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fix-exploratory-debugging

Debug hard or unclear bugs with time-boxed hypothesis charters — bisect, minimize, instrument, compare working and broken states — and stop to escalate after repeated failed theories. Use when the root cause is not obvious after reading the trace.

71

Quality

89%

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SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

86%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

A tight, well-structured instruction-only skill: lean prose, concrete methods, a defined charter cycle with stop/escalation rules, and explicit exit criteria. The main gap is the absence of worked examples (e.g., a filled-in charter) that would make the guidance fully copy-paste ready.

Suggestions

Add one worked example of a filled-in charter (e.g., 'Test hypothesis: stale cache serves old config, using instrument (correlation-ID logs) to explain why settings revert after restart') so the template is concrete rather than abstract.

For the non-bisect methods, include one concrete command or pattern each (e.g., a correlation-ID log line format, or how to stub a dependency in a typical setup) to lift actionability from technique description to executable guidance.

Make the per-charter record explicit — a two-line 'hypothesis / result / ruled-out' log format — so the feedback loop between charters is verified rather than implied.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The ~20-line body is lean and assumes Claude's competence — 'git bisect between a known-good and the broken commit', 'stub one dependency at a time' — with zero padding or explanation of concepts Claude already knows. Every token earns its place.

5 / 5

Actionability

Methods are concrete and executable (bisect with known-good/broken commits, minimize, instrument with correlation IDs, isolate by stubbing) and the charter template 'Test hypothesis <H> using <method> to explain <symptom>' is directly usable. Below anchor 5 because several methods stay at the technique-description level with no worked example of a filled-in charter or concrete commands beyond git bisect.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

The loop is well-defined: write hypothesis before testing, record result after, stop after 3 failed hypotheses and report what's ruled out, and explicit exit criteria ('A confirmed root cause with evidence, or an escalation note'). Minor validation gaps — the charter cycle itself has no explicit check that a hypothesis result was recorded before moving to the next charter — keep it below anchor 5.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

This is a simple skill under 50 lines with no need for external references, and the body is organized into clear sections (Methods, Rules, Exit criteria) with a single well-signaled cross-skill pointer ('qa-exploratory-charters'). Per the simple-skill exception, well-organized sections alone warrant anchor 5; no bundle files exist to reference.

5 / 5

Total

18

/

20

Passed

Description

88%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

A strong description: third-person voice, concrete method enumeration, and an explicit 'Use when' trigger with a specific condition. It avoids fluff and over-claiming while covering both capability and trigger comprehensively.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description lists multiple concrete actions — 'bisect, minimize, instrument, compare working and broken states' — plus the escalation behavior ('stop to escalate after repeated failed theories'), comprehensively covering the skill's methods. Anchor 5 fits better than 4 because the coverage matches the full method list with no meaningful gaps.

5 / 5

Completeness

It explicitly answers both: what ('Debug hard or unclear bugs with time-boxed hypothesis charters — bisect, minimize, instrument, compare') and when ('Use when the root cause is not obvious after reading the trace'), with a concrete trigger condition. Not 4 because the 'when' clause is specific and concrete rather than generic.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Natural phrases like 'hard or unclear bugs', 'root cause is not obvious', and 'reading the trace' mirror what users would say. It falls short of anchor 5 because common variations like 'stuck', 'flaky', or 'can't reproduce' are missing.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The charter-based escalation niche ('time-boxed hypothesis charters', 'stop to escalate after repeated failed theories') is distinct from general debugging skills. Minor overlap risk remains with any generic debugging/triage skill, which keeps it below anchor 5.

4 / 5

Total

18

/

20

Passed

Validation

100%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository

itsablabla/qa-bug-agent-skills

Path

skills/fix-exploratory-debugging/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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