Debugging and Error Recovery
addyosmani/agent-skills
Applies a stop-the-line rule and a step-by-step triage when tests fail, builds break or something stops working, aiming at the root cause instead of guesses.
Systematic debugging skill. An agent skill from blueberrycongee/termcanvas.
Install Investigate
$ npx skills add blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install blueberrycongee/termcanvas investigate --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/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skills/investigate .claude/skills/investigate && 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 "investigate" agent skill from https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigate into .claude/skills/investigate/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "investigate", 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/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigateType 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install blueberrycongee/termcanvas investigate --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skills/investigate .agents/skills/investigate && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "investigate" agent skill from https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigate into .agents/skills/investigate/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "investigate", 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install blueberrycongee/termcanvas investigate --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skills/investigate .cursor/skills/investigate && 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 "investigate" agent skill from https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigate into .cursor/skills/investigate/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "investigate", 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/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git --path skills/skills/investigate--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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install blueberrycongee/termcanvas investigate --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skills/investigate .gemini/skills/investigate && 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 "investigate" agent skill from https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigate into .gemini/skills/investigate/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "investigate", 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas investigateInstalls 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skills/investigate .github/skills/investigate && 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 "investigate" agent skill from https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigate into .github/skills/investigate/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "investigate", 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install blueberrycongee/termcanvas investigate --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/skills/investigate .opencode/skills/investigate && 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 "investigate" agent skill from https://github.com/blueberrycongee/termcanvas/tree/main/skills/skills/investigate into .opencode/skills/investigate/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "investigate", 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
investigate- GitHub stars
- 405
- Token cost
- ~562 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 318 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 7
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Systematic debugging skill. An agent skill from blueberrycongee/termcanvas.
- Works in 5 steps: Collect → Hypothesize → Verify → …
- Encountering a bug
- SKILL.md covers Phase 1: Collect, Phase 2: Hypothesize, Phase 3: Verify and Phase 4: Fix, plus 2 more sections
- Calls git
What it does
Investigate is an agent skill from blueberrycongee/termcanvas. Systematic debugging skill. Use when encountering a bug, test failure, unexpected behavior, or when asked to "investigate", "debug", "diagnose", or "figure out why". Enforces root-cause-first discipline with structured hypothesis tracking.
Its SKILL.md is about 560 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 Debugging, Root cause analysis and Failing and flaky tests. It works with Git. The repository describes itself as: An infinite canvas desktop app for visually managing terminals. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Encountering a bug
- Unexpected behavior
- Asked to investigate
Example prompts
- “investigate”
- “diagnose”
- “figure out why”
- “/investigate”
Workflow steps
5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit fa25981. 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
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
git
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.
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
Investigate loads about 562 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 63 tokens; SKILL.md has 318 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas at commit fa25981, republished under its MIT licence (© blueberrycongee). 318 words, ~562 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/investigate/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- investigate
- description
- Systematic debugging skill. Use when encountering a bug, test failure, unexpected behavior, or when asked to "investigate", "debug", "diagnose", or "figure out why". Enforces root-cause-first discipline with structured hypothesis tracking.
Investigate
Systematic debugging workflow. Do not guess-and-fix — find the root cause first.
Phase 1: Collect
Gather all available evidence before forming any hypothesis.
- Read the error message, stack trace, or symptom description exactly as given
- Identify the affected code path — read the relevant source files
- Check
git log --oneline -20in the affected area for recent changes - If reproducible, reproduce the issue and capture the exact output
- List what you know and what you do not know
Deliverable: a structured symptom summary with affected files, error output, and recent changes.
Phase 2: Hypothesize
Form up to 3 ranked hypotheses. For each:
- State the hypothesis in one sentence
- Identify the single cheapest check that would confirm or refute it
- Do NOT start fixing yet
Phase 3: Verify
Test hypotheses in rank order. For each:
- Run the cheapest check identified in Phase 2
- If confirmed — move to Phase 4
- If refuted — record what you learned and move to the next hypothesis
3-strike rule: If all 3 hypotheses fail, step back and re-collect. Do not keep guessing. Re-read the code path more carefully, expand the search area, or check for environmental factors (config, dependencies, platform).
