The Art of Debugging
stas00/the-art-of-debugging
Condensed debugging method and tool recipes for Unix, Python and PyTorch programs: crashes, hangs, segfaults, wrong output, CUDA OOM, NaN values and slowness.
A skill your agent uses when a tool call, command, or API request fails.
Install Graceful Error Recovery
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/MetaClaw graceful-error-recovery --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery .claude/skills/graceful-error-recovery && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "graceful-error-recovery" agent skill from https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery into .claude/skills/graceful-error-recovery/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "graceful-error-recovery", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recoveryType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/MetaClaw graceful-error-recovery --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery .agents/skills/graceful-error-recovery && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "graceful-error-recovery" agent skill from https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery into .agents/skills/graceful-error-recovery/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "graceful-error-recovery", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/MetaClaw graceful-error-recovery --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery .cursor/skills/graceful-error-recovery && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "graceful-error-recovery" agent skill from https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery into .cursor/skills/graceful-error-recovery/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "graceful-error-recovery", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git --path memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/MetaClaw graceful-error-recovery --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery .gemini/skills/graceful-error-recovery && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "graceful-error-recovery" agent skill from https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery into .gemini/skills/graceful-error-recovery/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "graceful-error-recovery", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/MetaClaw graceful-error-recoveryInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery .github/skills/graceful-error-recovery && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "graceful-error-recovery" agent skill from https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery into .github/skills/graceful-error-recovery/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "graceful-error-recovery", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install aiming-lab/MetaClaw graceful-error-recovery --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery .opencode/skills/graceful-error-recovery && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "graceful-error-recovery" agent skill from https://github.com/aiming-lab/MetaClaw/tree/main/memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery into .opencode/skills/graceful-error-recovery/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "graceful-error-recovery", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
graceful-error-recovery- GitHub stars
- 3.5k
- Token cost
- ~221 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 90 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 36
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
A skill your agent uses when a tool call, command, or API request fails.
- Works in 5 steps: Read the full error message — do not… → Identify the root cause: typo, missing… → Fix the root cause, not just the symptom. → …
- API request fails
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
- Tasks that involve Root cause analysis
What it does
Graceful Error Recovery is an agent skill from aiming-lab/MetaClaw. Use this skill when a tool call, command, or API request fails. Diagnose the root cause systematically before retrying or changing approach. Do not retry the same failing call without first understanding why it failed.
Its SKILL.md is about 220 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
It sits in Development, covering Root cause analysis. The repository describes itself as: 🦞 Just talk to your agent — it learns and EVOLVES 🧬. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- API request fails
- Tasks that involve Root cause analysis
Example prompts
- “/graceful-error-recovery”
Workflow steps
5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Read the full error message — do not skip the stack trace.
- Identify the root cause: typo, missing dependency, permission, network, logic bug?
- Fix the root cause, not just the symptom.
- If the fix is uncertain, try the simplest hypothesis first.
- If two retries fail, step back and consider an alternative approach.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 922caf3. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Graceful Error Recovery loads about 221 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 61 tokens; SKILL.md has 90 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
The full file from aiming-lab/MetaClaw at commit 922caf3, republished under its MIT licence (© aiming-lab). 90 words, ~221 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/graceful-error-recovery/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- graceful-error-recovery
- description
- Use this skill when a tool call, command, or API request fails. Diagnose the root cause systematically before retrying or changing approach. Do not retry the same failing call without first understanding why it failed.
- category
- general
Graceful Error Recovery
When something fails, diagnose before retrying.
Process:
- Read the full error message — do not skip the stack trace.
- Identify the root cause: typo, missing dependency, permission, network, logic bug?
- Fix the root cause, not just the symptom.
- If the fix is uncertain, try the simplest hypothesis first.
- If two retries fail, step back and consider an alternative approach.
Anti-patterns:
- Retrying the same failed call in a loop.
- Swallowing errors silently with bare
except: pass. - Blaming the environment before checking your own code.
