Does this skill suggest code changes?

Yes, it encourages 'defense-in-depth' by suggesting validation layers at every level of the stack to make the bug impossible to recreate.

What makes root cause tracing different from normal debugging?

Instead of fixing the error where it appears (the symptom), this skill helps you trace backwards through every caller until you find the original trigger (the source).

When should I use the instrumentation technique?

Use instrumentation when a manual trace is impossible due to complexity or when bugs are non-deterministic and require logging data at various points in the call chain.

How does this skill help with failing tests?

It provides a bisection methodology to identify 'polluter' tests that leave the environment in a bad state, causing subsequent tests to fail.

Root Cause Tracing

Name: Root Cause Tracing
Author: NickCrew

byNickCrew

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安全与测试

Systematically traces bugs backward through execution stacks to identify and fix the original source of errors.

关于

The Root Cause Tracing skill provides a structured methodology for debugging complex issues that manifest deep within an application's call stack. Rather than patching superficial symptoms, it guides developers through a step-by-step process of manual tracing, automated instrumentation, and defense-in-depth validation to uncover the true trigger of a bug. By focusing on the origin of invalid data or incorrect state, it helps eliminate recurring issues and strengthens codebases through multi-layered validation patterns.

主要功能

Systematic backward call stack tracing methodology
Context-aware analysis of environment variables and state
Test suite bisection to identify environmental polluters
7 GitHub stars
Custom instrumentation patterns for deep execution logging
Defense-in-depth implementation for error prevention

使用场景

Identifying the specific test causing state pollution in a large test suite
Debugging filesystem errors or database path issues deep in a workspace
Tracing invalid data structures back to an incorrect initialization point

关于

主要功能

Systematic backward call stack tracing methodology
Context-aware analysis of environment variables and state
Test suite bisection to identify environmental polluters
7 GitHub stars
Custom instrumentation patterns for deep execution logging
Defense-in-depth implementation for error prevention

使用场景

Identifying the specific test causing state pollution in a large test suite
Debugging filesystem errors or database path issues deep in a workspace
Tracing invalid data structures back to an incorrect initialization point