Phase 4: Fix
Only after root cause is confirmed:
- Write the minimal fix that addresses the root cause
- Do not refactor surrounding code
- Do not add speculative defensive checks
- Run the test suite to verify the fix and check for regressions
Phase 5: Verify and Report
- Confirm the original symptom is resolved
- Confirm no regressions were introduced
- Summarize: root cause, fix applied, evidence of resolution
Rules
- Never skip Phase 1-3 and jump to fixing
- Never change tests to match broken behavior
- If the bug is in a dependency or environment, report it — do not patch around it silently
- If you cannot reproduce the issue, say so and explain what you tried
© blueberrycongee, 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 skills/skills/investigate of blueberrycongee/termcanvas.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit fa25981
Compare with similar skills
Investigate 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investigate this skillblueberrycongee/termcanvas | 405 | — | ~562 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Debugging and Error Recoveryaddyosmani/agent-skills | 104k | 1 repos | ~2.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Debuggnomeria/usbtree | 691 | — | ~715 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Regression Root Cause AnalyzerArabelaTso/Skills-4-SE | 253 | — | ~3.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| TiDB Test Diff Triagepingcap/tidb | 41k | — | ~498 | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Systematic DebuggingChrisWiles/claude-code-showcase | 6.1k | 3 repos | ~1.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | None |
Similar skills
Debug
gnomeria/usbtree
Systematic root-cause debugging — reproduce, isolate, fix at the source, prove the fix.
Regression Root Cause Analyzer
ArabelaTso/Skills-4-SE
Locate root causes of failing regression tests by analyzing code changes, error messages, and test dependencies.
TiDB Test Diff Triage
pingcap/tidb
Investigates TiDB plan or test-result diffs that the change does not explain, ruling out failpoint setup and merge effects before expected outputs are updated.
Systematic Debugging
ChrisWiles/claude-code-showcase
Applies a four-phase debugging routine that finds the root cause of a bug or failing test before any fix is written.
Systematic Debugging
ed3dai/ed3d-plugins
A skill your agent uses when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes - four-phase framework (root cause investigation, pattern analysis, hypothesis…
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Hydra
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A skill your agent uses when a task should run through Hydra's Lead-driven workflow for multi-agent orchestration, or when an existing workflow must be inspected or cleaned up.
QA
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Using Termcanvas
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A skill your agent uses when starting work in a TermCanvas-managed repo to route between direct work, Hydra, or a narrow TermCanvas skill.
Related
Works with
Categories
Questions about Investigate
What does Investigate do?
Systematic debugging skill. An agent skill from blueberrycongee/termcanvas. Investigate is an agent skill from blueberrycongee/termcanvas. Systematic debugging skill.
When should I use Investigate?
Investigate fits situations like: encountering a bug; unexpected behavior; asked to investigate.
How do I install Investigate in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/skills/investigate in blueberrycongee/termcanvas) into .claude/skills/investigate in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Investigate in Codex?
Run `npx skills add blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/skills/investigate in blueberrycongee/termcanvas) into .agents/skills/investigate in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Investigate 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 blueberrycongee/termcanvas --skill investigate -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/investigate, .gemini/skills/investigate, .github/skills/investigate and .opencode/skills/investigate in your project.
What does Investigate need to run?
Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Investigate needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git).
Does Investigate access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Investigate 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 Investigate use?
Investigate 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 Investigate use?
About 562 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.2k 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 Investigate?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Investigate: Debugging and Error Recovery (addyosmani/agent-skills, 104k stars), Debug (gnomeria/usbtree, 691 stars), Regression Root Cause Analyzer (ArabelaTso/Skills-4-SE, 253 stars) and TiDB Test Diff Triage (pingcap/tidb, 41k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Investigate?
blueberrycongee (a GitHub user) maintains it in blueberrycongee/termcanvas, which has 405 GitHub stars. The repository holds 7 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on May 31, 2026.
Source: blueberrycongee/termcanvas on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.