Coding Debugger

Never solve the same bug twice

AI-assisted debugging memory for coding agents. It learns from past incidents, classifies similar failures, and supports deep root-cause workflows for hard fixes.

Features

Core

• Incident Tracking — Store debugging incidents with symptoms, root causes, fixes, and verification
• Verdict System — Results classified as KNOWN_FIX, LIKELY_MATCH, WEAK_SIGNAL, or NO_MATCH
• Progressive Depth — One-liner results (~40 tokens each), drill into full details on demand
• Keyword Indexing — Inverted index for O(log n) retrieval instead of scanning every file
• Context Engine — Auto-injects memory stats into sessions, file-aware editing hints
• Outcome Tracking — Records whether suggested fixes actually worked
• Quality Scoring — Automatic completeness scoring (0-100%)
• Pattern Extraction — Auto-extracts reusable patterns after 3+ similar incidents
• Enhanced Search — Multi-strategy: exact, tag, fuzzy (Jaro-Winkler), category
• Audit Trail Mining — Recovers incidents from .claude/audit files
• Benchmark Suite — 6-dimension scoring system to measure system quality

Integrations

• Parallel Assessment — Multi-domain analysis (database, frontend, API, performance)
• Trace Ingestion — OpenTelemetry, Sentry, LangChain, Browser adapters
• Parallel Retrieval — Concurrent memory search for faster results
• Plugin Marketplace — Install directly via Claude Code plugin system

Storage

• Dual Modes — Local (.claude/memory/ per project) or Shared (~/.claude-code-debugger/ global)
• Tiered Storage — Index (O(1) lookup), JSONL (fast search), individual files (on-demand)
• Auto-archival — Old incidents archived after 200 active or 180 days
• Context Compression — Token-optimized output for LLM injection

Installation

Via Plugin Marketplace

# Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

# Install the plugin
/plugin install coding-debugger@claude-code-debugger

Via npm (includes CLI and automatic slash command setup)

# npm
npm install @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

# pnpm
pnpm add @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

# yarn
yarn add @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

Global Installation (for CLI access anywhere)

# npm
npm install -g @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

# pnpm
pnpm add -g @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

# yarn
yarn global add @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger

The package name stays @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger for compatibility. The preferred CLI binary is coding-debugger; claude-code-debugger remains as an alias.

Troubleshooting Installation

pnpm store mismatch error: If you see ERR_PNPM_UNEXPECTED_STORE, your project has a local .pnpm-store directory. Fix with:

rm -rf .pnpm-store node_modules
pnpm install

npm/pnpm conflict: If your project uses pnpm (has pnpm-lock.yaml), always use pnpm add instead of npm install.

Quick Start

Slash Commands (Claude Code)

After installation, these slash commands are automatically available in Claude Code:

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /debugger "symptom" | Search past bugs for similar issues before debugging | | /debugger | Show recent bugs and pick one to debug | | /debugger-detail <ID> | Drill into a specific incident or pattern | | /debugger-status | Show memory statistics | | /debugger-scan | Scan recent sessions for debugging incidents | | /assess "symptom" | Run parallel domain assessment (database, frontend, API, performance) |

Examples:

/debugger "API returns 500 on login"
→ One-liner matches with verdicts (KNOWN_FIX, LIKELY_MATCH, etc.)
→ Use /debugger-detail <ID> to drill into any match

/debugger-detail INC_API_20260215_143022_a1b2
→ Full incident details: root cause, fix, verification, files changed

/debugger-status
→ "5 incidents stored, 2 patterns, 12 KB used"

