diagnose-before-editing SKILL.md skillA
This file is byte-identical to the first copy the registry indexed, one of 3 indexed copies. Same content hash, so the same checks give both the same grade.
diagnose-before-editing from theonly1me/shadowclone is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add theonly1me/shadowclone/diagnose-before-editing@git:20261004.6f9e0d4Pins git:20261004.6f9e0d4 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- theonly1me/shadowclone
- Path
skills/diagnose-before-editing/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 4
- Latest version
- git:20261004.6f9e0d4, committed Oct 4, 2026
- First version recorded
- Sep 9, 2026
- Size
- 3,455 bytes
- Repository stars
- 21
- License
- MIT
Use when behavior fails, flakes, or slows down, and nobody knows the cause yet. Also use it when the user says "why does this fail?", "it worked yesterday", or "this got slow". Reproduces the failure, makes it smaller, and tests one cause at a time until one cause predicts the symptom. Then fixes the cause at its origin, not the symptom. Not for scoping a fix whose cause you already know (use `scope-confirmed-changes`).
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
# Diagnose Before Editing ## Use when Something fails, throws, flakes, or slows down, and nobody has shown the cause yet. A change before the cause is known can hide the bug instead of fixing it. ## Gates 1. Can you make the failure happen on demand with one command or test? 2. Did you write down the input, the actual result, and the expected result? 3. For each suspected cause, did you name an observation that would prove it wrong? 4. Did you change one variable in each probe? 5. Does the cause that you found predict the symptom, and does a controlled change remove it? 6. Did you remove each temporary log line and probe before the handoff? ## Process 1. Find the fastest command that reaches the failing path. Run it until you see the failure. 2. Remove inputs and steps while the failure stays. Stop when no further removal keeps it. 3. Trace the state from the input. Find the first place where a correct value becomes wrong. 4. List the possible causes. For each one, write the observation that would rule it out. 5. Test one cause at a time with a debugger, a log line, a timer, or a controlled input. 6. When one cause predicts the symptom, fix it at its origin. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add theonly1me/shadowclone/diagnose-before-editing@sha256:a7ceaf6e07b273bbThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261004.6f9e0d4, 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_pruo74kmcp2yvxd6)
2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 4 versions of this file, between Sep 9, 2026 and Oct 4, 2026, about one every 8 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261004.6f9e0d4 latest | 2026-10-04 | 6f9e0d4 | 3,455 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261003.b2236f6 | 2026-10-03 | b2236f6 | 2,261 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260927.d9cf211 | 2026-09-27 | d9cf211 | 1,913 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260909.ac8ab3f | 2026-09-09 | ac8ab3f | 3,102 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 (3455 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
theonly1me/shadowclone · 21 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_pruo74kmcp2yvxd6 GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=theonly1me/shadowclone/diagnose-before-editing GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a7ceaf6e07b273bbd634a8d89c89bb3dd91051e30bf246cbeae8746b42e6bee3
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.
More from theonly1me/shadowclone
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