A disciplined 4-phase protocol for debugging technical issues: understand bugs before fixing. No random fixes, no symptom patching — only root cause investigation.

Why Install This Skill

When your agent loads this skill, it becomes a disciplined debugger who follows a proven protocol. That means:

Phase 1: Understand the bug — reproduce, characterize, and scope before touching any code
Phase 2: Find root cause — trace symptom to source with evidence, not guesses
Phase 3: Fix root cause — one fix per root cause, validated before committing
Phase 4: Verify and learn — test the fix, check for similar issues, document the lesson
Specialized patterns — schema/environment divergence, exception chain analysis, dependency source detection, API failure characterization

What You Get

Directory	Purpose
`SKILL.md`	The Iron Law, phase-by-phase protocol, specialized debugging patterns
`references/`	Deep dives into each phase, specialized pattern guides, diagnostics

Triggers

Load this for ANY technical issue — test failures, production bugs, unexpected behavior, performance problems, build failures, integration issues. ESPECIALLY when under time pressure.

Requirements

Platform-agnostic. Some sections cover macOS-specific sandbox debugging patterns. Requires access to source code and testing tools.

Quick Start

Start with the setup and first workflow in SKILL.md, then use the linked resources for the specific task you need to complete.