utsabpanta

5 Whys — Development skill for Claude Code

Development community

Run a 5-whys root-cause analysis on a problem.

How to install 5 Whys

Installs to ~/.claude/commands/utsabpanta-claude-code-toolkit-5-whys.md

Terminal

mkdir -p ~/.claude/commands && curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/utsabpanta/claude-code-toolkit/HEAD/.claude/commands/5-whys.md -o ~/.claude/commands/utsabpanta-claude-code-toolkit-5-whys.md

Restart Claude Code, or start a new session, for it to be picked up.

What 5 Whys does

description: Run a 5-whys root-cause analysis on a problem argument-hint:

Run a disciplined 5-whys analysis on: $ARGUMENTS

The 5-whys technique surfaces root causes by asking "why?" iteratively — each answer becomes the next question. Most "root causes" people identify are actually level-2 or level-3 causes; pushing further usually reveals a systemic issue.

How to run it:

Restate the problem in one concrete sentence. No euphemisms.
**Ask "why did this ha

Alternatives in Development

Root Cause Tracing — Use when errors occur deep in execution and you need to trace back to find the original trigger 102.5k ★
Agent.System.Main.Solving — Problem solving 19k ★
Create PRD — Create a PRD with 8-section template covering problem to release 7.8k ★