debugging-patterns

A structured method for debugging software by tracing an error back to its original cause. It covers logs, reproduction steps, code changes, hypotheses, and targeted checks.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to investigate error messages, reproduce failures, isolate where they begin, trace invalid data through the call chain, and verify a fix.
Why use it?
It helps avoid quick patches that hide the real problem or create new bugs.

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/romiluz13/cc-teams/debugging-patterns
Any agent
npx skills add romiluz13/cc-teams --skill debugging-patterns
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/romiluz13/cc-teams

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 19 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 4,161 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 $0.00019 $0.04161
Opus 5 $0.00010 $0.02080
Sonnet 5 $0.00004 $0.00832
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00416

Measured 2d ago against content hash 51b5f1315e56, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

debugging-patterns 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.

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.

plugins/cc-teams/skills/debugging-patterns/SKILL.md · 537 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 537 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Systematic Debugging

Overview

Random fixes waste time and create new bugs. Quick patches mask underlying issues.

Core principle: ALWAYS find root cause before attempting fixes. Symptom fixes are failure.

Violating the letter of this process is violating the spirit of debugging.

The Iron Law

NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST

If you haven't completed Phase 1, you cannot propose fixes.

Quick Five-Step Process (Reference Pattern)

For rapid debugging, use this concise flow:

1. Capture error message and stack trace
2. Identify reproduction steps
3. Isolate the failure location
4. Implement minimal fix
5. Verify solution works

Debugging techniques:

  • Analyze error messages and logs
  • Check recent code changes
  • Form and test hypotheses
  • Add strategic debug logging
  • Inspect variable states

Root Cause Tracing Technique:

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

Never fix solely where errors appear—trace to the original trigger.

LSP-Powered Root Cause Tracing

Use LSP to trace execution flow systematically:

Debugging Need LSP Tool Usage
"Where is this function defined?" lspGotoDefinition Jump to source
"What calls this function?" lspCallHierarchy(incoming) Trace callers up
"What does this function call?" lspCallHierarchy(outgoing) Trace callees down
"All usages of this variable?" lspFindReferences Find all access points

Systematic Call Chain Tracing:

1. localSearchCode("errorFunction") → get file + lineHint
2. lspGotoDefinition(lineHint=N) → see implementation
3. lspCallHierarchy(incoming, lineHint=N) → who calls this?
4. For each caller: lspCallHierarchy(incoming) → trace up
5. Continue until you find the root cause

Read the full file on GitHub · 537 lines

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 · 537 lines · 19 tokens per session scan A 51b5f1315e56

Subscribe to this mod's changes

debugging-patterns is a skill published in the GitHub repository romiluz13/cc-teams (5 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 19 tokens to every session and 4,161 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.

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