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.
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261015.e5136d8, 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.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_kh2fvpepawvogdxp
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=cursor/plugins/principle-fix-root-causes
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/8df3c8c3fe57eb0055a5c8efab8ab144557fdf301da70b1cdc77a3a3ef3f3052
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.
cursor/plugins · advisor/skills/advisor/SKILL.md · Advisor mode. Consult a stronger (or different) model at key checkpoints: before major decisions, when stuck on an…
cursor/plugins · agent-compatibility/skills/check-agent-compatibility/SKILL.md · Run the full repository compatibility pass: scanner score, startup path, validation loop, and docs reliability.
cursor/plugins · cli-for-agent/skills/cli-for-agents/SKILL.md · Designs or reviews CLIs so coding agents can run them reliably: non-interactive flags, layered --help with examples…
cursor/plugins · create-plugin/skills/create-plugin-scaffold/SKILL.md · Create a new Cursor plugin scaffold with a valid manifest, component directories, and marketplace wiring. Use when…
cursor/plugins · create-plugin/skills/review-plugin-submission/SKILL.md · Audit a Cursor plugin for marketplace readiness. Use when validating manifests, component metadata, discovery paths…
cursor/plugins · cursor-sdk/skills/cursor-sdk/SKILL.md · Guide users building apps, scripts, CI pipelines, or automations on top of the Cursor TypeScript SDK (`@cursor/sdk`)…
cursor/plugins · cursor-team-kit/skills/control-cli/SKILL.md · Build or adapt a local harness to drive, inspect, and profile an interactive CLI or TUI without external services. Use…
cursor/plugins · cursor-team-kit/skills/control-ui/SKILL.md · Build or adapt a local browser/CDP harness to drive and inspect a web, IDE, or Electron UI. Use for local UI…
cursor/plugins · harness/pstack/claude-code/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom back to the first place the system went wrong and fix it there. A guard is a…
nightly-labs/openbot · marketplace/production-catalog/bundles/pstack/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach…
michael-denyer/pstack-claude · plugins/pstack/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom back to the first place the system went wrong and fix it there. A guard is a…
backnotprop/pstack · skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom back to the first place the system went wrong and fix it there. A guard is a…
iap/pstack-hermes · skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach…
j-star-films-studios/vibecode-protocol-suite · assets/.agent/skills/engineering-principles/fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach…
theonlyfusioncube/potetos-for-everyone · skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Reproduce the symptom, trace causality until one mechanism explains it, and fix that mechanism rather than compensating…
