Best agent skills for systematic debugging
Replace speculative edits with reproducible signals, hypotheses, and regression evidence.
How to choose
Matt’s diagnosing loop is particularly sharp for hard bugs and performance regressions. Superpowers turns root-cause discipline into a default four-phase gate, Pstack adds an auditable playbook when no standard process fits, and Addy connects recovery to the broader build and verification lifecycle.
Diagnosing Bugs
Runs a gated diagnosis loop from reproduction and minimization through instrumentation and regression testing.
Our take: This skill makes debugging a sequence of evidence-producing gates: reproduce, minimize, hypothesize, instrument, fix, and regression-test. It is a strong antidote to agents editing the first suspicious line and declaring victory.
Research
Investigates a technical question against primary sources and saves a cited research artifact.
Systematic Debugging
Runs a four-phase root-cause process and treats symptom fixes as failures.
Our take: A four-phase root-cause process that treats symptom fixes as failures. It forces the agent to reproduce, isolate, understand, and only then change code, which is exactly the discipline most agents skip when they start guessing at a fix.
Figure It Out
Designs a rigorous, auditable playbook when no bundled playbook fits the task.
Debugging and Error Recovery
Finds root causes systematically when tests, builds, or runtime behavior fail.
Browser Testing With DevTools
Verifies browser behavior through DOM, console, network, visual, and performance evidence.