/debugger-scan
→ Scans recent sessions for debugging incidents

CLI Usage

# Check current configuration
claude-code-debugger config

# Show memory statistics
claude-code-debugger status

# Search memory before debugging
claude-code-debugger debug "Search filters not working"

# Search for specific incidents
claude-code-debugger search "react hooks"

# Drill into a specific incident or pattern
claude-code-debugger detail INC_REACT_20260215_001

# Record whether a suggested fix worked
claude-code-debugger outcome INC_REACT_20260215_001 worked

# Suggest patterns to extract
claude-code-debugger patterns

# Extract and store patterns
claude-code-debugger patterns --extract

# Mine audit trail for missed incidents
claude-code-debugger mine --days 30

# Store mined incidents
claude-code-debugger mine --days 30 --store

# Rebuild keyword index (after manual edits)
claude-code-debugger rebuild-index

# Batch operations
claude-code-debugger batch --incomplete              # Review incomplete incidents
claude-code-debugger batch --extract-patterns        # Extract patterns from existing data
claude-code-debugger batch --cleanup --older-than 90 # Clean up old sessions

# Remove debugger from this project
claude-code-debugger uninstall
claude-code-debugger uninstall --remove-data  # Also delete memory data

Programmatic Usage

import {
  // Retrieval (v1.6 — recommended)
  checkMemoryProgressive,
  checkMemoryScaled,
  checkMemoryWithVerdict,
  // Retrieval (classic)
  checkMemory,
  debugWithMemory,
  // Storage
  storeDebugIncident,
  storeIncident,
  // Context engine
  generateSessionContext,
  checkFileContext,
  // Outcome tracking
  recordOutcome,
  // Indexing
  rebuildKeywordIndex,
  // Pattern & mining
  extractPatterns,
  mineAuditTrail
} from '@tyroneross/claude-code-debugger';

// Progressive search — one-liner results, drill into details on demand
const progressive = await checkMemoryProgressive("API returns 500 on login");
// progressive.verdict: "KNOWN_FIX" | "LIKELY_MATCH" | "WEAK_SIGNAL" | "NO_MATCH"
// progressive.matches: [{ id, one_liner, verdict, detail_command }]
// progressive.tokens_used: ~200 (vs ~2000 for full results)

// Scaled search — uses keyword index for large memory stores
const scaled = await checkMemoryScaled("infinite render loop");

// Verdict-based search (v1.5)
const verdict = await checkMemoryWithVerdict("search filters broken");
// verdict.verdict, verdict.context, verdict.action

// Check if a file has past incidents before editing
const fileCtx = await checkFileContext("src/api/users.ts");
if (fileCtx.has_incidents) {
  console.log('Past incidents:', fileCtx.incident_ids);
}

// Record whether a suggested fix actually worked
await recordOutcome({
  incident_id: 'INC_API_20260215_001',
  verdict_given: 'KNOWN_FIX',
  outcome: 'worked',  // 'worked' | 'failed' | 'modified'
  recorded_at: Date.now()
});

Configuration

Storage Modes

Local Mode (default)

• Each project has its own .claude/memory/ directory
• Incidents and patterns are project-specific
• Best for: Project-specific debugging context

Shared Mode

• All projects share ~/.claude-code-debugger/ globally
• Learn across all your projects
• Best for: Common patterns that appear in multiple projects

Switch Modes

# Use shared mode for this command
claude-code-debugger status --shared

# Set shared mode via environment variable
export CLAUDE_MEMORY_MODE=shared
claude-code-debugger status

# In code
import { getConfig } from '@tyroneross/claude-code-debugger';

const config = getConfig({
  storageMode: 'shared'
});

Environment Variables

# Storage mode: 'local' or 'shared'
CLAUDE_MEMORY_MODE=shared

# Custom memory path (overrides mode defaults)
CLAUDE_MEMORY_PATH=/custom/path/to/memory

How It Works

1. Incident Structure

Each incident captures:

• Symptom: What the bug looked like
• Root Cause: Why it happened (with confidence score)
• Fix: How it was resolved (approach + file changes)
• Verification: Testing status
• Quality Gates: Security and review status
• Tags: For categorization and search

2. Pattern Extraction

When 3+ similar incidents are detected:

• Automatically extract common characteristics
• Create reusable pattern with solution template
• Track success rate and usage history
• Include caveats for edge cases

