debugging-systematically

A guide to finding software bugs through observation, hypotheses, tests, and repeated analysis.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to define expected and actual behavior, check when a problem began, test possible causes, and iterate toward a fix.
Why use it?
It gives you a consistent way to narrow down causes instead of changing code based on guesses.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/dork-labs/dorkos/debugging-systematically
Any agent
npx skills add dork-labs/dorkos --skill debugging-systematically
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dork-labs/dorkos

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 27 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,458 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00027 $0.02458
Opus 5 $0.00014 $0.01229
Sonnet 5 $0.00005 $0.00492
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00246

Measured 2d ago against content hash d9f1e7246119, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

debugging-systematically scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (find-polluter.sh), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.agents/skills/debugging-systematically/SKILL.md · 349 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 349 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Debugging Systematically

This skill provides debugging methodology — systematic approaches to finding and fixing bugs. It covers the mental models and techniques for effective troubleshooting.

For specific debugging tools: See /debug:* commands.

Core Debugging Methodology

The Scientific Method for Bugs

  1. Observe — What is actually happening?
  2. Hypothesize — What could cause this?
  3. Test — Design an experiment to verify
  4. Analyze — Did the test confirm or refute?
  5. Iterate — Refine hypothesis and repeat

The Golden Rule

Understand before you fix.

Never make changes to code you don't understand. Reading and comprehending the code often reveals the bug.

Problem Articulation

Questions to Answer First

Question Why It Matters
What should happen? Defines the expected behavior
What actually happens? Identifies the discrepancy
When did it start? Narrows the scope of changes
What changed recently? Identifies potential causes
Is it reproducible? Determines debugging approach

Rubber Duck Method

The act of explaining code line-by-line forces you to:

  • Think through logic sequentially
  • Surface implicit assumptions
  • Notice gaps in understanding
  • Catch inconsistencies

Often, the solution becomes obvious mid-explanation.

Hypothesis Formation

Common Bug Categories

Category Symptoms Check
Data Wrong values, undefined Log actual values
Logic Wrong branch, off-by-one Trace conditionals
Timing Race conditions, stale data Check async flow
State Inconsistent behavior Inspect state at each step
Integration API mismatches Verify contracts

Read the full file on GitHub · 349 lines

Files

What ships with it

4 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 349 lines · 27 tokens per session scan A d9f1e7246119

Subscribe to this mod's changes

debugging-systematically is a skill published in the GitHub repository dork-labs/dorkos (9 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 27 tokens to every session and 2,458 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

Related

Other skills, from other repositories

hive.browser-automation

Required before any hive-browser CLI command. The browser is driven from the terminal by running hive-browser ... --json via terminalexec — not via MCP tools. Teaches the browser lifecycle rules (the bridge attaches to the USER'S running Chrome — never kill or launch browser processes; timeouts are transport issues…

aden-hive/hive · 142 tokens

hive.chart-creation-foundations

Required reading whenever any chart tool is available. Teaches the one-tool embedding contract (call chartrender → live chart appears in chat AND a downloadable PNG lands in the queen session dir), the ECharts (data viz) vs Mermaid (structural diagrams) decision, the BI/financial-grade aesthetic baseline (no…

aden-hive/hive · 133 tokens

hive.terminal-tools-job-control

Use when launching anything that runs longer than a minute, anything that streams logs, anything you want to keep running while doing other work — or when terminalexec auto-backgrounded on you and returned a jobid. Teaches the start→poll→wait pattern with terminaljoblogs offset bookkeeping, the waituntilexit=True…

aden-hive/hive · 142 tokens

hive.terminal-tools-fs-search

Use terminalrg / terminalglob for all filesystem search — your project tree as well as system configs, /var/log, /etc, archive contents. Teaches the rg vs glob vs terminalexec("find/ls/du/tree") split, common rg flag combos for code/logs/configs, glob patterns for finding files by name, the rule that mtime/size/type…

aden-hive/hive · 131 tokens

article-writer

Multi-style article creation skill. Supports 5 writing styles (deep analysis, practical guide, story-driven, opinion, news brief), including complete workflow: material collection → outline → content → formatting. Activated when users mention "write article", "write post", "create", or "draft".

netease-youdao/LobsterAI · 62 tokens

hive.terminal-tools-pty-sessions

Use when you need state across calls — building env vars, navigating with cd, driving REPLs (python -i, mysql, psql, node), or responding to interactive prompts (sudo password, ssh host-key confirmation, mysql connection). Teaches the prompt-sentinel exec pattern (default mode), raw I/O for REPLs (rawsend=True then…

aden-hive/hive · 134 tokens