New: 97,000+ skills indexed from GitHub repos with 100+ stars · every skill safety-checkedBrowse top skillsTop skills
Esc to closeBrowse all skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills

Agent skill

Phase Gated Debugging

by sickn33 in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

A skill your agent uses when debugging any bug. An agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Phase Gated Debugging

skills CLI
$ npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill phase-gated-debugging -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills phase-gated-debugging --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/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/phase-gated-debugging .claude/skills/phase-gated-debugging && 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
phase-gated-debugging
GitHub stars
47k
Used in
2 other repos
Token cost
~790 tokens
SKILL.md length
421 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
1,394
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when debugging any bug. An agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

  • Works in 5 steps: REPRODUCE → ISOLATE → ROOT CAUSE → …
  • Debugging any bug
  • SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use, The Protocol and Bug-Type Strategies, plus 3 more sections
  • Calls git

What it does

Phase Gated Debugging is an agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Use when debugging any bug. Enforces a 5-phase protocol where code edits are blocked until root cause is confirmed. Prevents premature fix attempts.

Its SKILL.md is about 790 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 and Root cause analysis. The repository describes itself as: AAS Core is the local, agent-first control plane for complete catalog discovery, agent-owned selection, stack validation, and planning, backed by 2,400+ agentic skills. Includes… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Debugging any bug
  • Tasks that involve Debugging
  • Tasks that involve Root cause analysis

Example prompts

  • “/phase-gated-debugging”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. REPRODUCE
  2. ISOLATE
  3. ROOT CAUSE
  4. FIX
  5. VERIFY

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1e53ce2. 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

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • github.com

    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

Phase Gated Debugging loads about 790 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 43 tokens; SKILL.md has 421 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~43
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~790

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 sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills at commit 1e53ce2, republished under its MIT licence (© sickn33). 421 words, ~790 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/phase-gated-debugging/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
phase-gated-debugging
description
Use when debugging any bug. Enforces a 5-phase protocol where code edits are blocked until root cause is confirmed. Prevents premature fix attempts.
risk
safe
source
community
date_added
2026-03-28

Phase-Gated Debugging

Overview

AI coding agents see an error and immediately edit code. They guess at fixes, get it wrong, and spiral. This skill enforces a strict 5-phase protocol where you CANNOT edit source code until the root cause is identified and confirmed.

Based on claude-debug (full plugin with PreToolUse hook enforcement).

When to Use

Use this skill when:

  • a bug keeps getting "fixed" without resolving the underlying issue
  • you need to slow an agent down and force disciplined debugging before code edits
  • the failure is intermittent, a regression, performance-related, or otherwise hard to isolate
  • you want an explicit user confirmation checkpoint before any fix is applied

The Protocol

Phase 1: REPRODUCE

Run the failing command/test. Capture the exact error. Run 2-3 times for consistency.

  • Do NOT read source code
  • Do NOT hypothesize
  • Do NOT edit any files
Phase 2: ISOLATE

Read code. Add diagnostic logging marked // DEBUG. Re-run with diagnostics. Binary search to narrow down.

  • Only // DEBUG marked logging is allowed
  • Do NOT fix the bug even if you see it
Phase 3: ROOT CAUSE

Analyze WHY at the isolated location. Use "5 Whys" technique. Remove debug logging.

State: "This is my root cause analysis: [explanation]. Do you agree, or should I investigate further?"

WAIT for user confirmation. Do NOT proceed without it.

Phase 4: FIX

Remove all // DEBUG lines. Apply minimal change addressing confirmed root cause.

  • Only edit files related to root cause
  • Do NOT refactor unrelated code
Show full SKILL.md (181 more words)Show less
Phase 5: VERIFY

Run original failing test — must pass. Run related tests. For intermittent bugs, run 5+ times. If verification fails: root cause was wrong, go back to Phase 2.

