root-cause-tracing SKILL.md skillA
root-cause-tracing from secondsky/claude-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add secondsky/claude-skills/root-cause-tracing@v1.1.0Pins v1.1.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- secondsky/claude-skills
- Path
plugins/root-cause-tracing/skills/root-cause-tracing/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 3
- Latest version
- v1.1.0, committed Apr 2, 2026
- First version recorded
- Dec 24, 2025
- Size
- 4,108 bytes
- Repository stars
- 247
- License
- MIT
Systematically trace bugs backward through call stack to find original trigger. Use when errors occur deep in execution and you need to trace back to find the original trigger.
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
# Root Cause Tracing
## Overview
Bugs often manifest deep in the call stack (git init in wrong directory, file created in wrong location, database opened with wrong path). Your instinct is to fix where the error appears, but that's treating a symptom.
**Core principle:** Trace backward through the call chain until you find the original trigger, then fix at the source.
## When to Use
**Use when:**
- Error happens deep in execution (not at entry point)
- Stack trace shows long call chain
- Unclear where invalid data originated
- Need to find which test/code triggers the problem
## The Tracing Process
### 1. Observe the Symptom
```
Error: git init failed in ~/project/packages/core
```
### 2. Find Immediate Cause
**What code directly causes this?**
```typescript
await execFileAsync('git', ['init'], { cwd: projectDir });
```
### 3. Ask: What Called This?
```typescript
WorktreeManager.createSessionWorktree(projectDir, sessionId)
→ called by Session.initializeWorkspace()
→ called by Session.create()
→ called by test at Project.create()
```
### 4. Keep Tracing Up
**What value was passed?**
- `projectDir = ''` (empty string!)
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add secondsky/claude-skills/root-cause-tracing@sha256:4518351dc5a548a1The line at the top of this page pins the label v1.1.0, 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.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_mr4wuj7ap5ioau6b)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, between Dec 24, 2025 and Apr 2, 2026, about one every 50 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.1.0 latest | 2026-04-02 | 75421fa | 4,108 B | A | view · diff |
| v1.1.0 | 2026-04-02 | 89c5e89 | 4,095 B | A | view · diff |
| v1.1.0 | 2025-12-24 | ba827ce | 4,081 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (4108 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
secondsky/claude-skills · 247 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-31 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_mr4wuj7ap5ioau6b GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=secondsky/claude-skills/root-cause-tracing GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/4518351dc5a548a125cf2f0c215756c0fc43588d86f0090fe19ea55050d5788a
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.