SKMTC debugging

This skill guides diagnosis of SKMTC failures. The defining feature is its epistemic stance: gather evidence before proposing fixes.

1. The verification-first stance

When debugging SKMTC, verify before stating.

• The manifest is the canonical record of what happened in the last run. Read it before assuming behavior.
• The code is the canonical record of what runs. Read it before trusting docstrings.
• Docstrings, comments, and training-data priors are not evidence. Drift is real (see §2).
• Reproduce the failure before proposing a fix. "Try X" without reproduction is guess-and-check, not debugging.

This stance is the load-bearing reason this skill exists separately from skmtc-cli and skmtc-generator. Those skills encourage proposing solutions from operational principles; this one requires gathering observable evidence first.

2. The five facts that override default LLM intuitions

Same five as in the other skills. One debug-relevant note added:

1. No plugin registry, no dependency graph, no topological sort.
2. Render does not run Prettier or Biome. Output is unformatted.
3. Generator source code is the customization surface.
4. OasSchema is a union type, not a class hierarchy.
5. Same-named wrapper. insertNormalizedModel exists on both GenerateContext (takes explicit destinationPath) and the projection-base wrappers (fill destinationPath from settings.exportPath). Same name, different signatures.

Drift between docstrings and code is real. Docstrings and type comments can lag behind code reorganizations or removals. When a docstring or comment disagrees with what the function body actually does, the code is canonical. Any claim sourced from docstring prose should be verified against the function body.

3. Diagnostic paths by symptom

The lookup table. Before proposing a cause, find the symptom and walk the listed investigation steps in order.

Symptom	First step	If clean, next step
No output for operation X	Check manifest.results for X's per-operation status	Check isSupported predicate; check client.json skip/include
Wrong output (compiles)	Read the generator's toString() template	Compare against the stock generator's pattern; check insertOperation returns
Wrong output (doesn't compile)	Run skmtc generate --typecheck; read TS errors	Trace TS errors back to the generator source producing the offending line
parseIssue at level: 'error'	Read the issue's location	Walk to that path in the OpenAPI doc; check schema validity
INVALID_DEPENDENCY_REF	Find the upstream INVALID_SCHEMA	Fix the upstream schema; dependent issues should heal
Registered definition mismatch: 'X' in 'Y'	Read the two generatorKey values from the error	Clone one generator and disambiguate toIdentifier
generate exits 1 with Failed to create bundle	Read the deno bundle error it prints (also in .settings/error-logs.txt)	Fix the import or pin it names in the project's deno.json, then re-run generate
Max lookups reached	The ref chain exceeds 10 hops	Inspect the schema for circular refs or chains > 10
Module not found in generated code	Read the unresolved import path in the generated file	Either implement the consumer-side path, or clone the generator and change the import target
Orphaned/stale generated files on disk (output from a since-removed generator, a renamed export)	Compare on-disk tree to manifest.files; a normal generate only prunes files the next run replaces	skmtc clean <project> --dry-run to preview, then skmtc clean <project> for a full reset, then re-generate
generate exits 1 with resolves more than one copy of @skmtc/core (or a host without the CLI writes empty files and reports success)	Two copies of @skmtc/core (or a lang-*) break the engine's instanceof checks — the message, and skmtc doctor's project-package-copies/<project>, name each version and the packages that import it	Change the project's deno.json pins so those packages agree; re-run generate
No matching export … for import "X" (bundle time)	Peer-dep version skew	Run skmtc doctor --json; check project-core-pin/<project>
ConfigValidationError	Stale manifest schema	Upgrade CLI; the manifest auto-rewrites on next generate
Per-generator enrichments arrive as {} in the worker	The installed CLI is pinned to old @skmtc/cli / @skmtc/core	Delete ~/.deno/bin/.skmtc/deno.lock; reinstall with --reload
An enrichment customization doesn't land	jq '.enrichmentWarnings' .settings/manifest.json — routing is the literal path + lowercase method (never operationId), the refName for models, under a main variant key	Fix the flagged key (the message names the nearest match); skmtc doctor shows the same between runs
An item is error and the log shows a Valibot message (Invalid type: Expected …) — the manifest carries only the status, keyed by generator, item and variant	A value has the wrong type for the generator's enrichments.ts schema, or a _generator / _stack value reached a generator whose umbrella declares that scope v.undefined()	Fix the value; or declare the scope on every generator that will see it
"Raw mode is not supported on the current process.stdin"	Ink command run in non-TTY	Add --json flag; ported commands auto-degrade

For unrecognized symptoms: read manifest.json, then read the relevant source file, then ask the user for the exact error message verbatim (paraphrased error messages lose diagnostic signal).