Bug-Type Strategies

TypeTechnique
Crash/PanicStack trace backward — trace the bad value to its source
Wrong OutputBinary search — log midpoint, halve search space each iteration
IntermittentCompare passing vs failing run logs — find ordering divergence
Regressiongit bisect — find the offending commit
PerformanceTiming at stage boundaries — find the bottleneck

Key Rules

  1. NEVER edit source code in phases 1-3 (except // DEBUG in phase 2)
  2. NEVER proceed past phase 3 without user confirmation
  3. ALWAYS reproduce before investigating
  4. ALWAYS verify after fixing

Example

User request:

a bug keeps getting "fixed" without resolving the underlying issue; diagnose it and return the concrete next action.

Limitations

  • Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
  • Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
  • Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.

© sickn33, 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/phase-gated-debugging of sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1e53ce2

Used in 2 other repositories

We found 11 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 2 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Phase Gated Debugging 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.

Phase Gated Debugging compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Phase Gated Debugging this skillsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k2 repos~790Automated safety check: PassMIT
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
Graph-Based Bug Tracingtirth8205/code-review-graph32k1 repos~287Automated safety check: PassMIT
Systematic DebuggingChrisWiles/claude-code-showcase6.1k3 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassNone

Similar skills

  • 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.

    23k GitHub stars~2.5k tokensUpdated 4 days ago
    DevelopmentAuto-check: notes

  • 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 7 days ago
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • 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
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Graph-Based Bug Tracing

    tirth8205/code-review-graph

    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
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • 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.

    6.1k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~1.2k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • 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.

    102k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.6k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

More from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

All 1,394 skills in this repo

  • Liuguang Banlan UI

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Implements an interface in one of two named color modes, iridescent white or colorful black, from a parameterized starter that reports measured color intensity.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.5k tokens
    Auto-check passed

  • User Thoughts Memory

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Saves a user's project decisions, rules and preferences into a project-local mdbase so later sessions and other agents can recover the intent.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.5k tokens
    Auto-check passed

  • Using LWC Memory and Graphs

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Keeps project decisions, research and verified results available across coding-agent sessions through LWC memory, a document Wiki graph and a CodeGraph code index.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2k tokens
    Auto-check passed

  • Find Complementary Founders

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Guides an agent through assessing its own owner for cofounder fit, publishing an approved profile, and ranking complementary profiles other agents published for their owners.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~4.8k tokens
    Auto-check passed

  • Whatsapp Cloud API

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Integracao com WhatsApp Business Cloud API (Meta). An agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~4.5k tokens
    Auto-check passed

  • Cline Pilot

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    Acts as a proxy for the Cline CLI, dispatching coding tasks one at a time, monitoring runs by hard evidence, relaying decisions to you and learning per-project preferences.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~4.6k tokens
    Auto-check passed

Categories

Questions about Phase Gated Debugging

What does Phase Gated Debugging do?

A skill your agent uses when debugging any bug. An agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Phase Gated Debugging is an agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Use when debugging any bug.

When should I use Phase Gated Debugging?

Phase Gated Debugging fits situations like: debugging any bug; tasks that involve Debugging; tasks that involve Root cause analysis.

How do I install Phase Gated Debugging in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill phase-gated-debugging -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/phase-gated-debugging in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills) into .claude/skills/phase-gated-debugging in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Phase Gated Debugging in Codex?

Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill phase-gated-debugging -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/phase-gated-debugging in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills) into .agents/skills/phase-gated-debugging in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Phase Gated Debugging 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 sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill phase-gated-debugging -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/phase-gated-debugging, .gemini/skills/phase-gated-debugging, .github/skills/phase-gated-debugging and .opencode/skills/phase-gated-debugging in your project.

What does Phase Gated Debugging need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Phase Gated Debugging needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git).

Does Phase Gated Debugging access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. As links in the text: github.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Phase Gated Debugging 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 Phase Gated Debugging use?

Phase Gated Debugging 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 Phase Gated Debugging use?

About 790 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.2k 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 Phase Gated Debugging?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Phase Gated Debugging: OpenLogi macOS Permissions Triage (AprilNEA/OpenLogi, 23k stars), Bug Finder for daisyUI (saadeghi/daisyui, 43k stars), Root Cause Debugging (garrytan/gstack, 136k stars) and Graph-Based Bug Tracing (tirth8205/code-review-graph, 32k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Phase Gated Debugging?

sickn33 (a GitHub user) maintains it in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, which has 47,304 GitHub stars. The repository holds 1,394 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.

Source: sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.