DebugView CLI

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Capturing OutputDebugString output from a running Windows app
• Collecting kernel DbgPrint or KdPrint output from a driver
• Setting up boot-time debug logging
• Running a time-limited debug capture from a script

Example prompts

• “Capture OutputDebugString output from myapp.exe for a short bounded run.”
• “Collect kernel debug output while I load the driver, and keep only lines containing ERROR.”
• “Set up boot-time debug logging with DebugView and tell me what needs Administrator.”

Requirements

• Windows Vista or later (x64 or ARM64)
• dbgviewcli.exe, verified as signed by Microsoft Corporation
• Administrator rights for kernel and boot capture

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Static CRT linking — No DLL dependencies, runs on any Windows system
2. 2stdout/stderr separation — Debug output → stdout; errors/status → stderr
3. 3Bounded execution — --duration, --max-lines, --wait-for ensure guaranteed exit for automation
4. 4Clean output — --no-banner suppresses noise for pipe/agent consumption
5. 5Machine-readable status — --status outputs key=value pairs for programmatic checks
6. 6Graceful shutdown — SetConsoleCtrlHandler ensures clean driver unload on Ctrl+C

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 354361d. 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

  Ships 3 files in scripts/ (PowerShell), which the agent can run.

  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

DebugView CLI loads about 2.7k tokens when it runs, and up to ~6.6k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 196 tokens; SKILL.md has 839 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~196

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.7k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~6.6k

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

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); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from microsoft/skills at commit 354361d, republished under its MIT licence (© microsoft). 839 words, ~2,664 tokens.

name

debugview

description

Sysinternals DebugView CLI (DbgViewCli) for capturing and analyzing usermode and kernel-mode Windows debug output from the command line. USE FOR: capturing OutputDebugString output, kernel DbgPrint/KdPrint capture, boot-time debug logging, remote debug monitoring, filtering debug output by PID or process name, crash dump analysis, automated debug capture with bounded execution. DO NOT USE FOR: non-Windows platforms, application-level logging frameworks (log4j, serilog), Azure Monitor or cloud telemetry, ETW tracing (use WPR/xperf instead), user-mode crash dumps (use WinDbg). Triggers: "debug output", "DbgView", "DebugView", "kernel debug", "capture debug logs", "boot logging", "OutputDebugString", "DbgPrint", "KdPrint", "remote debug monitor", "debug capture CLI".

# No package manager install — copy binary to a PATH location
copy dbgviewcli.exe C:\Tools\

1. Detect/status check   →  dbgviewcli --status
2. Start capture          →  dbgviewcli [options]
3. Filter output          →  --filter/--exclude/--pid-filter/--process-filter
4. Bounded execution      →  --duration/--max-lines/--wait-for
5. Output/log results     →  stdout or --log <file>
6. Stop                   →  Ctrl+C or automatic exit on bounds

# Capture for 30 seconds, no banner, output as text
dbgviewcli --no-banner --duration 30

# Capture until a specific error appears
dbgviewcli --no-banner --wait-for "*ERROR*" --max-lines 10000

# Run as Administrator
dbgviewcli --kernel --no-banner --duration 60 --format csv --log kernel_debug.csv

# Filter by PID
dbgviewcli --no-banner --pid-filter 1234 --duration 10

# Filter by process name
dbgviewcli --no-banner --process-filter "myapp.exe" --max-lines 500

# Include only lines matching pattern
dbgviewcli --no-banner --filter "MyDriver*" --exclude "verbose*"

# Capture but only output last 50 lines on exit
dbgviewcli --no-banner --tail 50 --duration 30

dbgviewcli --status
# Output:
# running=true
# paused=false
# elevated=true

# Enable (requires admin, persists across reboot)
dbgviewcli --boot-enable

# Check status
dbgviewcli --boot-status

# Disable
dbgviewcli --boot-disable

dbgviewcli --connect SERVER01 --no-banner --duration 60

# Pause a running instance from another terminal
dbgviewcli --pause

# Resume the paused instance
dbgviewcli --resume

# Gracefully stop a running instance
dbgviewcli --stop

# Accept EULA non-interactively for automated/scripted deployments
dbgviewcli --accepteula --no-banner --duration 30

© microsoft, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 6 other files (scripts, references) in .github/skills/debugview of microsoft/skills.

• SKILL.md
• references/driver-ioctls.md
• references/output-formats.md
• references/remote-protocol.md
• scripts/boot-logging-workflow.ps1
• scripts/capture-wrapper.ps1
• scripts/detect-dbgview.ps1

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 354361d

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in microsoft/skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• majiayu000/claude-skill-registryskills/bash/debugview