4. Reading the manifest

The manifest at <root>/.skmtc/<project>/.settings/manifest.json is the canonical record of every decision the engine made in the last run. Read it immediately after the run you want to diagnose — the next generate/dev cycle overwrites it.

Top-level shape

{
  deploymentId: string         // identifies the run
  traceId, spanId: string      // log correlation
  region?: string
  startAt, endAt: number       // unix-ms; (endAt - startAt) = wall time
  files: Record<string, {      // every file actually written
    lines: number
    characters: number
    destinationPath: string    // resolved output path
  }>
  previews: Record<…, Preview> // UI-facing preview entries per Projection
  mappings?: Record<…, Mapping>
  results: ResultsItem         // per-(generator × item) outcome
  parseIssues: ParseIssue[]    // always present; empty array = no issues
}

results — what worked and what didn't

results is a deeply nested record keyed by trace → span → "generate" → generator package id → identifier:

{
  "trace-1778185255674": {
    "span-1778185255674": {
      "generate": {
        "@skmtc/gen-shadcn-form": {
          "get_Applicants":        "notSupported",
          "get_ApplicantById":     "success",
          "post_CreateApplicant":  "error"
        },
        "@skmtc/gen-zod": {
          "ApplicantModel": "success"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Each leaf is a ResultType:

Value	Meaning
success	Generator ran and produced output for this item
warning	Output produced, with a recoverable issue logged
error	Generator threw or returned failure; output may be missing or partial
skipped	Item was matched but deliberately skipped (e.g., by client.json filters)
notSupported	Generator's isSupported returned false — expected for items outside the generator's scope

Diagnostic workflow against the manifest

1. "It generated nothing" — open results. If every leaf is notSupported, no generator's isSupported matched any operation/model. Check the schema actually has the operations expected and that the right generators are installed.

2. "It generated less than expected" — grep the results subtree for the generator in question. Find which identifiers came back notSupported/skipped vs success. Identifier format is <protocol>_<operationId> for operations (query_…, mutation_…, get_…, post_…) and the model name for models.

3. "A specific output is missing" — check files first. If the destinationPath isn't there, find the corresponding identifier in results. error means the generator failed; notSupported means the engine never reached it.

4. "Cost / size accounting" — files has lines and characters per output. (endAt - startAt) is wall-clock duration.

jq queries for slicing

M=<root>/.skmtc/<project>/.settings/manifest.json

# Count by status across all generators in the most recent run:
jq '[.. | strings] | group_by(.) | map({status: .[0], n: length})' "$M"

# All non-success identifiers under a specific generator:
jq '.results[][].generate["@skmtc/gen-shadcn-form"]
    | to_entries | map(select(.value != "success"))' "$M"

# Files written by output subdirectory:
jq '.files | to_entries | group_by(.value.destinationPath | split("/")[1])
    | map({dir: .[0].value.destinationPath, n: length})' "$M"

# parseIssues at level "error":
jq '.parseIssues // [] | map(select(.level == "error"))' "$M"

Full manifest schema reference: reference/manifest-format.md.

5. Understanding parseIssues

The two-tier error model in Parse:

Tier 1: per-item isolation

Every per-item parse runs inside tryParseAt (core/context/tryParseAt.ts). A throw becomes a ParseIssue at level: 'error', and the item is dropped from the output map. Siblings continue.

Tier 2: cascade pruning

ParseContext maintains #refConsumers (who pointed at this ref) and #refErrors (which refs failed). At end-of-parse, removeErroredItems deletes every consumer of every failed ref, generating INVALID_DEPENDENCY_REF issues for the pruned consumers.

Implication: a single root-cause INVALID_SCHEMA can produce many INVALID_DEPENDENCY_REF issues elsewhere. The diagnostic move is to find the upstream INVALID_SCHEMA and fix it; the INVALID_DEPENDENCY_REF downstream issues typically resolve on their own.

Cascade pruning is one hop deep by current design — transitive dependents of pruned items may fail later (at generate time) with Ref "..." not found errors. Treat that as a hint that an even-more- upstream schema is broken.

