gitnexus-debugging

Use when the user is debugging a bug, tracing an error, or asking why something fails. Examples: "Why is X failing?", "Where does this error come from?", "Trace this bug"

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The canonical home for this skill is gitnexus-debugging in abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus

Debugging with GitNexus

Name: gitnexus-debugging
Rating: 67.2 (1 reviews)
Author: abhigyanpatwari

When to Use

"Why is this function failing?"
"Trace where this error comes from"
"Who calls this method?"
"This endpoint returns 500"
Investigating bugs, errors, or unexpected behavior

Bind the repository first

A root cause traced in the wrong repository is a wrong root cause.

Call list_repos {} before the first tool call. With one indexed repository, use the examples below as written. With more than one, pass repo on every call: an omitted repo normally errors, but under an MCP policy with a configured default it resolves to that default silently. If you cannot tell which repository is meant, stop and ask. This matters most for cypher, whose statement carries no in-band hint of which database it ran against.

list_repos is paginated, so page with offset: pagination.nextOffset until hasMore is false before concluding a repository is absent.

A stale index describes the code from before your bug, so refresh before trusting a trace, and state the repository and index freshness with the diagnosis.

Workflow

0. list_repos {}                                          → Bind repo
1. query({search_query: "<error or symptom>"})            → Find related execution flows
2. context({name: "<suspect>"})                    → See callers/callees/processes
3. READ gitnexus://repo/{name}/process/{name}                → Trace execution flow
4. cypher({statement: "MATCH path..."})                 → Custom traces if needed

If "Index is stale" → run node .gitnexus/run.cjs analyze in terminal.

Checklist

- [ ] list_repos {} — bind repo; explicit repo when >1 indexed, ask if ambiguous
- [ ] Understand the symptom (error message, unexpected behavior)
- [ ] query for error text or related code
- [ ] Identify the suspect function from returned processes
- [ ] context to see callers and callees
- [ ] Trace execution flow via process resource if applicable
- [ ] cypher for custom call chain traces if needed
- [ ] Read source files to confirm root cause
- [ ] State the repository and index freshness with the diagnosis

Debugging Patterns

Symptom	GitNexus Approach
Error message	`query` for error text → `context` on throw sites
Wrong return value	`context` on the function → trace callees for data flow
Intermittent failure	`context` → look for external calls, async deps
Performance issue	`context` → find symbols with many callers (hot paths)
Recent regression	`detect_changes` to see what your changes affect — pass `worktree` for a linked worktree
"How does A reach B?"	`trace` between the two symbols — shortest call chain in one call

Tools

query — find code related to error:

query({search_query: "payment validation error", repo: "my-app"})
→ Processes: CheckoutFlow, ErrorHandling
→ Symbols: validatePayment, handlePaymentError, PaymentException

context — full context for a suspect:

context({name: "validatePayment", repo: "my-app"})
→ Incoming calls: processCheckout, webhookHandler
→ Outgoing calls: verifyCard, fetchRates (external API!)
→ Processes: CheckoutFlow (step 3/7)

cypher — custom call chain traces. Pass repo alongside the statement; the Cypher text itself names no repository, so the result is unattributable without it:

MATCH path = (a)-[:CodeRelation {type: 'CALLS'}*1..2]->(b:Function {name: "validatePayment"})
RETURN [n IN nodes(path) | n.name] AS chain

trace — shortest call chain between two symbols ("how does A reach B?"), one call instead of chaining context hops:

trace({ from: "processCheckout", to: "fetchRates", repo: "my-app" })
→ status: ok, hopCount: 3
→ hops: processCheckout → validatePayment → verifyCard → fetchRates
→ edges: CALLS (1.0), CALLS (0.95), CALLS (1.0)

When no path exists, trace reports the furthest reachable node — exactly where the chain breaks (dynamic dispatch, reflection, or an external boundary).

Example: "Payment endpoint returns 500 intermittently"

0. list_repos {}
   → total: 2 (my-app, billing-api) — bind my-app explicitly on every call

1. query({search_query: "payment error handling", repo: "my-app"})
   → Processes: CheckoutFlow, ErrorHandling
   → Symbols: validatePayment, handlePaymentError

2. context({name: "validatePayment", repo: "my-app"})
   → Outgoing calls: verifyCard, fetchRates (external API!)

3. READ gitnexus://repo/my-app/process/CheckoutFlow
   → Step 3: validatePayment → calls fetchRates (external)

4. Root cause: fetchRates calls external API without proper timeout
   Repository: my-app  Index: current

With a single indexed repository, step 0 returns total: 1 and the repo argument drops out of every call above.

Repository: abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus
Path: .claude/skills/gitnexus-debugging/SKILL.md
Commit: 4e51213

Last updated: 1 day ago
First committed: ~2 months ago

Canonical home

abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus

In sync

since Jul 24, 2026

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