Agent skill · writing content · onewave-ai
regex-visual-debugger
Debug regex patterns with visual breakdowns, plain English explanations, test case generation, and flavor conversion. Use when user needs help with regular expressions or pattern matching.
Why this skill is useful
Provides detailed explanations, visual breakdowns, and flavor conversions for regex patterns that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 3k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-15. 242 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Regex Visual Debugger Interactive regex testing, explanation, and debugging tool. When to Use This Skill Activate when the user: Provides a regex pattern to debug Asks "why isn't my regex working?" Needs a regex pattern explained Wants to test regex against strings Asks to convert regex between flavors (Python, JS, etc.) Needs regex pattern suggestions Mentions regular expressions or pattern matching Instructions 1. Analyze the Regex Pattern Parse the regex structure Identify each component (groups, quantifiers, character classes) Check for common syntax errors Validate regex syntax for specified flavor 2. Provide Plain English Explanation Break down pattern piece by piece Explain what each part matches Describe overall pattern behavior Clarify quantifier greediness Explain capture groups vs. non-capturing groups 3. Visual Breakdown Show pattern structure hierarchically Highlight groups and alternations Indicate character classes and ranges Mark anchors and boundaries 4. Test Against Examples Test provided test strings Show what matches and what doesn't Highlight matched portions Explain why matches succeed or fail Show capture group contents 5. Identify Common Issues Unescaped special characters Incorrect quantifiers Greedy vs. non-greedy issues Anchor misplacement Unclosed groups Flavor-specific incompatibilities 6. Generate Test Cases Create strings that should match Create strings that should NOT match Include edge cases Test boundary conditions 7. Suggest Improvements More efficient patterns More readable alternatives Performance optimizations Edge case handling 8. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills onewave-ai/regex-debugger