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Agent skill

Why

by NeoLabHQ in NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit

Iterative Five Whys root cause analysis drilling from symptoms to fundamentals

GPL-3.0Auto-check passedDevelopment

Install Why

skills CLI
$ npx skills add NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit --skill why -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit why --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/why .claude/skills/why && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Facts

Skill name
why
GitHub stars
1.7k
Token cost
~819 tokens
SKILL.md length
235 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
57
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
GPL-3.0

At a glance

Iterative Five Whys root cause analysis drilling from symptoms to fundamentals

  • Works in 7 steps: State the problem clearly → Ask "Why did this happen?" and document… → For that answer, ask "Why?" again → …
  • Tasks that involve Root cause analysis
  • SKILL.md covers Description, Usage, Variables and Steps, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Why is an agent skill from NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit. Iterative Five Whys root cause analysis drilling from symptoms to fundamentals

Its SKILL.md is about 820 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: Hand-crafted Claude Code Skills focused on improving agent results quality. Compatible with OpenCode, Cursor, Antigravity, Gemini CLI, and others. Includes CodeRabbit open-source… The licence is GPL-3.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Root cause analysis

Example prompts

  • “/why”

Requirements

  • Docker

Workflow steps

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

  1. State the problem clearly
  2. Ask "Why did this happen?" and document the answer
  3. For that answer, ask "Why?" again
  4. Continue until reaching root cause (usually 5 iterations)
  5. Validate by working backwards: root cause → symptom
  6. Explore branches if multiple causes emerge
  7. Propose solutions addressing root causes, not symptoms

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 23e2428. 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

Why loads about 819 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 21 tokens; SKILL.md has 235 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~21
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~819

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 NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit at commit 23e2428, republished under its GPL-3.0 licence (© NeoLabHQ). 235 words, ~819 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/why/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
why
description
Iterative Five Whys root cause analysis drilling from symptoms to fundamentals

Five Whys Analysis

Apply Five Whys root cause analysis to investigate issues by iteratively asking "why" to drill from symptoms to root causes.

Description

Iteratively ask "why" to move from surface symptoms to fundamental causes. Identifies systemic issues rather than quick fixes.

Usage

/why [issue_description]

Variables

  • ISSUE: Problem or symptom to analyze (default: prompt for input)
  • DEPTH: Number of "why" iterations (default: 5, adjust as needed)

Steps

  1. State the problem clearly
  2. Ask "Why did this happen?" and document the answer
  3. For that answer, ask "Why?" again
  4. Continue until reaching root cause (usually 5 iterations)
  5. Validate by working backwards: root cause → symptom
  6. Explore branches if multiple causes emerge
  7. Propose solutions addressing root causes, not symptoms

Examples

Example 1: Production Bug
Problem: Users see 500 error on checkout
Why 1: Payment service throws exception
Why 2: Request timeout after 30 seconds
Why 3: Database query takes 45 seconds
Why 4: Missing index on transactions table
Why 5: Index creation wasn't in migration scripts
Root Cause: Migration review process doesn't check query performance

Solution: Add query performance checks to migration PR template
Example 2: CI/CD Pipeline Failures
Problem: E2E tests fail intermittently
Why 1: Race condition in async test setup
Why 2: Test doesn't wait for database seed completion
Why 3: Seed function doesn't return promise
Why 4: TypeScript didn't catch missing return type
Why 5: strict mode not enabled in test config
Root Cause: Inconsistent TypeScript config between src and tests

Solution: Unify TypeScript config, enable strict mode everywhere
Example 3: Multi-Branch Analysis
Problem: Feature deployment takes 2 hours

Branch A (Build):
Why 1: Docker build takes 90 minutes
Why 2: No layer caching
Why 3: Dependencies reinstalled every time
Why 4: Cache invalidated by timestamp in Dockerfile
Root Cause A: Dockerfile uses current timestamp for versioning

