What is the main benefit of Root Cause Tracing over standard debugging?

It prevents 'symptom-patching' by ensuring the fix is applied at the original source of the error, making the codebase more resilient and preventing similar bugs from reappearing.

Can this skill help identify which test is causing environment pollution?

Yes, it includes guidance and bisection scripts to isolate specific tests that leave side effects (like uncleaned files or database records) which cause subsequent tests to fail.

What does 'defense-in-depth' mean in a debugging context?

It refers to adding validation and guards at every layer of the call stack so that errors are caught immediately when they occur, rather than allowing invalid states to propagate deep into the system.

How does this skill handle errors that happen deep in the call stack?

It provides a structured workflow to step backward through the call chain, using strategic console instrumentation and stack trace analysis to reveal the data flow from the entry point to the failure.

Root Cause Tracing

Name: Root Cause Tracing
Author: lifangda

bylifangda

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セキュリティとテスト

Traces software bugs backward through the execution chain to identify and fix original triggers at the source.

概要

Root Cause Tracing provides a systematic debugging methodology for Claude Code that shifts focus from fixing surface-level symptoms to eliminating original triggers. It guides developers through the process of observing deep execution errors, analyzing complex call stacks, and adding strategic instrumentation to reveal exactly how invalid data travels through a system. By combining backward tracing with defense-in-depth implementation patterns and automated bisection for test pollution, this skill ensures that complex bugs are thoroughly understood and architecturally prevented from recurring.

主な機能

Strategic debugging instrumentation for stack trace capture
Automated test pollution bisection for isolated failures
Defense-in-depth implementation patterns for multi-layer validation
16 GitHub stars
Systematic backward call chain analysis workflow
Environment-aware logging techniques for test suite debugging

ユースケース

Debugging 'ghost' files or directories created in incorrect locations during complex test runs
Tracing the origin of invalid data or null values through multiple service layers
Identifying specific test cases causing environment pollution in large, monolithic test suites

概要

主な機能

Strategic debugging instrumentation for stack trace capture
Automated test pollution bisection for isolated failures
Defense-in-depth implementation patterns for multi-layer validation
16 GitHub stars
Systematic backward call chain analysis workflow
Environment-aware logging techniques for test suite debugging

ユースケース

Debugging 'ghost' files or directories created in incorrect locations during complex test runs
Tracing the origin of invalid data or null values through multiple service layers
Identifying specific test cases causing environment pollution in large, monolithic test suites