low-level-dev-skills

CMake build system skill for C/C++ projects. Use when writing or refactoring CMakeLists.txt, configuring out-of-source builds, selecting generators (Ninja, Make, VS), managing targets and dependencies with targetlinklibraries, integrating external packages via findpackage or FetchContent, enabling sanitizers, setting up toolchain files for cross-compilation, or exporting CMake packages. Activates on queries about CMakeLists.txt, cmake configure errors, target properties, install rules, CPack, or CMake presets.

Static analysis skill for C/C++ codebases. Use when hardening code quality, triaging noisy builds, running clang-tidy, cppcheck, or scan-build, interpreting check categories, suppressing false positives, or integrating static analysis into CI. Activates on queries about clang-tidy checks, cppcheck, scan-build, compilecommands.json, code hardening, or static analysis warnings.

GDB debugger skill for C/C++ programs. Use when starting a GDB session, setting breakpoints, stepping through code, inspecting variables, debugging crashes, using reverse debugging (record/replay), remote debugging with gdbserver, or loading core dumps. Activates on queries about GDB commands, segfaults, hangs, watchpoints, conditional breakpoints, pretty-printers, Python GDB scripting, or multi-threaded debugging.

LLVM IR and pass pipeline skill. Use when working directly with LLVM Intermediate Representation (IR), running opt passes, generating IR with llc, inspecting or writing LLVM IR for custom passes, or understanding how the LLVM backend lowers IR to assembly. Activates on queries about LLVM IR, opt, llc, llvm-dis, LLVM passes, IR transformations, or building LLVM-based tools.

Compiler sanitizer skill for runtime bug detection in C/C++. Use when enabling and interpreting AddressSanitizer (ASan), UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer (UBSan), ThreadSanitizer (TSan), MemorySanitizer (MSan), or LeakSanitizer (LSan) with GCC or Clang. Activates on queries about sanitizer flags, sanitizer reports, ASANOPTIONS, memory errors, data races, undefined behaviour, uninitialised reads, or choosing which sanitizer to use for a given bug class.

Core dump analysis skill for production crash triage. Use when loading core files in GDB or LLDB, enabling core dump generation on Linux/macOS, mapping symbols with debuginfo or debuginfod, or extracting backtraces from crashes without re-running the program. Activates on queries about core files, ulimit, coredumpctl, debuginfod, crash triage, or analyzing segfaults from production binaries.

Linux perf profiler skill for CPU performance analysis. Use when collecting sampling profiles with perf record, generating perf report, measuring hardware counters (cache misses, branch mispredicts, IPC), identifying hot functions, or feeding perf data into flamegraph tools. Activates on queries about perf, Linux performance counters, PMU events, off-CPU profiling, perf stat, perf annotate, or sampling-based profiling on Linux.

Clang/LLVM compiler skill for C/C++ projects. Use when working with clang or clang++ for diagnostics, sanitizer instrumentation, optimization remarks, static analysis with clang-tidy, LTO via lld, or when migrating from GCC to Clang. Activates on queries about clang flags, clang-tidy, clang-format, better error messages, Apple/FreeBSD toolchains, or LLVM-specific optimizations. Covers flag selection, diagnostic tuning, and integration with LLVM tooling.

GCC compiler skill for C/C++ projects. Use when selecting optimization levels, warning flags, debug builds, LTO, sanitizer instrumentation, or diagnosing compilation errors with GCC. Covers flag selection for debug vs release, ABI concerns, preprocessor macros, profile-guided optimization, and integration with build systems. Activates on queries about gcc flags, compilation errors, performance tuning, warning suppression, or cross-standard compilation.

Cross-compilation with GCC skill for embedded and multi-architecture targets. Use when setting up cross-gcc toolchains, configuring sysroots, building for ARM/AArch64/RISC-V/MIPS from an x86-64 host, troubleshooting wrong-architecture errors, or running cross-compiled binaries under QEMU. Activates on queries about cross-compilation triplets, sysroot, pkg-config for cross builds, embedded toolchains, or Yocto/Buildroot integration.

