Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach it, resist nil-check guards that silence crashes.
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, do not fix symptoms. Trace every problem to its root cause and fix it there.
**Why:** Symptom fixes accumulate. Each workaround makes the system harder to reason about, and the real bug remains. Root-cause fixes are slower upfront but reduce total debugging time.
**Pattern:**
- Reproduce first
- Ask "why" until you hit the root cause
- Do not add guards (adding a nil check to silence a crash is a symptom fix)
- If a workaround needs a paragraph-long comment to justify it, the code is wrong (fix the code, not the comment)
- Check for the pattern, not just the instance (grep for the same pattern, fix all instances)
- When stuck, instrument. Don't guess (add logging, read the actual error)
**Restart bugs: suspect state before code**
When something "fails after restart," suspect stale persistent state first: config files, caches, lock files, serialized state. If clearing a state file restores behavior, prioritize state validation as the fix.
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261005.32edae5, 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_vc4r4rl22k3m7me4
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=barbieri/local-openfinance/principle-fix-root-causes
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/ba4cd38da1dcc8fe5432feb64457cba95594736a9b21b2ebf8f8c52aee068707
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.
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/agent-browser/SKILL.md · Browser automation CLI for AI agents. Use when the user needs to interact with websites, including navigating pages…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/ai-sdk/SKILL.md · Answer questions about the AI SDK and help build AI-powered features. Use when developers: (1) Ask about AI SDK…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/architect/SKILL.md · Sketch types, signatures, and module structure before code, then stay in the loop while implementation fills in. Use…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/arena/SKILL.md · Spawn N parallel candidates at the same task, pick a base, graft the strongest parts of the losers into it. Use for…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/automate-me/SKILL.md · Use for "automate me", "create/update/refresh my -mode skill", "turn/capture my preferences or working style into a…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/blast-radius/SKILL.md · Find what a change could break somewhere else before it ships, beyond the diff, and prove the one fact it's safe…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/cancel-ralph/SKILL.md · Cancel an active Ralph Loop. Use when the user wants to stop, cancel, or abort a running ralph loop.
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/cli-for-agents/SKILL.md · Designs or reviews CLIs so coding agents can run them reliably: non-interactive flags, layered --help with examples…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/code-review/SKILL.md · Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes: Standards (does the code…
cursor/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…
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…
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…