3. Retrieval Strategy

Progressive, Pattern-First Approach:

1. Extract keywords from symptom
2. Keyword index lookup (O(log n) — no full file scan)
3. Match against known patterns first (90% confidence)
4. Then search incidents (70% confidence)
5. Classify verdict: KNOWN_FIX → LIKELY_MATCH → WEAK_SIGNAL → NO_MATCH
6. Return one-liner summaries (~40 tokens each), drill into details on demand
7. Falls back to full scan for stores with <10 incidents

4. Audit Trail Mining

Recover incidents from .claude/audit/ files:

• Parses root cause analysis documents
• Extracts error tracking logs
• Converts fix reports into incidents
• Filters duplicates and low-confidence entries

CLI Commands Reference

debug <symptom>

Check memory for similar incidents before debugging.

claude-code-debugger debug "Search filters not working"
claude-code-debugger debug "API timeout" --threshold 0.6
claude-code-debugger debug "Infinite render loop" --shared

Options:

• --shared: Use shared memory mode
• --threshold <number>: Similarity threshold (0-1, default: 0.5)

status

Show memory system statistics.

claude-code-debugger status
claude-code-debugger status --shared

config

Display current configuration.

claude-code-debugger config

search <query>

Search memory for incidents matching a query.

claude-code-debugger search "react hooks"
claude-code-debugger search "API error" --threshold 0.6

Options:

• --shared: Use shared memory mode
• --threshold <number>: Similarity threshold (default: 0.5)

patterns

Suggest or extract patterns from incidents.

# Preview patterns that could be extracted
claude-code-debugger patterns

# Extract and store patterns
claude-code-debugger patterns --extract

Options:

• --extract: Extract and store patterns (vs just preview)
• --shared: Use shared memory mode

mine

Mine audit trail for incidents not manually stored.

# Preview what would be mined
claude-code-debugger mine --days 30

# Mine and store incidents
claude-code-debugger mine --days 30 --store

Options:

• --days <number>: Days to look back (default: 30)
• --store: Store mined incidents (vs just preview)
• --shared: Use shared memory mode

detail <id>

Load full details for a specific incident or pattern.

claude-code-debugger detail INC_REACT_20260215_001
claude-code-debugger detail PTN_API_ERROR

outcome <incident_id> <result>

Record whether a suggested fix worked.

claude-code-debugger outcome INC_API_20260215_001 worked
claude-code-debugger outcome INC_API_20260215_001 failed
claude-code-debugger outcome INC_API_20260215_001 modified

session-context

Output compact JSON context for hooks. Used by the SessionStart hook to inject memory state at the beginning of each Claude session.

claude-code-debugger session-context

check-file <filepath>

Check if a file has past incidents. Used by the PreToolUse hook to surface relevant history when editing files.

claude-code-debugger check-file src/api/users.ts

rebuild-index

Rebuild the keyword index from all incidents. Run after manual edits to incident files.

claude-code-debugger rebuild-index

uninstall

Remove debugger integration from the current project.

# Interactive — confirms before removing
claude-code-debugger uninstall

# Skip confirmation
claude-code-debugger uninstall -y

# Also delete all memory data (incidents, patterns, sessions)
claude-code-debugger uninstall --remove-data

Removes: hooks from .claude/settings.json, slash commands from .claude/commands/, debugging section from CLAUDE.md. Memory data is kept by default so you can reinstall later without losing history.