Issue types you'll see

• INVALID_SCHEMA — top-level schema parse failure
• INVALID_DEPENDENCY_REF — cascade-pruned consumer of a failed ref
• MISSING_OBJECT_TYPE — schema has properties but no type: 'object'; SKMTC inferred object (warning)
• MISSING_ARRAY_TYPE — has items but no type: 'array' (warning)
• MISSING_STRING_TYPE / MISSING_BOOLEAN_TYPE — similar fallback inferences (warning)
• UNEXPECTED_PROPERTY — extra key in a schema position (warning)

Full reference: reference/error-codes.md.

6. Common failure scenarios with diagnostic paths

Scenario A: No output for an operation

Symptom: skmtc generate reports success but a specific operation produced no files.

1. Open manifest.json. Find the per-operation result for the missing operation in manifest.results[traceId][spanId].generate[generatorId][identifier].
2. Branches:
   • 'notSupported': The generator's isSupported predicate rejected this operation. Check the predicate in gen-<name>/src/mod.ts.
   • 'skipped': A filter in client.json (skip or include) is excluding it. Check client.json#settings.skip and .include.
   • 'success' but no file: The generator's transform returned content (which is discarded) instead of calling register or insertOperation. Read the generator source.
   • 'error': Read the error message in the manifest (or stderr from the run). The generator's constructor or toString threw.
3. If the result is missing entirely (operation not present in manifest.results): the operation was pruned at parse time (look for INVALID_SCHEMA / INVALID_DEPENDENCY_REF in parseIssues at the operation's path).

Scenario B: Wrong output (compiles)

Symptom: Generated TS compiles but has incorrect semantics.

1. Identify the offending file and the offending fragment.
2. Read the generator's toString() template. Is the right Projection being instantiated? Is the right schema being read? (operation.toRequestBody, operation.toSuccessResponse, schema.resolve())
3. Is the right peer Projection being referenced? Check insertOperation(Other, op).toName() calls — the returned name is what the template should embed.
4. Did the constructor's side effects (register, insertNormalizedModel) run? Look for them in the constructor — if they're in toString(), that's wrong (mutation in toString is an anti-pattern).
5. If the generator is stock and the output is consistently wrong: clone it and inspect the source. If a cloned generator: edit it.

Scenario C: Wrong output (doesn't compile)

Symptom: Generated TS has type errors.

1. Run skmtc generate <project> --typecheck. The CLI returns diagnostics scoped to this run's files.
2. Map each TS error back to the generator source that produced the offending line. Common patterns:
   • "Module not found": The generator produced a path the consumer hasn't implemented. Check the generator's register({ imports: ... }) calls — the consumer must provide the named module at the generated path, or the generator should be cloned and the import target changed. For a package name (@acme/sdk/models), the moduleName in settings.packages is not declared in that package's package.json (name, or an exports entry for a subpath). A render-time throw that names settings.packages (has no moduleName, under no package root) is a config fault, not a generator fault: docs/using/how-to/generate-into-multiple-packages.md.
   • Type mismatch between schema and validator: The schema → DSL conversion produced a Zod (or other) schema with different shape than the TS type. Usually the form / hook generator and the type / validator generator disagree on the input — check that they're using insertNormalizedModel consistently for the same schema.
   • Missing properties on a type: The schema is optional / nullable in a way the generator didn't account for. Read the OAS schema for the affected property.

Scenario D: The bundle build fails

Symptom: generate exits 1 before any generation runs, with Error: Failed to create bundle — \deno bundle` failed in …`.

generate rebuilds worker.ts and bundle.js from the project's deno.json and generator source on every run, so a build failure is about the project as it is now — never an older bundle.

1. Read the deno bundle error in the message (the full output is in .settings/error-logs.txt). It names the import or pin that failed.
2. An unresolved bare specifier: a cloned generator imports a package that no deno.json pins. Add the pin.
3. No matching export … for import "X": peer-dep version skew. Run skmtc doctor --json and read project-core-pin/<project>.
4. Fix deno.json or the generator source, then run generate again. There is no separate rebuild step.

Scenario E: Registered definition mismatch

Symptom: Error: Registered definition mismatch: 'X' in file 'Y'. Cached key 'A' does not match new key 'B'.

A second form names options instead of keys: Cached options {...} do not match new options {...}. Fold options into toIdentifierName. The same (name, exportPath) was reached twice with different caller options, and the peer's toIdentifierName ignores them. Fix the peer (fold the options its output depends on into the name), not the caller.

