Code Debugging Skill for Claude
Debug experiment code with structured error analysis. Categorize errors, apply targeted fixes with retry logic, and use reflection to prevent recurring issues. Use when experiment code fails or produces incorrect results.
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/lingzhi227/agent-research-skills --skill code-debuggingThe instruction itself
11 sections, as written by the authorCode Debugging
Systematically debug experiment code with structured error categorization and fix strategies.
Input
$0— Error message, stderr output, or code file with issues$1— Optional: the code that produced the error
References
- Debug patterns and state machine:
~/.claude/skills/code-debugging/references/debug-patterns.md
Workflow
Step 1: Categorize the Error
| Category | Examples | Severity |
|----------|----------|----------|
| SyntaxError | Invalid syntax, indentation | Low |
| ImportError | Missing module, wrong name | Low |
| RuntimeError | Division by zero, shape mismatch | Medium |
| TimeoutError | Infinite loop, too slow | Medium |
| OutputError | Missing files, wrong format | Medium |
| LogicError | Wrong results, 0% accuracy | High |
Step 2: Analyze Root Cause
- Read the error traceback (last 1500 chars if truncated)
- Identify the exact line and variable causing the error
- Check for common patterns:
- Device mismatch (CPU vs GPU tensors)
- Shape mismatch in matrix operations
- Missing data normalization
- Off-by-one errors in indexing
- Incorrect loss function for task type
Step 3: Apply Fix Strategy
For syntax/import errors: Direct fix, single attempt
For runtime errors: Fix and rerun, up to 4 retries
For logic errors: Reflect on approach, consider alternative methods
For timeout: Reduce dataset size, optimize bottleneck, add early stopping
Step 4: Reflect and Prevent
After fixing:
- Explain why the error occurred
- Identify which lines caused it
- Describe the fix line-by-line
- Note patterns to avoid in future code
Fix Strategy State Machine
Stage 0 (first attempt) → repost code as fresh
Stage 1 (second attempt) → repost or leave depending on severity
Stage 2 (third attempt) → regenerate from scratch if still failing
Rules
- Prefer minimal targeted edits over full rewrites
- Maximum 4-5 fix attempts before changing approach
- Always truncate long error outputs to last 1500 characters
- After fixing, verify the fix doesn't introduce new errors
- Keep error history to avoid repeating the same mistakes
- If 0% accuracy: check accuracy calculation first, then check data pipeline
Related Skills
- Upstream: experiment-code
- See also: paper-to-code, data-analysis
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How to use it
Take lingzhi227/code-debugging from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.