API Reference

Core Functions

debugWithMemory(symptom, options)

Check memory before debugging and prepare for storage.

const result = await debugWithMemory("symptom description", {
  agent: 'coder',
  auto_store: true,
  min_confidence: 0.7
});

Returns: DebugResult with session ID and memory context

storeDebugIncident(sessionId, incidentData)

Store incident after debugging is complete.

await storeDebugIncident(sessionId, {
  root_cause: { ... },
  fix: { ... },
  verification: { ... }
});

checkMemory(symptom, config)

Search memory for similar incidents.

const memory = await checkMemory("symptom", {
  similarity_threshold: 0.5,
  max_results: 5,
  temporal_preference: 90,
  memoryConfig: { storageMode: 'shared' }
});

Returns: RetrievalResult with patterns and/or incidents

extractPatterns(options)

Extract reusable patterns from incidents.

const patterns = await extractPatterns({
  min_incidents: 3,
  min_similarity: 0.7,
  auto_store: true,
  config: { storageMode: 'shared' }
});

mineAuditTrail(options)

Recover incidents from audit trail.

const incidents = await mineAuditTrail({
  days_back: 30,
  auto_store: true,
  min_confidence: 0.7,
  config: { storageMode: 'shared' }
});

Storage Operations

import {
  storeIncident,
  loadIncident,
  loadAllIncidents,
  storePattern,
  loadPattern,
  loadAllPatterns,
  getMemoryStats,
  // v1.6 additions
  updateKeywordIndex,
  loadKeywordIndex,
  findCandidatesByKeyword,
  rebuildKeywordIndex,
  recordOutcome,
  loadOutcomes,
  getOutcomeStats
} from '@tyroneross/claude-code-debugger';

Configuration

import { getConfig, getMemoryPaths } from '@tyroneross/claude-code-debugger';

const config = getConfig({
  storageMode: 'shared',
  autoMine: false,
  defaultSimilarityThreshold: 0.7
});

const paths = getMemoryPaths(config);
// paths.incidents, paths.patterns, paths.sessions

TypeScript Types

All TypeScript types are exported:

import type {
  Incident,
  Pattern,
  RootCause,
  Fix,
  Verification,
  QualityGates,
  RetrievalResult,
  MemoryConfig,
  SearchVerdict,
  // v1.6 additions
  ProgressiveResult,
  ProgressiveMatch,
  KeywordIndex,
  VerdictOutcome
} from '@tyroneross/claude-code-debugger';

Directory Structure

Local Mode

your-project/
└── .claude/
    └── memory/
        ├── incidents/          # Individual incident JSON files
        ├── patterns/           # Extracted pattern JSON files
        ├── sessions/           # Temporary debug session files
        ├── index.json          # Stats, categories, quality tiers (O(1) lookup)
        ├── keyword-index.json  # Inverted keyword → incident ID map
        ├── incidents.jsonl     # Append-only log for fast full-text search
        ├── outcomes.jsonl      # Verdict outcome tracking (worked/failed/modified)
        └── MEMORY_SUMMARY.md   # Compressed context for LLM cold starts

Shared Mode

~/.claude-code-debugger/
├── incidents/          # All incidents from all projects
├── patterns/           # All patterns from all projects
├── sessions/           # Temporary session files
├── index.json
├── keyword-index.json
├── incidents.jsonl
├── outcomes.jsonl
└── MEMORY_SUMMARY.md

Integration with Claude Code

Prompt for Agents

Include in your agent prompts:

Before debugging, check memory:
- Run: `npx claude-code-debugger debug "symptom description"`
- Review similar incidents and patterns
- Apply known solutions if confidence is high

After fixing:
- Store incident with: `npx claude-code-debugger store`
- Or use programmatic API from TypeScript

Automated Mining

Set up periodic audit mining:

# Weekly cron job to mine audit trail
0 0 * * 0 cd /path/to/project && npx claude-code-debugger mine --days 7 --store

Best Practices

1. Always Check Before Debugging

claude-code-debugger debug "symptom" --threshold 0.7

2. Store Complete Incidents

Include all fields for maximum reuse:

• Root cause with confidence score
• Complete fix description
• Verification status
• Quality gates

3. Extract Patterns Regularly

# Weekly pattern extraction
claude-code-debugger patterns --extract

4. Mine Audit Trail

# Monthly audit mining
claude-code-debugger mine --days 30 --store

5. Use Shared Mode for Common Issues

export CLAUDE_MEMORY_MODE=shared

Context Engine

The context engine automatically surfaces relevant debugging memory without manual /debugger calls.

