A structured 4-phase framework for AI agents to identify and fix root causes rather than just treating symptoms during the debugging process.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install openclaw-investigate
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install openclaw-investigate using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is openclaw-investigate?
This skill provides a rigorous methodology for debugging complex software issues using Openclaw Skills. By following the investigate-analyze-hypothesize-verify lifecycle, it ensures that AI agents do not just apply band-aid fixes but instead resolve the underlying architectural or logical flaws.
The framework is designed to prevent the whack-a-mole style of debugging where one fix leads to another bug. By forcing a systematic investigation of the code path, recent changes, and data flow, it enables agents to deliver verifiable conclusions and high-quality patches that maintain long-term system stability.
openclaw-investigate Use Cases
- Debugging intermittent race conditions or timing-dependent concurrency issues.
- Investigating NoMethodError or type mismatches caused by deep Nil propagation.
- Resolving state corruption or inconsistent data updates within complex transactions.
- Troubleshooting integration failures with external APIs or service boundaries.
- Identifying configuration drift between local, staging, and production environments.
How openclaw-investigate Works
- Gather context by reading error logs, stack traces, and establishing reproduction steps.
- Analyze code paths and recent git history to match the bug against known patterns like state corruption or stale caches.
- Verify a hypothesis by adding temporary logs or assertions to prove the suspected root cause before writing code.
- Implement a minimal fix targeting the root cause while strictly avoiding unnecessary refactoring.
- Create a regression test that fails without the fix and passes with it, then generate a structured debug report.
openclaw-investigate Setup
To utilize this framework within Openclaw Skills, ensure your environment has git installed for history analysis. You can check the recent history of a file using:
git log --oneline -20 -- <affected_file>
No additional binary installation is required; the skill is implemented as a logical protocol for the AI agent to follow during its reasoning process.
openclaw-investigate Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill produces a structured Debug Report to ensure all findings are documented and verifiable. The schema includes:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Symptom | The observed error or behavior reported by the user |
| Root Cause | The actual underlying technical issue identified |
| Fix | Details of the changes, including file paths and line references |
| Evidence | Test outputs or log traces proving the fix works |
| Regression Test | Reference to the newly created test file or test case |
| Status | The final outcome: DONE, DONE_WITH_CONCERNS, or BLOCKED |
openclaw-investigate Advanced Features
- Rule of Three: Automatically triggers a user escalation if three consecutive hypotheses fail to explain the bug.
- Minimal Diff Enforcement: Prioritizes the smallest possible code change to reduce the risk of side effects.
- Impact Guard: Requires manual user confirmation if a proposed bug fix affects more than five files.
- Pattern Recognition: Includes a built-in taxonomy of common bugs like Nil propagation and configuration drift for faster identification.
SKILL.md
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