root-cause-by-layer SKILL.md skillA
root-cause-by-layer from corvinlabs/corvinos is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add corvinlabs/corvinos/root-cause-by-layer@git:20260915.459047ePins git:20260915.459047e in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- corvinlabs/corvinos
- Path
corvin_operator/bundle/skills/ldd/root-cause-by-layer/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260915.459047e, committed Sep 15, 2026
- Size
- 7,619 bytes
- Repository stars
- 24
- License
- Apache-2.0
Use when encountering a bug, failing test, or unexpected behavior — especially under time pressure where try/except, retry loops, xfail, type-tolerance shims, "I'll clean up later," or compat-for-both-shapes feel like the fastest path. Forbids symptom patches until structural and conceptual origins are named.
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-by-Layer ## Overview A bug is a **symptom**. The disease almost always lives at a layer boundary, a contract violation, or a conceptual mismatch — rarely on the line that threw the exception. Walk the 5-layer ladder before proposing any fix. **Core principle:** A change that turns the symptom green without a causal story at layers 3–5 is a **suppression, not a cure.** It re-emerges in a different guise within a few iterations. **Violating the letter of the layered analysis is violating the spirit.** "I know the cause already, I'll skip writing it out" is the most common skip — write it down anyway. The discipline is the externalization. ## When to Use Any of these triggers means invoke this skill **before** proposing code: - A test is red or flaky and you want to ship a fix - An exception, type error, assertion failure, or unexpected output - A CI gate is rejecting and you're considering widening the rule - An LLM/tool returned a malformed result and you're considering a retry/regex - You catch yourself typing `try:`, `hasattr(`, `@pytest.mark.skip`, `# TODO clean up`, or a retry loop as the primary fix …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add corvinlabs/corvinos/root-cause-by-layer@sha256:89fc2efc3636db7eThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260915.459047e, 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_oh5e2snm2pmergfj)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Sep 15, 2026.
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 (7619 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
corvinlabs/corvinos · 24 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-05 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_oh5e2snm2pmergfj GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=corvinlabs/corvinos/root-cause-by-layer GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/89fc2efc3636db7e8f1ff56dce7bb5a5780e363db3db928e0ac7071078e0875b
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.