Investigation Patterns

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name: Investigation Patterns description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "investigate code", "analyze implementation", "find patterns", "understand codebase", "debug issue", "find bug", "troubleshoot", or needs evidence-based code analysis and debugging. Provides systematic investigation and debugging methodology.

<error_escalation> Evidence trail incomplete Note in report, proceed Conflicting evidence found Document issue, use AskUserQuestion for clarification Root cause cannot be determined STOP, present options to user Investigation reveals security issue BLOCK operation, require explicit user acknowledgment </error_escalation>

Confidence levels:

• 90-100: Direct code evidence, explicit documentation
• 70-89: Strong inference from multiple sources
• 50-69: Reasonable inference with some gaps
• 0-49: Speculation, insufficient evidence

Coverage levels:

• 90-100: All relevant files examined
• 70-89: Most relevant files examined
• 50-69: Key files examined, some gaps
• 0-49: Limited examination

<related_agents> Use for root cause investigation when user reports bugs or errors Use for answering questions about codebase architecture and implementation Delegate to after investigation confirms implementation approach </related_agents>

<related_skills> Use for memory operations and symbol-level code navigation Use after investigation to implement fixes with proper delegation Use to verify external documentation and library behavior Use to add regression tests after fixing identified bugs Use when investigation reveals unclear requirements </related_skills>

<anti_patterns> Guessing or making claims when evidence is insufficient Clearly state confidence levels and information gaps; request additional context if needed

<best_practices> Always provide file:line references for all findings using format path/to/file.ext:line_number Rate confidence and coverage metrics for all investigation results Complete investigation before proposing solutions Use Serena symbol tools before reading entire files Independently verify claims rather than confirming assumptions Document information gaps and unclear points Check multiple sources to increase confidence Use systematic debugging phases (reproduce, isolate, investigate, hypothesize, fix) </best_practices>