root-cause-analysis

root-cause-analysis is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from VoDaiLocz/kilo-kit-mcp. It costs 51 tokens per session (2,233 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A structured method for finding the underlying cause of difficult or recurring problems. It uses the 5 Whys and Fishbone techniques to examine several contributing factors instead of stopping at the first symptom.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to investigate complex bugs, recurring incidents, and suspected architectural or process problems, then identify changes that can prevent similar issues.
Why use it?
It helps when a quick fix has not solved the problem or the issue keeps returning. The method turns a vague failure into a clearly defined problem with evidence and possible root causes.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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

Good fit Use it to investigate complex bugs, recurring incidents, and suspected architectural or process problems, then identify changes that can prevent similar issues.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause
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 VoDaiLocz/kilo-kit-mcp --skill root-cause
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/VoDaiLocz/kilo-kit-mcp

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 root-cause-analysis

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause/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 root-cause-analysis

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vodailocz/kilo-kit-mcp/root-cause.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 51 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,233 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. Third-party audits
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector warn 7 Sept 2026
SkillSpector: 2 findings, up to high

These are SkillSpector’s own severities. On a checked sample its high-severity flags on skills were ~96% false positives — a documented command, a public API, a “never do X” rule — so we show them as a caution to read, not a verdict. Why →

  • high Memory Poisoning · line 277
    Skill manipulates agent memory, state, or stored context. Memory corruption can alter personality, override safety rules, or cause unpredictable behavior.
    Fix: Protect agent memory and state from modification by untrusted content. Use read-only memory for critical instructions and validate all state changes.
  • high Memory Poisoning · line 297
    Skill manipulates agent memory, state, or stored context. Memory corruption can alter personality, override safety rules, or cause unpredictable behavior.
    Fix: Protect agent memory and state from modification by untrusted content. Use read-only memory for critical instructions and validate all state changes.
How audits are shown
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 5.1 $0.00051 $0.02233
Opus 5 $0.00026 $0.01117
Sonnet 5 $0.00010 $0.00447
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00223

Measured 9d ago against content hash f72eeb8288f9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

root-cause-analysis 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 9d 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/kilo-kit/debugging/root-cause/SKILL.md · 361 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 361 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

🔬 Root Cause Analysis Skill

Philosophy: Don't stop at the first "why" — dig until you hit bedrock.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

  • Systematic debugging found the bug but not WHY it exists
  • Issue keeps recurring despite fixes
  • Bug seems to have multiple contributing factors
  • You need to prevent similar bugs in the future
  • There's a systemic/architectural issue suspected

Do NOT use this skill when:

  • Bug is simple and obvious
  • Time is extremely limited (use quick-fix)
  • Just need to patch, not understand

Prerequisites

Before starting:

  • Bug has been identified (what is happening)
  • Have access to relevant code and history
  • Understand the system architecture (high level)
  • Have time for thorough analysis (~30-60 mins)

Process

Phase 1: PROBLEM DEFINITION 📝

Goal: Clearly define what we're analyzing.

Steps:

  1. State the Problem Precisely

    Template:
    "When [condition], the system [actual behavior] 
     instead of [expected behavior]."
    
    Example:
    "When a user submits a login form with special characters,
     the system returns a 500 error instead of validating input."
    
  2. Gather Impact Data

    • How often does it occur?
    • Who/what is affected?
    • What's the business impact?
    • How long has it been happening?
  3. Document Timeline

    • When did it first appear?
    • Any recent changes before first occurrence?
    • Has it gotten better/worse?

Output: Clear problem statement with context.


Phase 2: THE 5 WHYS ANALYSIS 🔍

Goal: Drill down to fundamental causes.

Method:

Start: Problem Statement
  │
  ├─ Why? → First-level cause
  │   │
  │   ├─ Why? → Second-level cause
  │   │   │
  │   │   ├─ Why? → Third-level cause
  │   │   │   │
  │   │   │   ├─ Why? → Fourth-level cause
  │   │   │   │   │
  │   │   │   │   └─ Why? → ROOT CAUSE

Rules:

  1. Each answer must be factual, not speculative
  2. If multiple answers possible at a level, branch and explore all
  3. Stop when you reach something actionable
  4. "Human error" is NEVER a root cause — dig deeper

Read the full file on GitHub · 361 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. 9d ago First seen · 361 lines · 51 tokens per session scan A f72eeb8288f9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

root-cause-analysis is a skill published in the GitHub repository VoDaiLocz/kilo-kit-mcp (26 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 51 tokens to every session and 2,233 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 2026-09-03.

Related

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