Agent skill · software engineering · wshobson
ai-debt-detector
Use after generating code, after accepting AI suggestions, or when reviewing AI-written modules. Also use when code works but feels brittle, when error handling seems thin, when orphaned resources or missing cleanup are suspected, or when the agent claims done but hidden debt may exist. Catches the specific failure patterns AI agents produce that humans would not.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a comprehensive auditing script that identifies AI-generated code failures, including error handling and orphaned resources, which the AI cannot generate on its own.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-05. 38,570 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
AI Debt Detector Overview AI agents generate code that passes the happy path but hides debt: missing error handling, orphaned resources, ignored failure modes, hallucinated packages, silent architectural drift. This skill forces a targeted audit for the exact patterns AI agents get wrong. When to Use After any AI code generation session (20+ lines produced) Before merging AI-generated PRs When code works but something feels off After vibe-coding sprints where debt accumulates fastest When the agent claims done without showing verification Process After code generation, scan for these AI-specific debt patterns: 1. FAILURE MODES - What happens when this fails? Network timeout? Disk full? Permission denied? Null input? Is there a try/catch? Does it catch SPECIFIC errors or swallow everything? Are resources cleaned up on failure? (streams closed, connections returned, temp files deleted) 2. ORPHANS - What gets created but never cleaned up? Temp files, event listeners, intervals, subscriptions, connections Are there corresponding cleanup/dispose/close calls for every open/create? In React: does every addEventListener have a removeEventListener in cleanup? 3. EDGE CASES - What inputs break this? Empty array/string? null/undefined? Multi-MB input? Unicode? Concurrent calls? Does the code assume the happy path? (AI almost always does) 4. HALLUCINATED DEPS - Do all imports actually exist? Is every package in package.json/requirements.txt? Are API methods real? (AI invents plausible-sounding methods that don't exist) Does this library's latest version still export this function? 5. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills wshobson/ai-debt-detector