Debugger

An advanced debugging specialist that helps diagnose and resolve code issues systematically.

When This Skill Activates

Activates when you:

• Report an error or bug
• Mention "debug this" or "help debug"
• Describe unexpected behavior
• Ask why something isn't working

Debugging Process

Phase 1: Understand the Problem

1. Reproduce the issue

• What are the exact steps to reproduce?
• What is the expected behavior?
• What is the actual behavior?
• What error messages appear?

1. Gather context

bash # Check recent changes git log --oneline -10

# Check error logs tail -f logs/error.log

# Check environment env | grep -i debug

Phase 2: Isolate the Issue

1. Locate the error source

• Stack trace analysis
• Error code lookup
• Log correlation

1. Narrow down scope

• Binary search (comment out half)
• Minimize reproduction case
• Identify affected components

Phase 3: Analyze the Root Cause

Common Error Categories

| Category | Symptoms | Investigation Steps | |----------|----------|---------------------| | Null/Undefined | "Cannot read X of undefined" | Trace the variable origin | | Type Errors | "X is not a function" | Check actual vs expected type | | Async Issues | Race conditions, timing | Check promise handling, async/await | | State Issues | Stale data, wrong state | Trace state mutations | | Network | Timeouts, connection refused | Check endpoints, CORS, auth | | Environment | Works locally, not in prod | Compare env vars, versions | | Memory | Leaks, OOM | Profile memory usage | | Concurrency | Deadlocks, race conditions | Check locks, shared state |

Phase 4: Form Hypotheses

For each potential cause:

1. Form a hypothesis
2. Create a test to validate
3. Run the test
4. Confirm or reject

Phase 5: Fix and Verify

1. Implement the fix
2. Add logging if needed
3. Test the fix
4. Add regression test

Debugging Commands

General Debugging

bash
# Find recently modified files
find . -type f -mtime -1 -name "*.js" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.py"

# Grep for error patterns
grep -r "ERROR\|FATAL\|Exception" logs/

# Search for suspicious patterns
grep -r "TODO\|FIXME\|XXX" src/

# Check for console.log left in code
grep -r "console\.log\|debugger" src/

Language-Specific

JavaScript/TypeScript:

bash
# Run with debug output
NODE_DEBUG=* node app.js

# Check syntax
node -c file.js

# Run tests in debug mode
npm test -- --inspect-brk

Python:

bash
# Run with pdb
python -m pdb script.py

# Check syntax
python -m py_compile script.py

# Verbose mode
python -v script.py

Go:

bash
# Race detection
go run -race main.go

# Debug build
go build -gcflags="-N -l"

# Profile
go test -cpuprofile=cpu.prof

Common Debugging Patterns

Pattern 1: Divide and Conquer

python
# When you don't know where the bug is:
def process():
    step1()
    step2()
    step3()
    step4()

# Comment out half:
def process():
    step1()
    # step2()
    # step3()
    # step4()

# If bug disappears, uncomment half of commented:
def process():
    step1()
    step2()
    # step3()
    # step4()

# Continue until you isolate the bug

Pattern 2: Add Logging

typescript
// Before (mysterious failure):
async function getUser(id: string) {
  const user = await db.find(id);
  return transform(user);
}

// After (with logging):
async function getUser(id: string) {
  console.log('[DEBUG] getUser called with id:', id);
  const user = await db.find(id);
  console.log('[DEBUG] db.find returned:', user);
  const result = transform(user);
  console.log('[DEBUG] transform returned:', result);
  return result;
}

Pattern 3: Minimal Reproduction

typescript
// Complex code with bug:
function processBatch(items, options) {
  // 100 lines of complex logic
}

// Create minimal reproduction:
function processBatch(items, options) {
  console.log('Items:', items.length);
  console.log('Options:', options);
  // Test with minimal data
  return processBatch([items[0]], options);
}

Error Message Analysis

Common Error Messages

| Error | Likely Cause | Solution | |-------|--------------|----------| | Cannot read property 'X' of undefined | Accessing property on null/undefined | Add null check, use optional chaining | | X is not a function | Wrong type, shadowing | Check typeof, verify import | | Unexpected token | Syntax error | Check line before error, validate syntax | | Module not found | Import path wrong | Check relative path, verify file exists | | EADDRINUSE | Port already in use | Kill existing process, use different port | | Connection refused | Service not running | Start service, check port | | Timeout | Request too slow | Increase timeout, check network |

Debugging Checklist

• ] I can reproduce the issue consistently
• ] I have identified the exact error location
• ] I understand the root cause
• ] I have a proposed fix
• ] The fix doesn't break existing functionality
• ] I've added a test to prevent regression

Scripts

Generate a debug report:

bash
python3 scripts/debug_report.py --name <error-message> --output debug-report.md

References

• references/checklist.md - Debugging checklist
• references/patterns.md - Common debugging patterns
• references/errors.md - Error message reference