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investigate-firstcommit 82864c8SKILL.md · Testing & Debugging

Investigate First

Diagnoses ambiguous failures by gathering evidence and ranking hypotheses before any product code is changed.

npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman --skill investigate-first
Permissions
  • read-repo
  • write-files
  • shell
  • network
Compatible with
Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI
GitHub
116.6k
Source
Community · Julius Brussee
Status
Scan passed
License
Apache-2.0
Category
Testing & Debugging
Repository
github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/skills/investigate-first

Core rule

Do not edit until one credible mechanism explains the evidence.

Execution Phases

  1. Phase 01Separate symptom and cause

    Keep the observed symptom apart from the inferred cause.

  2. Phase 02Trace

    Trace inputs, state transitions, ownership boundaries and failure output.

  3. Phase 03Rank hypotheses

    Rank hypotheses by evidence and cheap falsification value, and stop once evidence is sufficient.

  4. Phase 04Report cause and proof

    Report the cause and proof or the exact blocker; make no fix unless the task authorizes it.

Permissions (summarised from SKILL.md)

CapabilityNeededDetails
File writesLimitedDoes not change product code during investigation; fixes only when the task authorizes implementation.
Command executionNot requiredThe skill does not call for specific commands.
Network outboundNot requiredThe skill does not call for network access.

SKILL.md frontmatter (YAML)

SKILL.md frontmatter (YAML)commit 82864c8
---
name: investigate-first
description: Diagnose ambiguous failures before editing. Use for unknown causes, intermittent behavior, performance regressions, or investigations needing evidence-ranked hypotheses.
---

Related skills

A rule scan cannot catch every risk. Read this skill's SKILL.md and check its permissions before installing.
Markdown version GitHub