dsh-systematic-debugging

A four-phase method for finding the underlying cause of bugs, failed tests, build failures, and performance problems before changing code.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to reproduce a technical problem, gather evidence, test several possible causes, and confirm the final fix. It can also split evidence gathering and hypothesis checks into parallel tasks.
Why use it?
It reduces guesswork and prevents quick patches from hiding the real problem or creating new bugs. It also uses a focused check that proves the reported issue is fixed.

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/xl188/xlskills/systematic-debugging
Any agent
npx skills add xl188/XLSkills --skill systematic-debugging
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/xl188/XLSkills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 53 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 3,556 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 1 finding. 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 $0.00053 $0.03556
Opus 5 $0.00026 $0.01778
Sonnet 5 $0.00011 $0.00711
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00356

Measured 2d ago against content hash a5ae980c98bf, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

dsh-systematic-debugging scanned grade A with 1 finding 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.

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

2. HTTP 脚本 / curl 打 dev server
dsh/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md · 285 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 285 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Systematic Debugging(DSH 版)

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.

与 Hermes 版的关系:四阶段、铁律、red flags 同源。工具换为 DSH(read / grep / glob / pwsh / subagent / job_*),并新增并行化:证据收集、假设验证可多路并行(DSH 同一条消息多 subagent 并行 + 后台任务不占并发槽)。

The Iron Law

NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST

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

The Feedback Loop Rule

The feedback loop is the debugging work. Before reading code to build a theory, create or identify a tight command that can go red on the user's exact symptom and green when the bug is fixed. A tight loop is fast, deterministic, agent-runnable, and specific enough to catch this bug — not merely "doesn't crash".

When a clean repro is hard, spend disproportionate effort building the loop. Guessing without a red-capable loop is the failure mode this skill exists to prevent.

When to Use

Use for ANY technical issue:

  • Test failures / Bugs in production / Unexpected behavior
  • Performance problems / Build failures / Integration issues

Use this ESPECIALLY when:

  • Under time pressure (emergencies make guessing tempting)
  • "Just one quick fix" seems obvious
  • You've already tried multiple fixes
  • Previous fix didn't work
  • You don't fully understand the issue

Don't skip when:

  • Issue seems simple (simple bugs have root causes too)
  • You're in a hurry (rushing guarantees rework)
  • Someone wants it fixed NOW (systematic is faster than thrashing)

The Four Phases

You MUST complete each phase before proceeding to the next.

Phase 1: Root Cause Investigation

BEFORE attempting ANY fix:

1. Read Error Messages Carefully

  • Don't skip past errors or warnings;完整读栈、行号、文件路径、错误码
  • Action:read 读相关源文件;用 grep 在代码库搜错误串

2. Build a Tight Feedback Loop

Read the full file on GitHub · 285 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 · 285 lines · 53 tokens per session scan A a5ae980c98bf

Subscribe to this mod's changes

dsh-systematic-debugging is a skill published in the GitHub repository xl188/XLSkills (2 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 53 tokens to every session and 3,556 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (makes network calls). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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