Debug Systematically

Use this skill when diagnosing a bug, unexpected behavior, test failure, or any situation where code does not behave as expected. Follow a structured debugging process instead of randomly changing code.

gabrielmoreira Updated 17 repo stars

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Debug Systematically

Process:

  1. Reproduce the bug with the smallest possible input.
  2. Isolate — narrow down which component/function causes it.
  3. Hypothesize — form a specific, falsifiable hypothesis.
  4. Test — verify or disprove the hypothesis with a minimal experiment.
  5. Fix — address the root cause, not just the symptom.
  6. Verify — re-run the failing test and related tests.

Useful tools: print/logging, pdb/ipdb, unit tests, git bisect.

Anti-patterns:

  • Changing multiple things at once and not knowing what fixed it.
  • Ignoring related test failures.
  • Commenting out code instead of understanding it.

gabrielmoreira/agent-skills-mirror/tree/main/mirrors/repos/aiming-lab@MetaClaw/memory_data/skills/debug-systematically commit d1e46e88e5

Frequently asked questions

npx skillmds@latest add gabrielmoreira/debug-systematically