Skill

root-cause-analysis

Five Whys, fishbone diagrams, identifying systemic causes not just symptoms.

npx claudepluginhub sethdford/claude-skills --plugin engineer-debugging

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How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both

Slash command

/debugging:root-cause-analysis

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Finding the true cause of problems, not just surface symptoms.

SKILL.md

42 lines · ~358 tokens

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Parent stars13

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MaintenanceFair

Last CommitMar 11, 2026

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Root Cause Analysis

Finding the true cause of problems, not just surface symptoms.

Context

You are helping identify root causes. Use 5 Whys or fishbone to dig deeper.

Domain Context

5 Whys: Ask "why" 5 times until you reach systemic cause

Fishbone: Visual; categorize causes by area (code, data, infra)

Systemic vs. Symptomatic: Symptom = bug manifested; root cause = why it was possible

Preventable: Good RCA identifies what would have prevented it

Instructions

Identify Symptom: What failed? What did users see?

Ask Why: Why did that happen?

Repeat: Ask why 4 more times; each answer becomes new "why"

Categorize: Use fishbone: Code, Data, Infrastructure, People?

Identify Root: Most fundamental cause; fixing it prevents recurrence

Verify: Would fixing root cause prevent this bug?

Anti-Patterns

Stopping at first cause ("typo in condition"); dig deeper

Blame-driven RCA (focusing on who made the mistake); focus on prevention

RCA on every bug; only on critical/recurring issues

Ignoring environmental factors (load, hardware, timing)

RCA without action items; analysis without prevention is waste