mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills
binutils
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.
lldb
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.
assembly-x86
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.
elf-inspection
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.
linkers-lto
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.
gcc
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.
gdb
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.
valgrind
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.
assembly-arm
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.
cross-gcc
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.
fuzzing
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.
flamegraphs
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.
make
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.
interpreters
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.
ninja
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.
linux-perf
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.
cmake
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 target_link_libraries, integrating external packages via find_package 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.
clang
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.
msvc-cl
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.
sanitizers
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, ASAN_OPTIONS, memory errors, data races, undefined behaviour, uninitialised reads, or choosing which sanitizer to use for a given bug class.
core-dumps
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.
llvm
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.