Valgrind profiler skill for memory error detection and cache profiling. Use when running Memcheck to find heap corruption, use-after-free, memory leaks, or uninitialised reads; or Cachegrind/Callgrind for cache simulation and function-level profiling. Activates on queries about valgrind, memcheck, heap leaks, use-after-free without sanitizers, cachegrind, callgrind, KCachegrind, or massif memory profiling.

Flamegraph generation and interpretation skill. Use when converting perf, Valgrind Callgrind, or other profiler output into SVG flamegraphs using Brendan Gregg's FlameGraph tools, or when reading flamegraphs to identify performance bottlenecks. Activates on queries about flamegraphs, stackcollapse, flamegraph.svg, identifying hot frames, wide vs tall frames, or performance visualisation.

x86-64 assembly skill for reading, writing, and debugging assembly code. Use when reading GCC/Clang assembly output, writing inline asm in C/C++, understanding the System V AMD64 ABI calling convention, or debugging register and stack state. Activates on queries about x86-64 assembly, AT&T vs Intel syntax, inline asm, calling conventions, SIMD intrinsics, or reading disassembly output from objdump or GDB.

AArch64 and ARM assembly skill for reading and writing ARM assembly code. Use when reading GCC/Clang output for AArch64 or ARM Thumb targets, writing inline asm in C/C++, understanding the ARM ABI (AAPCS64/AAPCS), or debugging register and stack state on ARM hardware or QEMU. Activates on queries about AArch64 assembly, ARM Thumb, NEON/SVE SIMD, ARM calling convention, inline asm for ARM, or reading ARM disassembly.

CPU cache optimization skill for C/C++ and Rust. Use when diagnosing cache misses, improving data layout for cache efficiency, using perf stat cache counters, understanding false sharing, prefetching, or structuring AoS vs SoA data layouts. Activates on queries about cache misses, cache lines, false sharing, perf cache counters, data layout optimization, prefetch, AoS vs SoA, or L1/L2/L3 cache performance.

strace and ltrace skill for system call and library call tracing. Use when a binary behaves incorrectly without crashing, diagnosing file-not-found errors, permission failures, network issues, or unexpected library calls by tracing syscalls and library function calls. Activates on queries about strace, ltrace, syscall tracing, library interception, ENOENT, EPERM, strace -e, or diagnosing binary behaviour without a debugger.

LLDB debugger skill for C/C++/Swift/Objective-C programs. Use when debugging with LLDB on macOS, FreeBSD, or Linux-clang environments, mapping GDB mental models to LLDB commands, using LLDB in Xcode or VS Code, or debugging Swift/Objective-C. Activates on queries about LLDB commands, GDB to LLDB migration, Apple platform debugging, LLDB Python scripting, or IDE-integrated debugging with clang-built binaries.

GNU Make skill for C/C++ build systems. Use when writing or debugging Makefiles, understanding pattern rules and automatic dependency generation, managing CFLAGS/LDFLAGS, converting ad-hoc compile commands into maintainable Makefiles, or diagnosing incremental build issues. Activates on queries about Makefiles, make targets, pattern rules, phony targets, dependency tracking, recursive make, or make errors.

SIMD intrinsics skill for x86 (SSE/AVX) and ARM (NEON) vectorization. Use when reading auto-vectorization reports, writing SSE2/AVX2/NEON intrinsics, checking CPU feature flags at runtime, choosing between compiler builtins and raw intrinsics, or diagnosing why auto-vectorization failed. Activates on queries about SIMD, SSE2, AVX2, NEON, intrinsics, -fopt-info-vec, auto-vectorization, or vectorization failures.

