Debugging

/============================================================================/ / DEBUGGING SKILL :: VERILINGUA x VERIX EDITION / /============================================================================/

---

name: debugging version: 1.0.0 description: | [assert|neutral] Systematic debugging methodology using a 5-phase protocol. Use when troubleshooting code failures, investigating bugs, or analyzing unexpected behavior. Applies 10 proven debugging techniques includin [ground:given] [conf:0.95] [state:confirmed] category: delivery tags:

• delivery
• development
• workflow

author: ruv cognitiveframe: primary: aspectual goalanalysis: firstorder: "Execute debugging workflow" secondorder: "Ensure quality and consistency" third_order: "Enable systematic delivery processes" ---

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S0 META-IDENTITY / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[define|neutral] SKILL := { name: "debugging", category: "delivery", version: "1.0.0", layer: L1 } [ground:given] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S1 COGNITIVE FRAME / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[define|neutral] COGNITIVE_FRAME := { frame: "Aspectual", source: "Russian", force: "Complete or ongoing?" } [ground:cognitive-science] [conf:0.92] [state:confirmed]

Kanitsal Cerceve (Evidential Frame Activation)

Kaynak dogrulama modu etkin.

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S2 TRIGGER CONDITIONS / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[define|neutral] TRIGGER_POSITIVE := { keywords: ["debugging", "delivery", "workflow"], context: "user needs debugging capability" } [ground:given] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S3 CORE CONTENT / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

Debugging - Systematic Code Investigation

Kanitsal Cerceve (Evidential Frame Activation)

Kaynak dogrulama modu etkin.

When to Use This Skill

• Production Incidents: Critical bugs affecting live users requiring rapid diagnosis
• Intermittent Failures: Flaky tests, race conditions, or timing-dependent bugs
• Performance Issues: Slow endpoints, memory leaks, or CPU spikes
• Integration Failures: Third-party API errors, database connectivity issues
• Regression Analysis: New bugs introduced by recent changes
• Complex Stack Traces: Multi-layered errors spanning multiple services

When NOT to Use This Skill

• Feature Development: Building new functionality (use feature-dev-complete instead)
• Code Reviews: Reviewing code quality or architecture (use code-review-assistant)
• Refactoring: Restructuring code without fixing bugs (use refactoring skills)
• Known Issues: Bugs with clear root cause already identified

Success Criteria

• [ ] Root cause identified with supporting evidence
• [ ] Fix implemented and tested
• [ ] Regression test added to prevent recurrence
• [ ] All related test suites passing
• [ ] Fix validated in production-like environment
• [ ] Documentation updated with troubleshooting notes
• [ ] Monitoring/alerting adjusted if needed

Edge Cases to Handle

• Heisenbugs: Bugs that disappear when debugger attached
• Multi-Service Failures: Cascading errors across microservices
• Data Corruption: State inconsistencies requiring rollback
• Timezone Issues: Date/time bugs across regions
• Concurrency Bugs: Race conditions, deadlocks, or thread safety
• Memory Corruption: Pointer errors, buffer overflows in native code

Guardrails

• NEVER deploy debug code or verbose logging to production
• ALWAYS reproduce bugs locally before proposing fixes
• NEVER fix symptoms without understanding root cause
• ALWAYS add regression tests for fixed bugs
• NEVER disable tests to make CI pass
• ALWAYS verify fixes do not introduce new bugs
• NEVER modify production data without backup

Evidence-Based Validation

• [ ] Bug reproduced consistently with minimal test case
• [ ] Stack traces analyzed with error tracking tools (Sentry, Rollbar)
• [ ] Performance profiled with appropriate tools (Chrome DevTools, py-spy)
• [ ] Fix verified with automated tests
• [ ] Integration tests passing
• [ ] No new errors in application logs
• [ ] Memory/CPU usage within normal bounds

Systematic debugging through proven methodologies and comprehensive error analysis.

When to Use This Skill

Use when code fails or produces unexpected results, investigating intermittent bugs, analyzing production errors, or debugging complex race conditions and edge cases.

5-Phase Debugging Protocol

Phase 1: Reproduce Reliably

• Create minimal test case that triggers the bug
• Document exact sequence of inputs/conditions
• Verify bug occurs consistently
• Strip away unnecessary complexity

Phase 2: Understand Root Cause

• Trace execution path leading to failure
• Examine variable values and state
• Identify incorrect assumptions
• Understand what code should do vs. what it does

Phase 3: Design the Fix

• Determine changes needed to eliminate bug
• Consider impact on other functionality
• Check for similar bugs elsewhere
• Plan testing strategy

Phase 4: Implement Using Best Practices

• Write clear, readable code
• Add comprehensive comments
• Handle edge cases properly
• Validate assumptions

Phase 5: Verify the Fix

• Confirm bug no longer occurs
• Run regression tests
• Test edge cases
• Validate under original conditions

10 Debugging Methodologies

1. Binary Search Debugging - Divide and conquer to isolate bug location
2. Rubber Duck Debugging - Explain code to surface blind spots
3. Hypothesis-Driven - Form and test explicit hypotheses
4. Differential Debugging - Compare working vs. broken code
5. **Logg

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S4 SUCCESS CRITERIA / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[define|neutral] SUCCESS_CRITERIA := { primary: "Skill execution completes successfully", quality: "Output meets quality thresholds", verification: "Results validated against requirements" } [ground:given] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S5 MCP INTEGRATION / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[define|neutral] MCPINTEGRATION := { memorymcp: "Store execution results and patterns", tools: ["mcp__memory-mcp__memorystore", "mcp_memory-mcp__vector_search"] } [ground:witnessed:mcp-config] [conf:0.95] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S6 MEMORY NAMESPACE / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[define|neutral] MEMORYNAMESPACE := { pattern: "skills/delivery/debugging/{project}/{timestamp}", store: ["executions", "decisions", "patterns"], retrieve: ["similartasks", "proven_patterns"] } [ground:system-policy] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

[define|neutral] MEMORYTAGGING := { WHO: "debugging-{sessionid}", WHEN: "ISO8601timestamp", PROJECT: "{projectname}", WHY: "skill-execution" } [ground:system-policy] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S7 SKILL COMPLETION VERIFICATION / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[direct|emphatic] COMPLETIONCHECKLIST := { agentspawning: "Spawn agents via Task()", registryvalidation: "Use registry agents only", todowritecalled: "Track progress with TodoWrite", work_delegation: "Delegate to specialized agents" } [ground:system-policy] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / S8 ABSOLUTE RULES / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[direct|emphatic] RULENOUNICODE := forall(output): NOT(unicodeoutsideascii) [ground:windows-compatibility] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

[direct|emphatic] RULE_EVIDENCE := forall(claim): has(ground) AND has(confidence) [ground:verix-spec] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

[direct|emphatic] RULEREGISTRY := forall(agent): agent IN AGENTREGISTRY [ground:system-policy] [conf:1.0] [state:confirmed]

/----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ / PROMISE / /----------------------------------------------------------------------------/

[commit|confident] DEBUGGINGVERILINGUAVERIX_COMPLIANT [ground:self-validation] [conf:0.99] [state:confirmed]

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: DNYoussef
• Source: DNYoussef/context-cascade
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.