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.
npx agentmods add skills/merewhiplash/engram-cogitator/debuggingnpx skills add MereWhiplash/engram-cogitator --skill debugginggit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/MereWhiplash/engram-cogitatorWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/merewhiplash/engram-cogitator/debugging)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/merewhiplash/engram-cogitator/debugging"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/merewhiplash/engram-cogitator/debugging.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.00024 | $0.00705 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00012 | $0.00352 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00005 | $0.00141 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00002 | $0.00071 |
Grade A, and why
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 4d 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 164 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Systematic Debugging
Find the root cause before attempting fixes.
Announce: "I'm using the debugging skill to investigate this issue."
The Rule
NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST
The Phases
Investigate → Analyze → Hypothesize → Fix
Phase 1: Investigate
Before any fix attempt:
1. EC Search First
ec_search:
query: [error message or symptom]
ec_search:
query: [affected component]
type: learning
Check if we've seen this before. Prior solutions save time.
2. Read Error Messages
- Don't skip past errors
- Read stack traces completely
- Note line numbers, file paths
3. Reproduce
- Can you trigger it reliably?
- What are the exact steps?
- Does it happen every time?
4. Check Recent Changes
git log --oneline -10
git diff HEAD~5
What changed that could cause this?
5. Trace Data Flow
Where does the bad value come from?
- Start at the error
- Trace backwards through the call stack
- Find the source, not the symptom
Phase 2: Pattern Analysis
Find Working Examples
Look for similar working code:
- Same pattern elsewhere in codebase
- Reference implementations
- Documentation examples
Search EC for established patterns:
ec_search:
query: [pattern name]
type: pattern
Compare
What's different between working and broken?
Phase 3: Hypothesis
State clearly: "I think X is the root cause because Y"
Test with the smallest possible change. One variable at a time.
If hypothesis wrong: Form new hypothesis. Don't pile fixes.
Phase 4: Fix @tdd
1. Write Failing Test
Reproduce the bug in a test first (RED).
2. Implement Fix
Address the root cause, not the symptom (GREEN).
3. Verify @verifying
Load project config for commands:
ec_search:
query: project config
type: config
Run verification:
- Bug test passes
- Other tests still pass
- Original symptom gone
4. Store Learning
If root cause was non-obvious:
ec_add:
type: learning
area: [component]
content: [What was wrong, why it happened, how to recognize it]
rationale: Discovered while debugging [symptom]
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.
- 4d ago First seen · 164 lines · 24 tokens per session scan A 0c65a13d7914
debugging is a skill published in the GitHub repository MereWhiplash/engram-cogitator (4 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 24 tokens to every session and 705 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.
Other skills, from other repositories
systematic-debugging
Use when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes.
brainstorming
You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation.
auto-perf-optimize
Run agent-driven VS Code performance or memory investigations. Use when asked to launch Code OSS, automate a VS Code scenario, run the Chat memory smoke runner, capture renderer heap snapshots, take workflow screenshots, compare run summaries, or drive a repeatable scenario before heap-snapshot analysis.
chat-perf
Run chat perf benchmarks and memory leak checks against the local dev build or any published VS Code version. Use when investigating chat rendering regressions, validating perf-sensitive changes to chat UI, or checking for memory leaks in the chat response pipeline.
chat-pet-sprite-creation
Use when creating or changing VS Code chat pet sprite art, sprite sheets, state animations, eye treatments, Stable/Insiders variants, or pet transitions under src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/browser/widget/media/chatPet.
cpu-profile-analysis
Analyze V8/Chrome CPU profiles (.cpuprofile) and DevTools trace files (Trace-.json). Use when: profiling performance, investigating slow functions, comparing code paths, finding bottlenecks, analyzing timeToRequest, understanding call trees from sampling profiler data, analyzing layout/paint/rendering, investigating…