Layer 1: CLAUDE.md Dynamic Section

On install, a dynamic section is injected into your project's CLAUDE.md with:

• Current memory stats (incident count, pattern count, categories)
• Hot files — which files have the most past incidents
• Trigger instructions — when Claude should call /debugger

This section updates on each rebuild-index or session start.

Layer 2: Session Start Hook

A command-type hook runs claude-code-debugger session-context at the start of each Claude session, outputting compact JSON with memory stats and trigger instructions (~150 tokens).

Layer 3: File-Aware Editing

A PreToolUse hook checks claude-code-debugger check-file <path> when files are edited. If the file has past incidents, relevant IDs and a message are surfaced. Otherwise, zero noise — just {"ok": true}.

Outcome Tracking

After a /debugger search suggests a fix, you can record whether it actually worked:

claude-code-debugger outcome INC_API_20260215_001 worked
claude-code-debugger outcome INC_API_20260215_001 failed
claude-code-debugger outcome INC_API_20260215_001 modified

This feeds back into pattern success rates, so the system learns which fixes are reliable over time.

Uninstall

Remove the debugger from your project cleanly:

claude-code-debugger uninstall

This removes:

• Session hooks from .claude/settings.json
• Slash commands from .claude/commands/
• Debugging Memory section from CLAUDE.md

Your memory data (incidents, patterns, sessions) is kept by default so you can reinstall later without losing history. To also remove data:

claude-code-debugger uninstall --remove-data

To skip the confirmation prompt:

claude-code-debugger uninstall -y

Benchmark

Run the 6-dimension benchmark to measure system quality:

npm run benchmark

This creates synthetic incident data and scores the system across:

| Dimension | Weight | What it measures | |---|---|---| | Retrieval Accuracy | 25 | Precision and recall for known-bug search | | Verdict Precision | 20 | Do verdicts match expected classifications? | | Context Efficiency | 15 | Compression ratio and budget enforcement | | Pattern Quality | 15 | Do patterns match their source incidents? | | Scalability | 15 | Performance at various incident counts | | Cold Start Quality | 10 | MEMORY_SUMMARY.md usefulness |

Development

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/tyroneross/claude-code-debugger.git
cd claude-code-debugger
npm install
npm run build

Run Tests

npm test

Run Benchmark

npm run benchmark

Watch Mode

npm run watch

Publishing

Prepare Release

# Update version in package.json
npm version patch|minor|major

# Build
npm run build

# Publish to GitHub Packages
npm publish

Version Management

This package uses semantic versioning:

• Patch (1.0.x): Bug fixes
• Minor (1.x.0): New features, backward compatible
• Major (x.0.0): Breaking changes

Troubleshooting

"Cannot find module"

• Ensure package is installed: npm list @tyroneross/claude-code-debugger
• Check import paths match package exports

"No incidents found"

• Verify memory directory exists
• Check storage mode (local vs shared)
• Run claude-code-debugger status to see statistics

"Permission denied"

• Ensure directory permissions for .claude/memory/
• For shared mode: Check ~/.claude-code-debugger/ permissions

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Add tests for new features
4. Submit a pull request

License

MIT

Support

• Issues: https://github.com/tyroneross/claude-code-debugger/issues
• Discussions: https://github.com/tyroneross/claude-code-debugger/discussions

Never solve the same bug twice. 🧠

Codex

This package now ships an additive Codex plugin surface alongside the existing Claude Code package. The Claude package remains authoritative for Claude behavior; the Codex package adds a parallel .codex-plugin/plugin.json install surface without changing the Claude runtime.

Package root for Codex installs:

• the repository root (.)

Primary Codex surface:

• skills from ./skills when present
• MCP config from ./.mcp.json when present

Install the package from this package root using your current Codex plugin install flow. The Codex package is additive only: Claude-specific hooks, slash commands, and agent wiring remain unchanged for Claude Code.