root-cause

A step-by-step method for finding the real cause of a problem: first locating which part is failing, then mapping the chain of reasons behind it. MECE means separating the possible causes without overlap or gaps.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when a metric falls, progress stalls, or a goal enters a warning or danger state. It helps break down underperforming goals, verify causes, and find where to intervene in a repeating negative cycle.
Why use it?
It prevents teams from jumping to explanations before identifying where the problem actually occurs. It is useful when actions were completed but the expected result did not appear.

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/voxtechnologies/anty-framework/root-cause
Any agent
npx skills add VoxTechnologies/anty-framework --skill root-cause
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/VoxTechnologies/anty-framework

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 63 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,378 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 $0.01378
Opus 5 $0.00032 $0.00689
Sonnet 5 $0.00013 $0.00276
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00138

Measured 2d ago against content hash 9608011a07ac, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

root-cause 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.

Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

skills/root-cause/SKILL.md · 147 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 147 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Root Cause Analysis (WHERE -> WHY)

When to Apply

  • Buffer enters YELLOW or RED zone
  • Actions executed but metrics not moving (Layer 1 OK, Layer 2 stalling)
  • Significant KPI decline detected
  • Review engine Question 5 triggers (was root-cause analysis correct?)
  • Any time "why isn't this working?" is asked

Core Framework

Stage 1 — WHERE (Locate the Problem)

MECE decomposition of the underperforming Goal into Drivers, identifying which specific Driver(s) are stalling.

Goal buffer: YELLOW (45% consumed, 34% progress)

WHERE analysis (MECE decomposition by Driver):
  Social growth:      45% of target  <- GAP HERE
  Referral program:   20% of target  <- GAP HERE
  SEO content:        60% of target  (on track)
  LP A/B testing:     30% of target  (too early)
  Nurture emails:     10% of target  (not started)

Identified: Social growth and Referral are primary gaps.

WHERE must complete before WHY begins. This is strict and sequential.

Stage 2 — WHY (Causal Structure Diagram)

Starting from the WHERE-identified gap, build a causal structure by asking "Why?" iteratively, one layer at a time. Each node carries a verification status.

Social growth stalling (WHERE-identified gap)
  |
  +-- Post engagement declining [VERIFIED - analytics data]
  |     +-- Content not resonating with ICP [HYPOTHESIS]
  |     |     +-- Tone mismatch [HYPOTHESIS]
  |     |     +-- Topic mismatch (features vs pain-points) [VERIFIED]
  |     +-- Posting at wrong times [DISPROVEN - analytics show optimal]
  |
  +-- Follower growth rate declining [VERIFIED]
        +-- No engagement with other accounts [VERIFIED] <- ACTION TARGET
        +-- Algorithm change [UNCONTROLLABLE]

Causal Node Types

Type Meaning Visual
verified Confirmed by data/facts Solid line
hypothesis Not yet verified Dashed line
disproven Checked and ruled out Marked X
uncontrollable Outside our control Marked X
action_target Selected for countermeasure Highlighted

Read the full file on GitHub · 147 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 · 147 lines · 63 tokens per session scan A 9608011a07ac

Subscribe to this mod's changes

root-cause is a skill published in the GitHub repository VoxTechnologies/anty-framework (6 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 63 tokens to every session and 1,378 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.

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