---
title: "Debug"
type: skill
id: "knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/debug"
category: "Engineering"
publisher: "Anthropic"
license: "Apache-2.0"
source: "https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/tree/d900840"
canonical: "https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/debug"
open_in_pho: "https://pho.chat/customize?item=knowledge-work-plugins%2Fengineering%2Fdebug&utm_source=labs&utm_medium=skill-page&utm_campaign=skills-library"
---

# Debug

Structured debugging session — reproduce, isolate, diagnose, and fix. Trigger with an error message or stack trace, "this works in staging but not prod", "something broke after the deploy", or when behavior diverges from expected and the cause isn't obvious.

Source: Anthropic (Apache 2.0), copied at a pinned commit. Free to use. Part of the Phở Skills library (https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills).
Skill set: Engineering (https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering.md).
Works best with a connected app (for example a CRM or a document store); without one it asks for the details instead.

## What it covers
- Usage
- How It Works
- What I Need From You
- Output
- If Connectors Available
- Tips

## Other skills in this set
- [Architecture](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/architecture.md): Create or evaluate an architecture decision record (ADR). Use when choosing between technologies (e.g., Kafka vs SQS), documenting a design decision with trade-offs and consequences, reviewing a…
- [Code review](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/code-review.md): Review code changes for security, performance, and correctness. Trigger with a PR URL or diff, "review this before I merge", "is this code safe?", or when checking a change for N+1 queries…
- [Deploy checklist](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/deploy-checklist.md): Pre-deployment verification checklist. Use when about to ship a release, deploying a change with database migrations or feature flags, verifying CI status and approvals before going to production…
- [Technical Documentation](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/documentation.md): Write and maintain technical documentation. Trigger with "write docs for", "document this", "create a README", "write a runbook", "onboarding guide", or when the user needs help with any form of…
- [Incident response](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/incident-response.md): Run an incident response workflow — triage, communicate, and write postmortem. Trigger with "we have an incident", "production is down", an alert that needs severity assessment, a status update…
- [Standup](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/standup.md): Generate a standup update from recent activity. Use when preparing for daily standup, summarizing yesterday's commits and PRs and ticket moves, formatting work into yesterday/today/blockers, or…
- [System Design](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/system-design.md): Design systems, services, and architectures. Trigger with "design a system for", "how should we architect", "system design for", "what's the right architecture for", or when the user needs help with…
- [Tech Debt Management](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/tech-debt.md): Identify, categorize, and prioritize technical debt. Trigger with "tech debt", "technical debt audit", "what should we refactor", "code health", or when the user asks about code quality, refactoring…
- [Testing Strategy](https://labs.pho.chat/en/skills/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/testing-strategy.md): Design test strategies and test plans. Trigger with "how should we test", "test strategy for", "write tests for", "test plan", "what tests do we need", or when the user needs help with testing…

## Use it
- In Phở: open https://pho.chat/customize?item=knowledge-work-plugins%2Fengineering%2Fdebug&utm_source=labs&utm_medium=skill-page&utm_campaign=skills-library and press Try, or add it so Phở loads it whenever a request matches. Phở works with your own API key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others).
- Full instructions (original SKILL.md, unchanged): https://labs.pho.chat/skills/raw/knowledge-work-plugins/engineering/skills/debug/SKILL.md
- Original files: https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/tree/d900840 (Apache 2.0).
- Full machine-readable index: https://labs.pho.chat/skills.json