ELF binary inspection skill for Linux. Use when examining ELF executables or shared libraries with readelf, objdump, nm, or ldd to understand symbol visibility, section layout, dynamic dependencies, build IDs, or relocation entries. Activates on queries about ELF format, shared library dependencies, symbol tables, section sizes, DWARF debug info in binaries, binary bloat analysis, or undefined symbol errors.

FreeRTOS skill for embedded RTOS development. Use when creating tasks, managing priorities, using queues and mutexes, detecting stack overflows, configuring FreeRTOS via FreeRTOSConfig.h, or debugging FreeRTOS applications with OpenOCD and GDB. Activates on queries about FreeRTOS tasks, queues, semaphores, mutexes, configASSERT, stack overflow, vTaskDelay, or FreeRTOS-aware debugging.

Linux kernel module skill for writing and debugging loadable kernel modules. Use when writing LKMs with Kbuild, adding module parameters, creating /proc and sysfs entries, implementing character devices, debugging with KGDB or ftrace, or handling module signing for Secure Boot. Activates on queries about Linux kernel modules, loadable modules, Kbuild, module parameters, /proc filesystem, sysfs, character devices, KGDB, or module signing.

C++ and Rust memory model skill for concurrent programming. Use when understanding memory ordering, writing lock-free data structures, using std::atomic or Rust atomics, diagnosing data races, or selecting the correct memory order for atomic operations. Activates on queries about memory ordering, acquire-release, seqcst, relaxed atomics, happens-before, memory barriers, std::atomic, or Rust atomic ordering.

Ninja build system skill. Use when diagnosing Ninja build failures, understanding Ninja's role as a low-level build executor generated by CMake or other meta-build systems, tuning parallelism, interpreting Ninja output, or working with build.ninja files. Activates on queries about ninja errors, ninja parallelism, ninja verbose output, build.ninja format, or ninja as a CMake generator.

heaptrack memory profiler skill for Linux. Use when tracking heap allocations, finding memory leaks, measuring peak heap usage, identifying allocation hotspots, or comparing allocation behaviour between runs. Activates on queries about heaptrack, heap profiling, memory allocation analysis, heaptrackprint, allocation hotspots, or memory leak detection with heaptrack.

Fuzzing skill for automated input-driven bug finding in C/C++. Use when setting up libFuzzer or AFL++ fuzz targets, defining fuzz entry points around parsing or I/O boundaries, integrating fuzzing into CI, managing corpora, or combining fuzzing with sanitizers. Activates on queries about libFuzzer, AFL, afl-fuzz, fuzz targets, corpus management, coverage-guided fuzzing, or OSS-Fuzz integration.

MSVC cl.exe and clang-cl skill for Windows C/C++ projects. Use when configuring Visual Studio builds, MSBuild, or clang-cl as a drop-in MSVC replacement. Covers translating GCC/Clang flags to MSVC equivalents, runtime library selection, Windows SDK setup, and diagnosing MSVC-specific errors. Activates on queries about cl.exe, clang-cl, /O flags, /MT vs /MD, PDB files, Windows ABI, or MSVC project settings.

eBPF skill for Linux observability and networking. Use when writing eBPF programs with libbpf or bpftrace, attaching kprobes/tracepoints/XDP hooks, debugging verifier errors, working with eBPF maps, or achieving CO-RE portability across kernel versions. Activates on queries about eBPF, bpftool, bpftrace, XDP programs, libbpf, verifier errors, eBPF maps, or kernel tracing with BPF.

C/C++ package manager skill covering Conan and vcpkg. Use when adding third-party library dependencies to C/C++ projects, managing binary compatibility, integrating with CMake, or choosing between Conan and vcpkg. Activates on queries about Conan, vcpkg, C++ dependency management, conanfile.txt, vcpkg.json, CMake package integration, or C++ package managers.

GNU binutils skill for binary manipulation and analysis. Use when using ar for static libraries, strip or objcopy for binary processing, addr2line for converting addresses to source locations, strings for text extraction, or c++filt for C++ name demangling. Activates on queries about ar, strip, objcopy, addr2line, strings, c++filt, ranlib, or binary post-processing tasks.

