principle-fix-root-causes SKILL.md skillA

This file is byte-identical to the first copy the registry indexed. Same content hash, so the same checks give both the same grade.

principle-fix-root-causes from arjitj2/open-pstack is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned
mdr add arjitj2/open-pstack/principle-fix-root-causes@git:20261015.eb48188

Pins git:20261015.eb48188 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade
A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind
SKILL.md skill
Repository
arjitj2/open-pstack
Path
plugins/pstack/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md
Versions recorded
6
Latest version
git:20261015.eb48188, committed Oct 15, 2026
First version recorded
Jun 4, 2026
Size
1,812 bytes
Repository stars
14
License
MIT

Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom back to the first place the system went wrong and fix it there. A guard is a fix only when the state it handles is legitimate.

Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.

What the file says

# Fix Root Causes

When debugging, fix the fault, not the place where it surfaced. The symptom is where a wrong state became visible. The root cause is the first place the system did something it should not do, or failed to handle a state it should handle.

**Why:** A symptom fix hides the evidence and leaves the fault free to surface somewhere else. Each one makes the system harder to reason about, because the code now carries a workaround for a bug that nobody named.

**Pattern:**
- Reproduce first.
- Ask "why" at each step until the answer is a wrong decision in the code, not a consequence of an earlier one.
- When stuck, instrument. Read the actual error and the actual state. Do not guess.
- Ask whether the state that triggered the symptom is legitimate. If the system may be in that state, the code that broke on it is the root cause, and handling the state there is the fix. If the state should never exist, a check where it broke hides the bug. Find what produced the state. Guards, retries, swallowed errors, clamped values, and discarded state are the usual ways to hide a bug.
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint
mdr add arjitj2/open-pstack/principle-fix-root-causes@sha256:d42f26857432f448

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261015.eb48188, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.

Badge

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_ietmjcdycvp6yrpe.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_ietmjcdycvp6yrpe)

2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 6 versions of this file, between Jun 4, 2026 and Oct 15, 2026, about one every 26 days.

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20261015.eb48188 latest2026-10-15 eb48188 1,812 BA view · diff
git:20261014.daa0fc52026-10-14 daa0fc5 1,360 BA view · diff
git:20260908.64f174e2026-09-08 64f174e 1,237 BA view · diff
git:20260822.7703e0a2026-08-22 7703e0a 1,357 BA view · diff
git:20260715.5debf232026-07-15 5debf23 1,243 BA view · diff
git:20260604.d869e0a2026-06-04 d869e0a 1,252 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the 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 (1812 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

arjitj2/open-pstack · 14 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_ietmjcdycvp6yrpe
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=arjitj2/open-pstack/principle-fix-root-causes
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/d42f26857432f44880a2c08280fcfacb8ce08590413e6a2bcbd48aace84b58a9

Your AI assistant 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.

Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.

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Every file in arjitj2/open-pstack

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