Agent skill · pskoett
self-healing
Active runtime recovery for coding agents: when something breaks mid-task, diagnose the root cause, write a fix, VERIFY by re-running the broken thing, then file a `HEAL-` entry to `.learnings/HEALS.md` with proof. Use whenever a command, test, build, or lint fails or exits non-zero; on missing tooling, dependency/lockfile mismatch, wrong runtime version, venv or permission errors, port conflicts, dirty git state, or a missing `.env`; when the agent needs a helper or one-off script that doesn't exist yet; when an external API, tool, or MCP errors or rate-limits; or when a test flakes. Search `HEALS.md` by `Pattern-Key` first — most heals are recurrences, so increment `Recurrence-Count` instead of duplicating. Verify is mandatory: mark `pending-verify` honestly if sandboxed, `abandoned` if the fix can't be made to work. Pairs with `self-improvement` (which promotes recurring heals to durable memory) but owns the verify-before-persist discipline self-improvement doesn't.
What it needs
About 11k tokens when loaded.
What this skill does
Self-Healing Active runtime recovery for coding agents. When something breaks, run the loop: diagnose → patch → verify → file. Leave behind a reusable, verified artifact instead of a swept-under-the-rug failure. The premise mirrors browser-use/browser-harness: the harness improves itself every run. An agent that hits a gap doesn't fail — it writes the fix during execution, verifies it works, and files the durable artifact for future runs. Coding tasks deserve the same loop. What this skill is for When a coding agent hits a wall mid-task, the default failure modes are: 1. Paper over it — "let me try a different approach" — and lose the recovery 2. Pretend the fix worked — without re-running the broken thing 3. Symptom-fix — skip the test, swallow the error, retry until green All three turn a one-time failure into a recurrence. The next agent on the same project hits the same wall. This skill enforces one discipline: verify before persist. A patch isn't real until you've re-run the failing operation and watched it succeed. When it does, file the verified fix so the next run benefits. Relationship to self-improvement These two skills are deliberately split. Run both — they feed each other but don't overlap. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills pskoett/self-healing--77cf9a