gdb-cli

name	gdb-cli
description	GDB debugging assistant for AI agents - analyze core dumps, debug live processes, investigate crashes and deadlocks with source code correlation
category	development
risk	critical
source	community
date_added	2026-03-22
author	Cerdore
tags	["debugging","gdb","core-dump","crash-analysis","c++","c"]
tools	["claude-code","cursor","gemini-cli","codex-cli","antigravity"]

GDB Debugging Assistant

Overview

A GDB debugging skill designed for AI agents. Combines source code analysis with runtime state inspection using gdb-cli to provide intelligent debugging assistance for C/C++ programs.

When to Use This Skill

• Analyze core dumps or crash dumps
• Debug running processes with GDB attach
• Investigate crashes, deadlocks, or memory issues
• Get intelligent debugging assistance with source code context
• Debug multi-threaded applications

Do Not Use This Skill When

• The task is unrelated to C/C++ debugging
• The user needs general-purpose assistance without debugging
• No GDB is available (GDB 9.0+ with Python support required)

Prerequisites

# Install gdb-cli
pip install gdb-cli

# Or from GitHub
pip install git+https://github.com/Cerdore/gdb-cli.git

# Verify GDB has Python support
gdb -nx -q -batch -ex "python print('OK')"

Requirements:

• Python 3.6.8+
• GDB 9.0+ with Python support enabled
• Linux OS

How It Works

Step 1: Initialize Debug Session

For core dump analysis:

gdb-cli load --binary <binary_path> --core <core_path> [--gdb-path <gdb_path>]

For live process debugging:

gdb-cli attach --pid <pid> [--binary <binary_path>]

Output: A session_id like "session_id": "a1b2c3". Store this for subsequent commands.

Step 2: Gather Initial Information

SESSION="<session_id>"

# List all threads
gdb-cli threads -s $SESSION

# Get backtrace (with local variables)
gdb-cli bt -s $SESSION --full

# Get registers
gdb-cli registers -s $SESSION

Step 3: Correlate Source Code (CRITICAL)

For each frame in the backtrace:

1. Extract frame info: