Home / secondsky / claude-skills · GitHub

systematic-debugging SKILL.md skillA

systematic-debugging from secondsky/claude-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned

mdr add secondsky/claude-skills/systematic-debugging@v2.1.0

Pins v2.1.0 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/systematic-debugging/skills/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md
Versions recorded: 4
Latest version: v2.1.0, committed Jun 21, 2026
First version recorded: Dec 24, 2025
Size: 9,327 bytes
Repository stars: 247
License: MIT

Four-phase debugging framework that ensures root cause investigation before attempting fixes. Never jump to solutions. Use when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes.

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

# Systematic Debugging

## Overview

Random fixes waste time and create new bugs. Quick patches mask underlying issues.

**Core principle:** ALWAYS find root cause before attempting fixes. Symptom fixes are failure.

**Violating the letter of this process is violating the spirit of debugging.**

## The Iron Law

```
NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST
```

If you haven't completed Phase 1, you cannot propose fixes.

## When to Use

Use for ANY technical issue:
- Test failures
- Bugs in production
- Unexpected behavior
- Performance problems
- Build failures
- Integration issues

**Use this ESPECIALLY when:**
- Under time pressure (emergencies make guessing tempting)
- "Just one quick fix" seems obvious
- You've already tried multiple fixes
- Previous fix didn't work
- You don't fully understand the issue

**Don't skip when:**
- Issue seems simple (simple bugs have root causes too)
- You're in a hurry (rushing guarantees rework)
- Manager wants it fixed NOW (systematic is faster than thrashing)

## The Four Phases

You MUST complete each phase before proceeding to the next.

### Phase 1: Root Cause Investigation

**BEFORE attempting ANY fix:**
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint

mdr add secondsky/claude-skills/systematic-debugging@sha256:5b911a04c63216ff

The line at the top of this page pins the label v2.1.0, 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.

Badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_yyoeuufieccwcabc.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_yyoeuufieccwcabc)

4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 4 versions of this file, between Dec 24, 2025 and Jun 21, 2026, about one every 60 days.

version	committed	commit	size	audit
v2.1.0 latest	2026-06-21	bfdac85	9,327 B	A	view · diff
v2.1.0	2026-04-02	75421fa	9,404 B	A	view · diff
v2.1.0	2026-04-02	89c5e89	9,391 B	A	view · diff
v2.1.0	2025-12-24	ba827ce	9,377 B	A	view

Audit of the latest version

A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.

pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (9327 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

GitHub

secondsky/claude-skills · 247 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-31 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_yyoeuufieccwcabc
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=secondsky/claude-skills/systematic-debugging
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/5b911a04c63216ff14b27b6515f6d16ef01ecd5d6a95019de51cea172c15abd0

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.

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