debug-stacktrace_skill

Overview

This skill analyzes stack traces and error messages to pinpoint root causes of exceptions and crashes. It guides investigators through exception chains, propagation paths, stack frame inspection, and log correlation to produce actionable findings. Reports include confidence ratings and concrete remediation suggestions.

How this skill works

The skill inspects nested and chained exceptions to find the originating error, checks for swallowed or transformed exceptions, and maps the propagation path across layers. It examines stack frames to distinguish application code from framework/library frames, notes async or optimized-frame gaps, and correlates traces with logs and timestamps to reconstruct the failure timeline.

When to use it

• Investigating runtime crashes, uncaught exceptions, or fatal error events
• Diagnosing production incidents where stack traces appear in logs or crash reports
• Triaging chained exceptions to reveal the original failure source
• Validating whether error context is preserved across service boundaries
• Analyzing distributed traces to correlate failure across components

Best practices

• Start by locating the earliest non-library frame that shows the failing operation
• Follow the cause chain to the deepest exception and verify any wrapper consistency
• Cross-reference stack timestamps with nearby log entries and request IDs
• Look for generic catch blocks, swallowed exceptions, and missing context fields
• Annotate async/worker boundaries and consider inlining/optimization that may hide frames

Example use cases

• A web service returns 500 errors; use the skill to trace the exception from the controller to the underlying database call
• A background job crashes intermittently; correlate stack frames with job logs and payload state to reproduce the failure
• A mobile crash report contains obfuscated frames; identify app frames and infer the failing module
• A distributed call returns misleading downstream errors; map propagation to find where context or error codes are lost