# Debug

> Diagnose bugs systematically by reproducing, isolating, explaining root cause, implementing the smallest safe fix, and adding regression protection.

- Skill: `arogyareddy/debug` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add arogyareddy/debug`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/arogyareddy/debug/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: arogyareddy (https://skillmd.com/u/arogyareddy)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/arogyareddy/debug

---


# Debug

Use this for failing tests, runtime errors, flaky behavior, broken UI flows, CI-only issues, and hard-to-reproduce defects.

## Workflow
1. State the observed symptom.
2. Reproduce it reliably.
3. Narrow the failing layer: UI, API, service, persistence, integration, environment, test harness.
4. Collect evidence: logs, stack traces, traces, screenshots, network calls, recent diffs.
5. Form 2-3 root-cause hypotheses.
6. Eliminate hypotheses with the smallest checks first.
7. Identify root cause.
8. Implement the smallest safe fix.
9. Add or update a regression test.
10. Summarize root cause, fix, and prevention.

## Rules
- Never start with random edits.
- Prefer root-cause fixes to retries, sleeps, and forceful waits.
- For flaky tests, inspect timing, selectors, shared state, network mocks, and environment assumptions.
- For CI-only failures, compare local vs CI environment, parallelism, timeouts, permissions, and base URLs.

## Output format
- Symptom
- Reproduction
- Root cause
- Fix
- Regression test
- Remaining risks