1. Two generators (or two callers within one generator) are producing the same identifier at the same exportPath.
2. Read the two generatorKey values from the error. They identify the colliding generators. The 4-segment OAS format is generatorId|path|method|variant; GQL is generatorId|rootKind|fieldName|variant. If the only segment that differs is variant, this is the variants-aware case (Scenario G below); follow that branch instead.
3. Branches:
   • Both are stock generators: Clone one and change its toIdentifier to disambiguate.
   • One is yours: Your toIdentifier is computing the same name as a peer. Make it more specific (verb prefix, kind suffix, etc.).
4. The error is raised by OasOperationDriver.affirmDefinition — the cache key uniqueness invariant is enforced strictly for Driver-path insertions. (The insertNormalizedModel fallback-name path does not enforce; see #SKM-47.)

Scenario F: Engine throws "must include a 'main' variant"

Symptom: Error: [<generator-id>] Enrichments for '<METHOD> <path>' must include a 'main' variant. Found variants: customer, location.

1. The consumer's client.json declares variant keys at enrichments[<gen-id>][<path>][<method>] (or [<rootKind>][<fieldName>] for GraphQL) without 'main' among them.
2. The engine refuses to dispatch because every variants-aware path defaults to 'main' — silently inventing it would mask the misconfiguration.
3. Fix: open client.json and either:
   • Add "main": {} (or "main": { ... }) to the variants record, OR
   • Remove the non-'main' variants and inline their content as the operation-level enrichment, OR
   • If you want the consumer to opt out of 'main', declare it anyway and add (path, method, "main") to skip.
4. Where it's thrown: core/helpers/toVariantList.ts, invoked from GenerateContext.#runOasOperationGenerator and #runGqlOperationGenerator. Pinning test: core/context/GenerateContext.variants.test.ts → "declared variants without main throws at engine dispatch".

Scenario G: Driver throws "Cannot insert variant 'X'"

Symptom: Error: [<peer-gen-id>] Cannot insert variant '<name>' for '<METHOD> <path>' — peer has no enrichments configured. Only 'main' is permitted. or Available variants: main, customer.

1. A variants-aware generator is calling context.insertOperation({ projection: Peer, operation, variant: 'X' }) where 'X' isn't declared in the PEER's enrichment block. The Driver's assertPeerVariantExists guard fires before the Projection is even constructed.
2. Almost always the auto-inherit-variant anti-pattern (see skmtc-generator skill §8) — the caller's source has this.insertOperation(Peer, op, { variant: this.settings.variant }) against a variants-unaware peer.
3. Fix in the caller's source:
   • If the peer is variants-unaware (most peers are): this.insertOperation(Peer, op) — drop the { variant }. The Driver defaults to 'main'; both variants of the caller share the peer's single Definition.
   • If the peer is variants-aware AND the caller genuinely wants a per-variant peer Definition: the peer's client.json enrichment must declare that variant before the call will succeed. Either add the declaration or remove the threading.
4. Where it's thrown: core/dsl/operation/oas/OasOperationDriver.ts (and the GQL counterpart) → assertPeerVariantExists. Pinning tests: core/dsl/operation/oas/OasOperationDriver.test.ts → "Variant validation".

Scenario H: TypeError: this.context.X is not a function (two copies of core)

Symptom: a runtime exception like TypeError: this.context.insertNormalizedModel is not a function (any context method) during skmtc generate, while bundle.js visibly contains a similar-but-differently-spelled method (insertNormalisedModel vs insertNormalizedModel, toRefName vs getRefName).

Cause: two @skmtc/core versions in one bundle. Published @skmtc/* packages declare core as a caret range (^0.29.0), and the project's deno.json pins core exactly; worker.ts imports @skmtc/core, so that pin is the version every range settles on. Two copies appear when something cannot settle on it:

1. A package pins core exactly at a different version — a generator released before the switch to ranges, or one built from an old template.
2. A package's range starts above the project pin — for example a generator on ^0.29.1 in a project pinned to 0.29.0.
3. A local workspace member declares a version outside a range (for example 0.4.4 against ^0.3.0). Deno's workspace resolution rejects the mismatch and silently fetches a JSR copy.

