{"name":"analyse-error-logs-prompt","description":"A prompt that reads server, app or build logs and finds what matters - the first real failure, repeating patterns, spikes and timing, the probable cause with the log lines that prove it, and the next checks to run - without guessing beyond the data. Use when the user pastes logs, asks why a server crashed, or cannot spot what failed in a long log.","category":"coding-prompts","tags":["logs","debugging"],"models":["any"],"proven":false,"passing_families":0,"model_testing":"Not yet model-tested; testing Jan 2027","url":"https://theskillvault.ai/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt","api_url":"https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt","raw_url":"https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/raw","body":"# Analyse error logs (prompt)\n\nLogs are long and noisy. This prompt finds the first real error, the pattern around it and the likely cause, with the lines that prove it.\n\n## When to use\n- A server, function or job crashed and you have the logs.\n- A build or deploy log is hundreds of lines and you cannot see what failed.\n- Errors come and go and you want to spot the pattern.\n\n## When not to use\n- You need a full debugging method across code and tests. Use debug-systematically, and use this prompt for the log part.\n\n## Steps\n1. Copy the logs from around the problem, with timestamps. A few hundred lines is usually enough.\n2. Redact secrets: tokens, passwords, cookies, emails and IP addresses.\n3. Fill in {{CONTEXT}}: what you were doing and when it went wrong.\n4. Paste both into the prompt below and run the checks it suggests.\n\n## Prompt\n```text\nAnalyse these logs. Context: {{CONTEXT}}\n\n1. First real error: quote the earliest line that shows the actual failure (not the follow-on errors), with its timestamp.\n2. Patterns: errors or warnings that repeat, how often, and whether they cluster in time.\n3. Timeline: a short list of what happened, in order, around the failure.\n4. Likely root cause: your best explanation, with the log lines that support it. Give a confidence level (high, medium, low).\n5. Other possible causes, if the evidence is not conclusive.\n6. Next checks: 2-4 specific things to run or look at to confirm the cause.\n\nOnly claim what the logs show. If something is not in the logs, say so instead of guessing.\n\nLOGS:\n{{LOGS}}\n```\n\n## How to adapt\n- Performance problem rather than a crash? Ask for slow requests, timings and spikes instead of errors.\n- Logs in JSON? Ask it to group by a field such as route or status code.\n\n## Gotchas\n- Logs often contain tokens, session cookies and personal data. Redact them before pasting into any AI tool.\n- The last error in a log is often a side effect. The first one usually matters most.\n\n## Portability\nWorks with any log source: Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions or a plain server. Any chat AI works; no tool lock-in.\n\n## Done when\n- The first real error is quoted with its timestamp.\n- There is a likely cause backed by log lines, and next checks to confirm it.\n\n## Example prompt\n\"Here are the last 300 lines of my server log from when it crashed at 2:14pm. Find the first real error and the likely cause.\"\n\n---\nConverted from the \"analyze_logs\" pattern in danielmiessler/Fabric (MIT, Copyright (c) 2012-2024 Scott Chacon and others). See LICENSE.txt.","files":["LICENSE.txt"],"license":"MIT","license_name":"MIT License","license_url":"https://opensource.org/license/mit","attribution":"Based on work by Daniel Miessler and Fabric contributors (analyze_logs pattern) (Copyright (c) 2012-2024 Scott Chacon and others, MIT License), https://github.com/danielmiessler/Fabric/blob/8ce0909d8622a61b6aaf539d467ba31bb7e0b6dd/data/patterns/analyze_logs/system.md; adapted by TheSkillVault, https://theskillvault.ai","install":{"claude_code":"curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/raw' -o ~/'.claude/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o ~/'.claude/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/LICENSE.txt'","cursor":"curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/raw' -o '.cursor/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o '.cursor/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/LICENSE.txt'","agents":"curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/raw' -o '.agents/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o '.agents/skills/analyse-error-logs-prompt/LICENSE.txt'","mcp_url":"https://theskillvault.ai/mcp","cursor_mcp_deeplink":"cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=theskillvault&config=eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3RoZXNraWxsdmF1bHQuYWkvbWNwIn0%3D","mcp_config":{"mcpServers":{"theskillvault":{"url":"https://theskillvault.ai/mcp"}}}},"bundles":[],"tested_on":[{"family":"chatgpt","name":"ChatGPT","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"claude","name":"Claude","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"gemini","name":"Gemini","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"grok","name":"Grok","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"llama","name":"Llama","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"deepseek","name":"DeepSeek","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"mistral","name":"Mistral","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"qwen","name":"Qwen","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false},{"family":"kimi","name":"Kimi K","outcome":null,"date":null,"source":null,"counts":false,"stale":false}],"proven_rule":{"threshold":5,"window_days":365,"computed_at":"2026-11-02T03:20:33.817Z"}}