klh-systematic-debugging

klh-systematic-debugging is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from klh/speedy-claude. It costs 42 tokens per session (1,336 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of systematic-debugging, MIT.

A four-phase method for investigating bugs and test failures by finding their root cause before changing code. Root cause means the underlying reason a problem occurs, rather than the place where the error merely appears.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps investigate bugs, troubleshoot unexpected behavior, and diagnose failing tests before implementing a solution.
Why use it?
Patching symptoms can hide the real problem and cause it to return. Reproduction, logs, recent changes, and data-flow tracing provide evidence for a correct fix.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit It helps investigate bugs, troubleshoot unexpected behavior, and diagnose failing tests before implementing a solution.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging
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.

Any agent
npx skills add klh/speedy-claude --skill klh-systematic-debugging
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/klh/speedy-claude

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 klh-systematic-debugging

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for klh-systematic-debugging

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/klh/speedy-claude/klh-systematic-debugging.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 42 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,336 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 89% copy Near-identical to another mod 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 5.1 $0.00042 $0.01336
Opus 5 $0.00021 $0.00668
Sonnet 5 $0.00008 $0.00267
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00134

Measured 8d ago against content hash 3043f11482c9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

klh-systematic-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 8d 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.

Origin

This is a copy

89% identical to systematic-debugging — 30 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

skills/klh-systematic-debugging/SKILL.md · 177 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 177 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Systematic Debugging

Part of klh/skills — personal agent skills by Klaus L. Hougesen. Install: npx skills add klh/skills --skill klh-systematic-debugging

Overview

Four-phase debugging methodology with root cause analysis. Emphasizes NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE FIRST.

When to Use

  • When investigating bugs or troubleshooting unexpected behavior
  • When fixing test failures

Core Principle

NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST.

Never apply symptom-focused patches that mask underlying problems. Understand WHY something fails before attempting to fix it.

The Four-Phase Framework

Phase 1: Root Cause Investigation

Before touching any code:

  1. Read error messages thoroughly - Every word matters
  2. Reproduce the issue consistently - If you can't reproduce it, you can't verify a fix
  3. Examine recent changes - What changed before this started failing?
  4. Gather diagnostic evidence - Logs, stack traces, state dumps
  5. Trace data flow - Follow the call chain to find where bad values originate

Root Cause Tracing Technique:

1. Observe the symptom - Where does the error manifest?
2. Find immediate cause - Which code directly produces the error?
3. Ask "What called this?" - Map the call chain upward
4. Keep tracing up - Follow invalid data backward through the stack
5. Find original trigger - Where did the problem actually start?

Key principle: Never fix problems solely where errors appear—always trace to the original trigger.

Phase 2: Pattern Analysis

  1. Locate working examples - Find similar code that works correctly
  2. Compare implementations completely - Don't just skim
  3. Identify differences - What's different between working and broken?
  4. Understand dependencies - What does this code depend on?

Phase 3: Hypothesis and Testing

Apply the scientific method:

  1. Formulate ONE clear hypothesis - "The error occurs because X"
  2. Design minimal test - Change ONE variable at a time
  3. Predict the outcome - What should happen if hypothesis is correct?
  4. Run the test - Execute and observe
  5. Verify results - Did it behave as predicted?
  6. Iterate or proceed - Refine hypothesis if wrong, implement if right

Read the full file on GitHub · 177 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. 8d ago First seen · 177 lines · 42 tokens per session scan A 3043f11482c9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

klh-systematic-debugging is a skill published in the GitHub repository klh/speedy-claude (11 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 42 tokens to every session and 1,336 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 89% identical to systematic-debugging, differing in 30 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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