# Systematic Debugging

> Systematic Debugging is a community-maintained skill from obra/superpowers. Anomity scores its risk at 40 out of 100 (medium).

- **Canonical URL:** https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/systematic-debugging
- **Kind:** Skill
- **Publisher:** obra/superpowers
- **Trust level:** community
- **Risk score:** 40/100 (medium)
- **Last updated:** 2026-09-02
- **JSON:** https://catalog.anomity.ai/api/entries/skill/systematic-debugging

## Description

Systematic Debugging is a process skill from the Superpowers plugin that runs before the agent is allowed to propose any fix for a reported bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior. Rather than letting the agent jump to its first hypothesis, the skill walks through a deliberate sequence: reproduce the problem under controlled conditions, narrow the failing surface to the smallest input that still fails, capture the actual versus expected output, form a hypothesis, and only then change code.

The skill reads source files, test outputs, and any artifacts the user has shared to characterize the bug, but it does not write files or execute commands — it shapes the agent's reasoning rather than the code itself. It declares only a filesystem read capability, which produces a low risk signal and does not match any dangerous combination.

The value of the skill is in what it prevents: shipping a fix for the wrong cause, declaring a flaky test "fixed" without understanding why, and the long detours that happen when an agent commits to a hypothesis before it has actually reproduced the failure.

## Why it scored 40

The score starts at the catalog's neutral base of 50 and moves only through the signals below. The formula is published at https://catalog.anomity.ai/about — there is no model and no hidden heuristic.

| Signal | Contribution | Severity | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Established community project | -10 | trust offset |  |

Clamped result: **40/100**, band **medium**.

## Capabilities

| Capability | Name | Security implication |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `filesystem:read` | Filesystem read | Can read files on the host system. Used for context, indexing, or analysis. |

## Related skills

- [AI Research Reproduction](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/ai-research-reproduction) — risk 100 (critical)
- [Using Git Worktrees](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/using-git-worktrees) — risk 65 (high)
- [Best Practices](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/web-best-practices) — risk 50 (medium)
- [Check](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/check-review) — risk 50 (medium)
- [Test-Driven Development](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/test-driven-development) — risk 50 (medium)
- [Writing Skills](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/writing-skills) — risk 50 (medium)

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Source: Anomity Catalog (https://catalog.anomity.ai/). Scoring methodology: https://catalog.anomity.ai/about. Machine-readable index: https://catalog.anomity.ai/llms.txt · https://catalog.anomity.ai/openapi.json