Diagnostic path: skmtc doctor's project-package-copies/<project> names each copy and the packages that import it. For case 3, also:

grep -i "Workspace member" .skmtc/<project>/.settings/error-logs.txt

The fallback emits Warning: Workspace member '@skmtc/core@X' was not used because it did not match '@skmtc/core@Y' — and it surfaces ONLY in error-logs.txt: bundle and generate don't print it, and doctor names the two copies but not the reason.

Fix: raise the project's @skmtc/core pin to a version every named package accepts (case 2), move an exact-pinned generator to a release with a caret range (case 1), or align the workspace member's version with the range (case 3). Then run skmtc generate <project>, which rebuilds the bundle. One core copy in the bundle → the method exists at runtime.

7. Anti-patterns specific to debugging

The defaults to override when in debug mode:

Don't propose code changes before reproducing the failure

❌ "Try changing toIdentifier — that might fix it."
✅ "Let's reproduce first. Run `skmtc generate <project> --json` and
   share the output."

"Try X" without reproduction is guess-and-check, not debugging. Each attempt costs a generate cycle.

Don't trust docstrings as authoritative

Docstrings and comments can lag behind code changes. Drift between docs and code is real. Verify against the function body, not the comments.

Don't extrapolate behavior from training data

This codebase has specific quirks that other codegen tools don't share:

• No Prettier in the pipeline
• OasSchema as a union, not a class hierarchy
• Two spellings of insertNormali[sz]edModel
• Worker permissions: net: false, run: false

Verify each claim against the source.

Don't assume the bug is in the generator

The failure may be in:

• client.json (wrong path, wrong enrichment shape, wrong include/ skip)
• The OpenAPI schema itself (malformed, missing $ref target)
• A pin in the project's deno.json that doesn't build
• A version mismatch (peer-pin between @skmtc/core and a generator)
• The consumer-side code the generated output imports against
• The user's setup (Deno version, JSR_URL, lockfile staleness)

Walk the diagnostic paths in §3 before deciding.

Don't restart from scratch unless symptoms warrant it

"Clean install" / "delete .skmtc and redo" should not be the first move. If specific symptoms suggest workspace corruption (manifest fails to parse, bundle.js is malformed, deno.json is invalid JSON), then targeted recreation makes sense. Otherwise, diagnose specifically.

Don't suggest --verbose or console.log before checking the manifest

The manifest already has structured diagnostic data per item. Reading it is faster than instrumenting the generator. Use jq queries from §4.

Don't paraphrase error messages

When asking the user about an error, request the exact verbatim text. Paraphrased messages lose the discriminator information that maps to the diagnostic path in §3.

8. When to escalate

Clone a stock generator for inspection

If the bug is in stock generator behavior (e.g., a gen-shadcn-form output is wrong), cloning brings the source local where it can be read and modified. Once cloned, the diagnostic shifts: now it's a generator-authoring problem (skmtc-generator skill takes over).

Surface to the friction log

If the diagnosis revealed a pattern (a confusing error message, a missing API helper, a frequently-misunderstood invariant), the skmtc-retro skill should capture it as a friction-log entry. Don't let an interesting diagnostic insight evaporate.

Suggest a SKMTC code change

If the bug is in @skmtc/core or @skmtc/cli (not in a generator), propose the fix as a PR or GitHub issue. Distinguish between:

• Fix in cloned generator — immediate, local, ships in the consumer's repo
• Fix in core — slower, upstream, affects all projects

Choosing the wrong level produces friction. Generator-shape bugs typically belong in the generator; engine-shape bugs belong in core.

9. Boundary with other skills

• skmtc-cli: hand off when the diagnosis has identified a CLI / configuration fix (e.g., "you need to update client.json basePath"). The skmtc-cli skill guides applying the fix.
• skmtc-generator: hand off when the diagnosis has identified a fix in generator source. The skmtc-generator skill guides the source edit.
• skmtc-retro: end-of-session. Debug sessions often surface retro-worthy observations — patterns of confusing error messages, missing diagnostic surfaces, recurring failure modes.

The transition: this skill is active while the LLM doesn't yet know what's wrong. Once a root cause is identified, the appropriate "doing" skill helps with the fix.

10. Cross-references

• Verification protocol (canonical): llms.md
• Manifest format reference: reference/manifest-format.md
• Parse-issue type reference: reference/error-codes.md
• Error-handling philosophy: concepts/error-handling-philosophy.md
• Ref resolution mechanics: concepts/refs-and-resolution.md
• How-to: using/how-to/debug-failing-generation.md
• Friction log (where new diagnostic patterns should be recorded): friction-log/