systematic-debugging is agent-read markdown (skill) from ganyuanran/aegis: Use when encountering a bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes.
Indexed from public GitHub and served as immutable, content-addressed versions. Install it pinned to an exact SHA-256 with the mdr CLI, and every file is verified against the hash recorded here before it reaches your agent. The deterministic audit below grades the latest version, and the same file always earns the same grade.
What the file says
# Execute
Bug, failure, or unexpected behavior:
1. **Isolate** — read error, reproduce, inspect the diff, and drill upward through diagnostic layers:
L1 symptom → L2 logic → L3 system → L4 architecture → L5 cross-system
contract → L6 platform → L7 spec gap. Layers are observation altitudes,
not one causal chain; the causal shape at the stop altitude is classified
explicitly before any root claim. Stop only when causal proof accounts
for the recurrence generator or reaches a T-class boundary.
2. **Identify owner** — compare working behavior, trace the bad value, locate the
canonical owner, and treat duplicate owners as a finding.
3. **Decide before editing** — Before fixing, run Patch-Shape Triage and Ripple Signal Triage when shared logic,
contracts, fallbacks, adapters, producer/consumer seams, or source-of-truth
boundaries are involved. Surface Change Necessity for any new source-code
path or non-trivial source edit. Run Minimality Check for a new branch,
fallback, adapter, owner, or compatibility path, and Pre-Edit Complexity
Check for an overloaded owner or complexity growth. After Change Necessity
…
Pin to a label to follow the author's releases, or to a sha256 to freeze the exact bytes forever. Either way the resolved hash is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install reproduces it on any machine.
A 17 of 17 checks passed. Deterministic, no model, same answer every run.
pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (10874 bytes)
pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
pass: No credential-shaped string
pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
pass: No text hidden with inline styles
pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
pass: No link to a raw IP address
pass: No script tag
Source
GitHub
ganyuanran/aegis · 1,280 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-09-24 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_foxwtktvgnwveupy
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ganyuanran/aegis/systematic-debugging
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/5d642fb60775af47afd9cbb981da847299f5d2d4073580b4880f47962e7e8b64
Your agent does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md · Use when defining ambiguous or high-complexity new features, product behavior, UI/component design, architecture…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/communicating-concisely/SKILL.md · Use when the user asks for caveman mode, fewer tokens, brief responses, compressed communication, or otherwise…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/dispatching-parallel-agents/SKILL.md · Use when facing 2+ independent tasks without a written plan, with no conflicting shared mutable state or sequential…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/establishing-project-context/SKILL.md · Use when the user asks to establish shared project language, or project work exposes a conflicting, renamed, or…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/executing-plans/SKILL.md · Use when executing a written implementation plan across sessions or with review checkpoints. Small or single-slice…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/finishing-a-development-branch/SKILL.md · Use when verified work needs integration or cleanup of an existing task-created branch/worktree, or the user explicitly…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/first-principles-review/SKILL.md · Use when asked for first-principles or Occam's-razor review, or when high-risk decisions involve competing constraints…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/goal-framing/SKILL.md · Use when the user explicitly sets an Aegis goal with /aegis-goal, Aegis goal:, or asks to define goal, success…
ganyuanran/aegis · skills/long-task-continuation/SKILL.md · Use when a task is multi-step, may span context resets or sessions, uses subagents, or risks losing state before…
a5c-ai/babysitter · library/methodologies/superpowers/skills/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md · Use when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes. Requires root cause…
taracodlabs/aiden · workspace-templates/skills/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md · Four-phase root cause investigation process for diagnosing bugs, errors, and unexpected behavior
