list_workflow_runs for the pvagnozzi/DotSerial repository
- Focus on:
ci.yml and publish.yml
Step 2 — Get the failure summary
Use: summarize_job_log_failures for the failing run ID to get a concise AI summary of what failed.
If more detail is needed: get_job_logs or get_workflow_run_logs.
Step 3 — Common failure patterns
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Build warns treated as errors | New warning in code | Fix the warning; don't suppress it |
CS1591 missing XML doc | New public member without doc comment | Add <summary> |
CS8600/CS8601 nullable | Nullable reference not handled | Fix nullability properly |
dotnet test fails on Linux/macOS | Platform-specific code path | Check RuntimeInformation guards |
| NuGet restore fails | Version constraint conflict | Check *.csproj PackageReference versions |
publish.yml fails | Tag format wrong or NuGet key missing | Tag must start with v; check NUGET_API_KEY secret |
Step 4 — Reproduce locally
dotnet restore
dotnet build --no-restore -c Release
dotnet test tests/DotSerial.Tests.Unit --no-build -c Release
Step 5 — Check the matrix
CI runs on three OS: ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest.
A failure on one OS but not others usually indicates:
- Path separator issue (use
Path.Combine, never string concatenation with /)
RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform() check missing- Case-sensitive filesystem issue (Linux)
CI workflow locations
- Build and test:
.github/workflows/ci.yml
- NuGet publish:
.github/workflows/publish.yml
