Agent skill · research science · wshobson
memory-safety-patterns
Implement memory-safe programming with RAII, ownership, smart pointers, and resource management across Rust, C++, and C. Use when writing safe systems code, managing resources, or preventing memory bugs.
Why this skill is useful
Provides detailed patterns and debugging tools for memory-safe programming that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires cargo, clang, valgrind installed locally. About 1k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-05. 38,570 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Memory Safety Patterns Cross-language patterns for memory-safe programming including RAII, ownership, smart pointers, and resource management. When to Use This Skill Writing memory-safe systems code Managing resources (files, sockets, memory) Preventing use-after-free and leaks Implementing RAII patterns Choosing between languages for safety Debugging memory issues Core Concepts 1. Memory Bug Categories Bug Type Description Prevention -------------------- -------------------------------- ----------------- Use-after-free Access freed memory Ownership, RAII Double-free Free same memory twice Smart pointers Memory leak Never free memory RAII, GC Buffer overflow Write past buffer end Bounds checking Dangling pointer Pointer to freed memory Lifetime tracking Data race Concurrent unsynchronized access Ownership, Sync 2. Safety Spectrum Detailed patterns and worked examples Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient. Best Practices Do's Prefer RAII - Tie resource lifetime to scope Use smart pointers - Avoid raw pointers in C++ Understand ownership - Know who owns what Check bounds - Use safe access methods Use tools - AddressSanitizer, Valgrind, Miri Don'ts Don't use raw pointers - Unless interfacing with C Don't return local references - Dangling pointer Don't ignore compiler warnings - They catch bugs Don't use unsafe carelessly - In Rust, minimize it Don't assume thread safety - Be explicit Debugging Tools
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills wshobson/memory-safety-patterns