Linker and Link-Time Optimisation (LTO) skill. Use when configuring GNU ld, gold, or lld linker flags, diagnosing link-order issues or undefined symbols at link time, enabling LTO safely in real projects, or understanding inter-module optimisation trade-offs. Activates on queries about linker flags, -flto, thin LTO, LTCG, --gc-sections, link order errors, weak symbols, or linker scripts.

Dynamic linking skill for Linux/ELF shared libraries. Use when debugging library loading failures, configuring RPATH vs RUNPATH, understanding soname versioning, using dlopen/dlsym for plugin systems, LDPRELOAD interposition, or controlling symbol visibility. Activates on queries about shared libraries, dlopen, LDLIBRARYPATH, RPATH, soname, LDPRELOAD, symbol visibility, or "cannot open shared object file" errors.

Rust profiling skill for performance analysis. Use when generating flamegraphs from Rust binaries, measuring monomorphization bloat with cargo-llvm-lines, analysing binary size with cargo-bloat, microbenchmarking with Criterion, or interpreting inlined frames in profiles. Activates on queries about cargo flamegraph, cargo-bloat, cargo-llvm-lines, Criterion benchmarks, Rust performance profiling, or binary size analysis.

Bytecode interpreter and JIT compiler skill for implementing language runtimes in C/C++. Use when designing bytecode dispatch loops (switch, computed goto, threaded code), implementing stack-based or register-based VMs, adding a simple JIT using mmap/mprotect, or understanding performance trade-offs in interpreter design. Activates on queries about bytecode VMs, dispatch loops, computed goto, JIT compilation basics, tracing JITs, or implementing a scripting language runtime.

Profile-guided optimisation skill for C/C++ with GCC and Clang. Use when squeezing maximum runtime performance after standard optimisation plateaus, implementing two-stage PGO builds, collecting profile data, or applying BOLT for post-link optimisation. Activates on queries about PGO, profile-guided optimization, fprofile-generate, fprofile-use, instrumented builds, or BOLT.

Rust FFI skill for C interoperability. Use when calling C libraries from Rust, generating Rust bindings with bindgen, exporting Rust functions to C with cbindgen, writing safe wrappers around unsafe FFI, or linking system and vendor libraries. Activates on queries about bindgen, cbindgen, extern "C", unsafe FFI, Rust C bindings, linking C from Rust, or sys crates.

Meson build system skill for C/C++ projects. Use when setting up a Meson project, configuring build options, managing dependencies with the wrap system, cross-compiling, or integrating Meson with CI. Activates on queries about meson setup, meson compile, meson wrap, meson test, cross-file, meson.build, or migrating from CMake/Autotools to Meson.

Cargo workflow skill for Rust projects. Use when managing workspaces, feature flags, build scripts, cargo cache, incremental builds, dependency auditing, or CI configuration with Cargo. Activates on queries about cargo workspaces, Cargo.toml features, build.rs, cargo nextest, cargo deny, cargo check vs build, or Cargo.lock management.

Rust unsafe code skill for systems programming. Use when writing or reviewing unsafe Rust, understanding what operations require unsafe, implementing safe abstractions over unsafe code, auditing unsafe blocks, or understanding raw pointers, transmute, and extern. Activates on queries about unsafe Rust, raw pointers, transmute, unsafe blocks, writing safe wrappers, UnsafeCell, unsafe trait impl, or auditing unsafe code.

C++20 modules skill for modern C++ projects. Use when working with named modules, module partitions, header units, CMake MODULESOURCES, Clang -fmodules-ts, BMI caching issues, or migrating from headers to modules. Activates on queries about C++20 modules, import statements, module interface units, header units, or BMI files.

