Systematic, safety-first network troubleshooting for developers

When to use this skill

Systematic, safety-first network troubleshooting for developers

Source

Synced from https://github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules/tree/main/rules/network-troubleshoot.mdc.

Network Troubleshoot

Use this rule as a concise decision guide for developer network failures. Keep diagnostics safe, target-scoped, and read-only. Do not turn this rule into an automated remediation toolkit.

Safety Boundaries

• Prefer read-only diagnostics and trusted project-provided diagnostic scripts.
• Use the failing host, URL, registry, or service as the default probe target.
• Ask before probing unrelated external services.
• Do not print proxy URLs, credentials, tokens, auth headers, package index URLs, registry hostnames from config, or raw config values in shared output.
• Internal hosts and URLs may be collected for target-scoped local diagnostics, but replace them with placeholders before sharing logs or reports unless the user explicitly approves including them.
• Do not dump local config from npm, pnpm, yarn, pip, Git, Docker, shell, OS proxy, VPN, or certificate stores.
• Do not disable, bypass, or skip TLS or certificate verification.
• Do not change OS networking, DNS, proxy, package manager, Git, Docker, shell, VPN, or trust-store settings without explicit user approval for the exact action.

Workflow

1. Collect: Capture the exact error, failing command, target host/URL/port, OS/shell, proxy/VPN context, and whether the failure affects one target or many.
2. Classify: Match the symptom to the most likely category.
3. Diagnose: Run only read-only checks scoped to the failing target.
4. Explain: Interpret the output before suggesting any fix.
5. Advise: Present remediation options as choices and wait for user approval before changing state.
6. Verify: Re-run the original failing command or an equivalent target-scoped check.

Error Classification

| Error Pattern | Likely Category | |---|---| | ECONNREFUSED, ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED, Connection refused | Target service or port is not listening | | ECONNRESET, socket hang up, Connection reset | Connection dropped by target, proxy, firewall, or middlebox | | ETIMEDOUT, ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT, timed out | Routing, firewall, proxy, or target availability | | ENOTFOUND, EAI_NONAME, ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED, getaddrinfo | DNS or hostname issue | | ERR_PROXY_CONNECTION_FAILED, proxy tunnel errors, HTTP 407 | Proxy configuration or proxy authentication | | UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE, CERT_HAS_EXPIRED, self signed, ERR_CERT_* | TLS certificate or local trust issue | | HTTP 403 | Authorization, IP allowlist, CORS, or policy block | | HTTP 502, 503, 504 | Upstream service, gateway, CDN, or transient server issue | | npm ERR! network, package install timeout, pip timeout | Package registry, proxy, DNS, or network path issue | | fatal: unable to access, Git fetch/push timeout | Git remote, proxy, DNS, TLS, or network path issue |

Safe Target-Scoped Checks

Choose the smallest relevant set. Explain what each command checks before running it.

Connectivity

Linux/macOS:

bash
ping -c 4 <target-host>
curl -v telnet://<target-host>:<port> --connect-timeout 5

Windows PowerShell:

powershell
Test-Connection -ComputerName <target-host> -Count 4
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName <target-host> -Port <port>

DNS

Linux/macOS:

bash
nslookup <target-host>
dig <target-host>                # Linux/macOS, if available

Windows PowerShell:

powershell
Resolve-DnsName <target-host>

HTTP

Linux/macOS:

bash
curl -vvv -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code}\nTime: %{time_total}s\nDNS: %{time_namelookup}s\nConnect: %{time_connect}s\nTLS: %{time_appconnect}s\n" https://<target-host>/<path>
curl -I https://<target-host>/<path>

Windows PowerShell:

powershell
$uri = "https://<target-host>/<path>"
try {
  $resp = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $uri -Method Head -TimeoutSec 10
  "HTTP status: $([int]$resp.StatusCode)"
} catch [Net.WebException] {
  if ($_.Exception.Response) {
    "HTTP status: $([int]$_.Exception.Response.StatusCode)"
  } else {
    "HTTP request failed: $($_.Exception.Message)"
  }
}

TLS

Linux/macOS:

bash
openssl s_client -connect <target-host>:<port> -servername <target-host> -showcerts </dev/null
echo | openssl s_client -connect <target-host>:<port> -servername <target-host> 2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -noout -subject -issuer -dates

Windows PowerShell:

Use HEAD and report HTTP statuses separately from TLS or network errors so non-2xx responses are not mislabeled as certificate failures.

powershell
try {
  $req = [Net.HttpWebRequest]::Create("https://<target-host>:<port>/<path>")
  $req.Method = "HEAD"
  $req.Timeout = 5000

  try {
    $resp = $req.GetResponse()
  } catch [Net.WebException] {
    $resp = $_.Exception.Response
    if ($req.ServicePoint.Certificate) {
      $cert = $req.ServicePoint.Certificate
      "Cert subject: $($cert.Subject)"
      "Cert expires: $($cert.GetExpirationDateString())"
    }
    if ($resp) {
      "HTTP status: $([int]$resp.StatusCode) $($resp.StatusDescription)"
      $resp.Close()
    } else {
      "TLS/network error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    }
    return
  }

  $cert = $req.ServicePoint.Certificate
  if ($cert) {
    "Cert subject: $($cert.Subject)"
    "Cert expires: $($cert.GetExpirationDateString())"
  }
  "HTTP status: $([int]$resp.StatusCode) $($resp.StatusDescription)"
  $resp.Close()
} catch {
  "TLS/network error: $($_.Exception.Message)"
}

Proxy And Package Managers

For proxy, package manager, Git, Docker, and OS network configuration, avoid raw config reads. Report only whether relevant settings appear present when this can be checked without printing values. If the available command would print a URL, token, internal hostname, auth header, or full config value, do not run it.

Only perform package registry probes when the failed operation already targeted that registry, or after the user approves that exact probe target.

User-Approved Remediation Options

These are options to discuss with the user, not commands to run automatically.

| Diagnosis | Safe Advice | |---|---| | Target service is not listening | Check whether the local or remote service is running and whether the expected port is correct. | | DNS lookup fails | Check the hostname, hosts-file expectations, DNS service status, or approved DNS changes. | | Proxy appears required or unavailable | Ask whether the user wants to start or adjust the proxy/VPN, then verify only the approved target. | | TLS certificate expired | Renew or replace the certificate, fix system time, install a trusted local development CA, or update the trust store. Do not bypass TLS verification. | | TLS unknown CA | Import the correct CA into the appropriate trust store after the user confirms the source and scope. | | HTTP 407 | Ask the user to confirm proxy authentication requirements before changing credentials or tool settings. | | HTTP 403 | Check authentication, API key scope, IP allowlist, CORS policy, or service policy. | | HTTP 502/503/504 | Treat as upstream or gateway instability; check status pages when approved and retry with backoff. | | Package install timeout | Discuss approved registry, proxy, or network-path options without printing or changing stored config values. | | Git network failure | Discuss approved remote URL, proxy, credential, TLS, or network-path options without changing global Git settings automatically. | | Docker pull failure | Discuss approved registry mirror, proxy, or daemon settings as a user-approved configuration change. |

Verification

After any user-approved change, verify with the original failing command whenever possible. If a smaller check is needed, keep it scoped to the same failing host, URL, registry, or service.

Always explain what each diagnostic result means before recommending the next step.