Agent skill · software engineering · pedronauck
no-workarounds
Evaluate a proposed fix that suppresses errors, diagnostics, or symptoms. Use for suspected workarounds and unavoidable external defects; not as a mandatory stage for every bug fix.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured approach to debugging and fixing issues that emphasizes root cause analysis, which the AI may not generate reliably on its own.
What it needs
About 1k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-01. 564 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Fix the Source Use this skill when a proposed repair suppresses a diagnostic or hides a failure instead of correcting it. Start from the evidence already collected; use systematic-debugging only when the cause remains unclear. Trace the observed failure to its owning code or boundary. Correct that cause and verify the original symptom in the existing owning suite or probe. Review casts, suppressions, swallowed errors, fixed sleeps, monkey patches, and fallback chains in context. These are investigation signals, not proof that every occurrence is wrong. Read the matching entry in references/workaround-catalog.md when needed. Preserve intentional boundary validation, typed failure handling, and compatibility migrations/adapters required by project policy. A documented deprecation window is a product contract. Keep the repair focused; reuse suitable utilities and avoid unrelated architecture cleanup. External Defects When the defect is outside the team's control, isolate the necessary adapter at the boundary, explain the evidence and removal condition, and use the existing suite to protect the affected behavior. Reference an existing upstream issue where available; create external issues only when authorized. Add a canary or review date only if it can reliably detect expiry and earns its maintenance cost. Complete when the original failure is corrected or the bounded external limitation is explicit, and the relevant checks pass. Reuse current results; neither a whole catalog read nor a separate written gate is required for every fix. references/philosophical-foundations.md is optional rationale.
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills pedronauck/no-workarounds