Branch B (Tests):
Why 1: Test suite takes 30 minutes
Why 2: Integration tests run sequentially
Why 3: Test runner config has maxWorkers: 1
Why 4: Previous developer disabled parallelism due to flaky tests
Root Cause B: Flaky tests masked by disabling parallelism

Solutions: 
A) Remove timestamp from Dockerfile, use git SHA
B) Fix flaky tests, re-enable parallel test execution

Notes

  • Don't stop at symptoms; keep digging for systemic issues
  • Multiple root causes may exist - explore different branches
  • Document each "why" for future reference
  • Consider both technical and process-related causes
  • The magic isn't in exactly 5 whys - stop when you reach the true root cause
  • Stop when you hit systemic/process issues, not just technical details
  • Multiple root causes are common—explore branches separately
  • If "human error" appears, keep digging: why was error possible?
  • Document every "why" for future reference
  • Root cause usually involves: missing validation, missing docs, unclear process, or missing automation
  • Test solutions: implement → verify symptom resolved → monitor for recurrence

© NeoLabHQ, GPL-3.0. 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/why of NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 23e2428

Compare with similar skills

Why 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.

Why compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Why this skillNeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit1.7k—~819Automated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Code Design Rationale Investigatorcursor/plugins10k9 repos~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassNone
OpenLogi macOS Permissions TriageAprilNEA/OpenLogi23k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Bug Finder for daisyUIsaadeghi/daisyui43k—~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Root Cause Debugginggarrytan/gstack136k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Review PRapache/shardingsphere21k—~6.4kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

Similar skills

  • Code Design Rationale Investigator

    cursor/plugins

    Official

    Digs into why code is shaped the way it is by checking git history, pull requests and connected tools in parallel, then reporting a cited read on the tradeoffs.

    10k GitHub starsUsed in 9 repos~2.6k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • 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.

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  • Bug Finder for daisyUI

    saadeghi/daisyui

    Investigates suspected bugs in the daisyUI monorepo through read-only analysis, then writes a decision-ready fix plan in tmp/bugs without changing any product code.

    43k GitHub stars~2.3k tokensUpdated yesterday
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  • Root Cause Debugging

    garrytan/gstack

    Investigates bugs, errors and stack traces in phases and requires a root-cause hypothesis to be confirmed before any fix is written.

    136k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated today
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  • Review PR

    apache/shardingsphere

    Review Apache ShardingSphere or user-authorized downstream pull requests and PR discussions from public or authorized repository evidence.

    21k GitHub stars~6.4k tokensUpdated today
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  • Graph-Based Bug Tracing

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    Traces a bug through a code knowledge graph, following callers, callees and execution flow before opening source files, within a small token budget.

    32k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~287 tokens
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Categories

Questions about Why

What does Why do?

Iterative Five Whys root cause analysis drilling from symptoms to fundamentals. Why is an agent skill from NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit.

When should I use Why?

Why fits situations like: tasks that involve Root cause analysis.

How do I install Why in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit --skill why -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/why in NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit) into .claude/skills/why in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Why in Codex?

Run `npx skills add NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit --skill why -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/why in NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit) into .agents/skills/why in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Why 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 NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit --skill why -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/why, .gemini/skills/why, .github/skills/why and .opencode/skills/why in your project.

What does Why need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Why is instructions for the agent only. Our summary lists: Docker.

Does Why 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 Why 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 Why use?

Why is published under the GPL-3.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Why use?

About 819 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.3k 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 Why?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Why: Code Design Rationale Investigator (cursor/plugins, 10k stars), OpenLogi macOS Permissions Triage (AprilNEA/OpenLogi, 23k stars), Bug Finder for daisyUI (saadeghi/daisyui, 43k stars) and Root Cause Debugging (garrytan/gstack, 136k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Why?

NeoLabHQ (a GitHub organization) maintains it in NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit, which has 1,749 GitHub stars. The repository holds 57 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 26, 2026.

Source: NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.