Rust debugging skill for systems programming. Use when debugging Rust binaries with GDB or LLDB, enabling Rust pretty-printers, interpreting panics and backtraces, debugging async/await with tokio-console, stepping through nostd code, or using dbg! and tracing macros effectively. Activates on queries about rust-gdb, rust-lldb, RUSTBACKTRACE, Rust panics, debugging async Rust, tokio-console, or pretty-printers.

Hardware performance counter skill for low-level CPU analysis. Use when collecting PMU events with perf stat, using the PAPI library, measuring cache miss rates and branch misprediction ratios, computing IPC, or correlating PMU events to source lines. Activates on queries about hardware counters, PMU events, perf stat -e, PAPI, cache miss rate, branch misprediction, IPC measurement, or CPU performance events.

Rust security skill for supply chain safety and memory-safe development. Use when auditing dependencies with cargo-audit, enforcing policies with cargo-deny, reviewing RUSTSEC advisories, writing memory-safe FFI patterns, or integrating fuzzing and Miri into a security review pipeline. Activates on queries about cargo-audit, cargo-deny, RUSTSEC advisories, supply chain security, Rust CVEs, safe FFI, or fuzzing for security.

OpenOCD skill for embedded hardware debugging. Use when configuring OpenOCD for JTAG or SWD targets, flashing firmware, connecting GDB to bare-metal targets, setting hardware watchpoints, or using J-Link with OpenOCD. Activates on queries about OpenOCD, JTAG, SWD, GDB remote target, flash programming, hardware breakpoints, J-Link, or connecting GDB to an MCU.

Debugging optimized builds skill for diagnosing issues in release code. Use when debugging RelWithDebInfo builds, using -Og for debuggable optimization, working with split-DWARF, applying GDB scheduler-locking, reading inlined frames, or understanding "value optimized out" messages. Activates on queries about debugging optimized code, RelWithDebInfo, -Og, inlined functions in GDB, value optimized out, GDB with -O2, or debugging release builds.

C++20 coroutines skill for understanding coroutine mechanics and debugging. Use when working with coawait, coyield, coreturn, implementing promisetype, understanding coroutine frame layout, debugging suspended coroutines in GDB, or inspecting frame allocation with Compiler Explorer. Activates on queries about C++20 coroutines, coawait, coyield, promisetype, coroutinehandle, coroutine suspension, or coroutine frame.

Concurrency debugging skill for diagnosing data races and deadlocks. Use when reading TSan race reports, debugging deadlocks with GDB thread inspection, analyzing lock-order graphs with Helgrind, identifying std::atomic misuse patterns, or reasoning about happens-before in C++ and Rust. Activates on queries about data races, TSan reports, deadlocks, Helgrind, lock ordering, thread sanitizer output, or atomic ordering issues.

C++ template skill for reading template errors and optimizing compile times. Use when deciphering template error stacks, setting -ftemplate-backtrace-limit, writing concepts and requires-clauses, understanding SFINAE vs concepts, or profiling template instantiation bottlenecks with Templight. Activates on queries about C++ templates, template error messages, concepts, requires expressions, SFINAE, template metaprogramming, or slow template compilation.

Rust sanitizers and Miri skill for memory safety validation. Use when running AddressSanitizer or ThreadSanitizer on Rust code, interpreting sanitizer reports, using Miri to detect undefined behaviour in unsafe Rust, or validating unsafe code correctness. Activates on queries about Rust ASan, Rust TSan, Miri, RUSTFLAGS sanitize, cargo miri, unsafe Rust UB, or interpreting Rust sanitizer output.

Linker script skill for embedded bare-metal targets. Use when writing or modifying GNU ld linker scripts, placing code and data in specific flash or RAM regions, understanding VMA vs LMA, configuring startup .bss/.data initialization, using MEMORY and SECTIONS commands, or debugging linker errors about regions. Activates on queries about linker scripts, MEMORY command, SECTIONS command, .bss init, VMA vs LMA, weak symbols, or placing functions in specific memory regions.