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Use AI for Root Cause Analysis and Bug Fixes

Stop staring at stack traces. Feed your buggy code and the full error message to an AI with the Code Debugging skill. It will perform a root cause analysis, explain the problem, and suggest a corrected code snippet, accelerating your development workflow.

beginner15 min4 steps

The play

Isolate the Bug and Capture the Error
First, create a minimal, reproducible example. Use the starter code below, save it as `buggy_code.py`, and run it (`python buggy_code.py`). This will generate a `TypeError` and a stack trace which you will need for the next step.
Prompt the AI for Analysis
Copy both your buggy code and the full terminal error output. Paste them into a prompt for an AI assistant, asking it to use its Code Debugging skill to find the root cause and provide a fix.
Evaluate the AI's Diagnosis
Review the AI's explanation. The Code Debugging skill should identify that you cannot add a string ('15') to an integer. This confirms the AI correctly performed the root cause analysis and understood the stack trace.
Implement and Verify the Fix
The AI will suggest a fix, likely by converting the score to an integer inside the loop (e.g., `total += int(score)`). Replace your buggy code with the AI's corrected version and run it again to confirm the bug is resolved.

Starter code

# buggy_code.py
# Save this file and run `python buggy_code.py` to see the error.

def calculate_total_score(scores):
    """Calculates the sum of scores, but contains a bug."""
    total = 0
    for score in scores:
        # This line will cause a TypeError because "15" is a string
        total += score
    return total

# Sample data with an invalid entry (a string instead of an integer)
player_scores = [10, 20, "15", 30]

print(f"Processing scores: {player_scores}")
final_score = calculate_total_score(player_scores)
print(f"Final score: {final_score}")