© aiming-lab, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
Just SKILL.md in memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery of aiming-lab/MetaClaw.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 922caf3
Compare with similar skills
Graceful Error Recovery next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graceful Error Recovery this skillaiming-lab/MetaClaw | 3.5k | — | ~221 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| The Art of Debuggingstas00/the-art-of-debugging | 1.7k | — | ~6.1k | Automated safety check: Notes | CC-BY-SA-4.0 | |
| Veomni DebugByteDance-Seed/VeOmni | 2.2k | — | ~2.8k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Ascendcascend-ai-coding/awesome-ascend-skills | 174 | — | ~3.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | None | |
| Investigateoliver-kriska/claude-elixir-phoenix | 565 | — | ~1.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Fix Implementintel/torch-xpu-ops | 115 | — | ~4.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 |
Similar skills
Veomni Debug
ByteDance-Seed/VeOmni
A skill your agent uses for ANY bug, error, crash, wrong output, loss divergence, gradient explosion, test failure, CUDA error, distributed training hang, checkpoint load failure, or unexpected…
Ascendc
ascend-ai-coding/awesome-ascend-skills
End-to-end AscendC custom operator development for Ascend NPU in an ascend-kernel (csrc/ops + build.sh + torchnpu PyTorch custom op) project.
Investigate
oliver-kriska/claude-elixir-phoenix
Find the root cause of Elixir/Phoenix bugs — crashes, exceptions, stack traces, compile errors, LiveView that won't update, silent failures.
- Official
Fix Implement
intel/torch-xpu-ops
A skill your agent uses when asked to implement a fix for a root-caused failure, apply a proposed patch, or produce a staged code change from triage output.
OpenLogi macOS Permissions Triage
AprilNEA/OpenLogi
Decides whether an OpenLogi device problem on macOS is a privacy-permission (TCC) problem, using agent log lines, and says which identity needs which grant.
More from aiming-lab/MetaClaw
All 36 skills in this repoData Validation First
aiming-lab/MetaClaw
Use this skill before any data analysis, transformation, or modeling.
Input Validation And Sanitization
aiming-lab/MetaClaw
A skill your agent uses when implementing any endpoint, form handler, CLI tool, or function that accepts external input.
Robust Error Handling In Scripts
aiming-lab/MetaClaw
A skill your agent uses when writing shell scripts, Python automation, or any unattended batch job.
Structured Logging And Observability
aiming-lab/MetaClaw
A skill your agent uses when building production services, pipelines, or automation that needs to be debugged, monitored, or audited.
Agent Task Handoff
aiming-lab/MetaClaw
A skill your agent uses when delegating a subtask to a sub-agent, spawning a parallel worker, or handing off work across sessions.
Async Communication Etiquette
aiming-lab/MetaClaw
A skill your agent uses when writing messages in async channels (Slack, GitHub issues, email threads) where the reader may not have context and cannot ask follow-up questions immediately.
Related
Categories
Questions about Graceful Error Recovery
What does Graceful Error Recovery do?
A skill your agent uses when a tool call, command, or API request fails. Graceful Error Recovery is an agent skill from aiming-lab/MetaClaw. Use this skill when a tool call, command, or API request fails.
When should I use Graceful Error Recovery?
Graceful Error Recovery fits situations like: API request fails; tasks that involve Root cause analysis.
How do I install Graceful Error Recovery in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery in aiming-lab/MetaClaw) into .claude/skills/graceful-error-recovery in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Graceful Error Recovery in Codex?
Run `npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (memory_data/skills/graceful-error-recovery in aiming-lab/MetaClaw) into .agents/skills/graceful-error-recovery in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Graceful Error Recovery in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add aiming-lab/MetaClaw --skill graceful-error-recovery -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/graceful-error-recovery, .gemini/skills/graceful-error-recovery, .github/skills/graceful-error-recovery and .opencode/skills/graceful-error-recovery in your project.
What does Graceful Error Recovery need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Graceful Error Recovery is instructions for the agent only.
Does Graceful Error Recovery access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Graceful Error Recovery safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Graceful Error Recovery use?
Graceful Error Recovery is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Graceful Error Recovery use?
About 221 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 884 characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to Graceful Error Recovery?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Graceful Error Recovery: The Art of Debugging (stas00/the-art-of-debugging, 1.7k stars), Veomni Debug (ByteDance-Seed/VeOmni, 2.2k stars), Ascendc (ascend-ai-coding/awesome-ascend-skills, 174 stars) and Investigate (oliver-kriska/claude-elixir-phoenix, 565 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Graceful Error Recovery?
aiming-lab (a GitHub organization) maintains it in aiming-lab/MetaClaw, which has 3,459 GitHub stars. The repository holds 36 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 7, 2026.
Source: aiming-lab/MetaClaw on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.