| name | workflow-general-debugging |
| description | Workflow for general debugging tasks without the overhead of issue tracking. Use when investigating crashes, hangs, or unexpected behavior where no specific issue ID is provided. Do not use when issue ID is provided. |
Skill: Workflow - General Debugging
Workflow for general debugging tasks in a pristine branch or project work,
without the overhead of issue tracking. Use this skill when investigating
crashes, hangs, or unexpected behavior where no specific issue ID is provided.
Principles
- Lightweight & Focused: Focus on the immediate problem without the
overhead of issue tracking conventions (e.g.,
regress-<id> naming, Bug:
tags) unless requested.
- Efficient Investigation: Prioritize quick root cause analysis using GDB
and targeted code reading over exhaustive documentation.
- Pristine Branch Work: Assume you are working on a clean branch or ongoing
project work where changes are local.
- Architectural Skepticism: Always question your fix. Ensure it addresses
the root cause and not just a symptom.
Workflow
1. Problem Triage
- Reproduce the issue if possible.
- Analyze the symptom (crash, hang, incorrect output).
- If a repro script is available, do not modify it directly. Create a scratch
copy for investigation.
2. Static & Dynamic Analysis
- Use
code_search or grep_search to locate relevant code based on stack
traces or symptoms.
- Use GDB (
gdb-mcp) to inspect runtime state, set breakpoints, and trace
execution.
- Focus on understanding the immediate failure context before expanding the
scope.
3. Propose Fix
- Develop a minimal fix targeting the root cause.
- Follow V8 Best Practices.
- Architectural Skepticism: Argue against your own proposal. Does it disable
optimizations? Does it violate invariants?
4. Verify
- Create a Regression Test: Design and implement a clean, semantic
regression test. Verify it fails on the unfixed code and passes cleanly on the
fixed code.
- Verify the fix against the repro or by running relevant unit tests.
- Ensure no new failures are introduced in related areas.
5. Finalization
- Format the code using
git cl format.
- Present the Fix & Test: Present both the fix diff and the accompanying
working regression test to the user/main agent.
- Do not create commits or upload CLs unless explicitly requested.
