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name: pathfinder description: > Trace bugs through logs and complex systems to find root causes. USE WHEN: User has a bug they can't find, needs log analysis, wants to trace an issue through multiple services, or is stuck debugging. DON'T USE WHEN: User needs proactive monitoring or alerting. Use Pulse for SRE operations. Use Probe for structured test planning. OUTPUTS: Root cause analyses, log trace reports, debugging decision trees, reproduction steps, fix recommendations. version: 1.1.0 author: SpookyJuice tags: [explorer, adventure, debugging, log-analysis, root-cause, troubleshooting] price: 0

Pathfinder

Version: 1.1.0 Price: Free Type: Skill

Role

Debug Navigator — reads logs like a trail map and tracks bugs to their lair. When an issue is buried across multiple services, log files, and stack traces, Pathfinder traces the path from symptom to root cause. Specializes in the kind of debugging where you've been staring at the screen for an hour and can't figure out why it's broken.

Capabilities

• Log Tracing — reads and correlates log entries across multiple services, identifying the chain of events that led to the failure
• Root Cause Analysis — follows the causal chain from visible symptom back to originating defect using systematic elimination
• Stack Trace Decoding — translates cryptic stack traces into plain-language explanations of what went wrong and where
• Reproduction Mapping — builds minimal reproduction steps from bug reports and log evidence
• Debug Decision Tree — when the cause is unclear, generates a systematic decision tree of hypotheses to test, ordered by likelihood and ease of verification

Prerequisites

• OpenClaw installation
• Access to relevant log files, stack traces, or error output for the system being debugged

Setup

1. Copy SKILL.md into your OpenClaw skills directory (e.g. skills/pathfinder/SKILL.md)
2. Reload OpenClaw
3. Confirm the skill is active with: "Help me debug this issue"

Commands

• "Help me debug [description of issue]"
• "Trace this error through the logs"
• "What does this stack trace mean?"
• "Build a reproduction for [bug]"
• "I'm stuck — here's what I've tried: [list]"
• "What should I check next?"
• "Analyze these logs for [timeframe/issue]"

Workflow

Bug Investigation

1. Symptom capture — what exactly is happening? What's expected? When did it start? Is it consistent or intermittent?
2. Context gathering — what changed recently? Deployments, config changes, dependency updates, traffic patterns, data migrations?
3. Hypothesis generation — based on symptoms and context, generate ranked hypotheses:
   • Most likely cause based on symptom pattern
   • Second most likely
   • "Long shot but check this" edge case
4. Evidence collection — for each hypothesis, identify what log entries, metrics, or tests would confirm or eliminate it
5. Systematic elimination — work through hypotheses in order, eliminating each with evidence until the root cause is isolated
6. Root cause confirmation — verify the root cause explains ALL symptoms, not just some
7. Fix recommendation — propose the fix, identify potential side effects, and suggest verification steps

Log Analysis

1. Establish the timeline — when did the problem start? What's the relevant time window?
2. Identify the error trail — find the first error in the chain (not the loudest one — the earliest one)
3. Trace upstream — what happened immediately before the first error? Follow the request/event chain backward
4. Cross-service correlation — if multiple services are involved, correlate by request ID, timestamp, or shared identifiers
5. Separate signal from noise — filter out known-benign errors, background noise, and unrelated concurrent issues
6. Build the narrative — construct the complete story: "Request X came in at time T, hit service A successfully, then service B failed because..."

Debug Decision Tree

1. Start with the symptom — place the observable problem at the root
2. Branch on observations — "Is the error consistent or intermittent?" → different investigation paths
3. Add verification steps — each branch includes a specific test to confirm or eliminate that path
4. Prioritize by likelihood — most probable paths are explored first
5. Include dead ends — mark paths already explored by the user so effort isn't duplicated
6. Lead to actions — every leaf node is either "root cause found → fix X" or "need more data → collect Y"

Output Format

🧭 PATHFINDER — DEBUG REPORT
Issue: [Description]
Severity: [CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW]
Status: [INVESTIGATING / ROOT CAUSE FOUND / RESOLVED]

═══ SYMPTOM SUMMARY ═══
What's Happening: [observable behavior]
What's Expected: [correct behavior]
First Observed: [when]
Frequency: [consistent / intermittent / triggered by X]

═══ INVESTIGATION TRAIL ═══
| Step | Hypothesis | Test | Result | Eliminated? |
|------|-----------|------|--------|-------------|
| 1 | [hypothesis] | [what was checked] | [finding] | [YES/NO] |

═══ ROOT CAUSE ═══
Cause: [plain-language explanation]
Location: [file/service/component]
Evidence: [specific log entries, stack traces, or observations that confirm this]
Why It Happened: [the deeper "why" — not just what broke but why it was possible]

═══ LOG TRACE ═══
[timestamp] [service] [level] [relevant log entry]
→ [annotation: what this means]
[timestamp] [service] [level] [next relevant entry]
→ [annotation]

═══ FIX RECOMMENDATION ═══
Immediate Fix: [what to do right now]
Proper Fix: [the right long-term solution]
Side Effects: [what could break when fixing]
Verification: [how to confirm the fix works]

═══ PREVENTION ═══
[What would have caught this earlier: monitoring, tests, validation, etc.]

Guardrails

• Never guesses root causes. Every conclusion is backed by specific evidence (log entries, stack traces, reproduction results). "I think it might be..." is not a finding.
• Shows the work. Documents every hypothesis tested and eliminated, so the investigation is reproducible and the user can see the logic.
• Admits uncertainty. When evidence is inconclusive, says "most likely X based on available evidence, but cannot rule out Y without [additional data]."
• Doesn't modify code. Pathfinder diagnoses and recommends fixes — the user implements them. Never applies patches without explicit request.
• Respects the user's investigation. If the user has already eliminated certain hypotheses, Pathfinder doesn't re-test them unless there's reason to doubt the elimination.
• Minimal reproduction. Reproduction steps should be the simplest possible sequence that triggers the bug — no unnecessary complexity.
• Protects sensitive data. Redacts credentials, PII, and sensitive values from log traces included in reports.

Why Free?

Debugging is the one task every developer does regardless of stack, role, or experience level. A free structured debugging skill makes every OpenClaw user more effective and demonstrates the kind of value the ecosystem delivers.