evidence-first-debugging

evidence-first-debugging is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from hoatv2211/GameStudio-CodexKIT. It costs 63 tokens per session (878 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A method for finding the cause of a reproducible software failure before changing the code, then proving that the smallest fix works and remains protected by a regression test.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it for crashes, incorrect behavior, failing tests, startup problems, build errors, packet mismatches, offline failures, or unexpected generated output.
Why use it?
It reduces guesswork and prevents a fix that only hides the original symptom or creates a new one.

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/hoatv2211/gamestudio-codexkit/evidence-first-debugging
Any agent
npx skills add hoatv2211/GameStudio-CodexKIT --skill evidence-first-debugging
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/hoatv2211/GameStudio-CodexKIT

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for evidence-first-debugging

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hoatv2211/gamestudio-codexkit/evidence-first-debugging.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/hoatv2211/gamestudio-codexkit/evidence-first-debugging)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hoatv2211/gamestudio-codexkit/evidence-first-debugging"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hoatv2211/gamestudio-codexkit/evidence-first-debugging.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 63 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 878 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 $0.00063 $0.00878
Opus 5 $0.00032 $0.00439
Sonnet 5 $0.00013 $0.00176
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00088

Measured 5d ago against content hash 76ce669c7dca, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

evidence-first-debugging 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 5d ago.

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.

skills/evidence-first-debugging/SKILL.md · 85 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 85 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Evidence-First Debugging

Overview

Find the root cause before changing code. A fix is complete only when the original symptom is reproduced, isolated, repaired minimally, and guarded by regression evidence.

When to use

Use for crashes, wrong behavior, failing tests, startup problems, packet mismatches, offline failures, build errors, or unexpected generated output.

When NOT to use

Do not use for open-ended feature design, routine build verification, broad code review, or mutation without a reproducible symptom.

Required inputs and context discovery

Collect exact symptom, expected behavior, reproduction steps, frequency, environment, first failing version or commit when known, logs, relevant ownership boundaries, and safe instrumentation options.

Safety and risk level

Inspection and instrumentation are preferred. Any mutation follows test-first discipline and exact file ownership; database, services, assets, or external projects need separate safety approval.

Workflow

  1. Reproduce the symptom with the smallest deterministic command or fixture. Completion criterion: failure occurs for the expected reason, or reproduction is BLOCKED with evidence.
  2. Trace the data and control path from observed failure toward its source. Completion criterion: component boundaries and the first incorrect state are identified.
  3. Rank hypotheses and add minimal instrumentation that distinguishes them. Completion criterion: one hypothesis is supported and alternatives are weakened by output.
  4. Write a failing regression test or executable check before the fix. Completion criterion: the check fails on the original behavior.
  5. Apply the smallest root-cause fix and rerun the focused check. Completion criterion: the focused check passes without weakening assertions.
  6. Run adjacent and broader verification, then record limitations. Completion criterion: regressions are checked or explicitly BLOCKED.

Evidence and output contract

Produce reproduction command, failure output, hypothesis table, instrumentation evidence, changed files, regression test, verification commands, verdict, and limitations.

Read the full file on GitHub · 85 lines

Files

What ships with it

1 file 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. 5d ago First seen · 85 lines · 63 tokens per session scan A 76ce669c7dca

Subscribe to this mod's changes

evidence-first-debugging is a skill published in the GitHub repository hoatv2211/GameStudio-CodexKIT (3 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 63 tokens to every session and 878 once invoked, about $0.0003 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.