feat(newtab): Add hnt-backend-investigation skill - #32
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Pull request overview
Adds a new backend-investigation skill to the newtab plugin, providing a structured diagnostic workflow for Firefox Home/New Tab backend incidents and a companion reference of data sources, access paths, and “silent wrong answer” traps.
Changes:
- Add
plugins/newtab/skills/backend-investigation/SKILL.mddefining the investigation workflow and required outputs (FINDINGS.md,HYPOTHESES.md). - Add
plugins/newtab/skills/backend-investigation/references/data-sources.mddocumenting systems to query, access constraints, and common pitfalls. - Document the new skill in
plugins/newtab/README.md.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| plugins/newtab/skills/backend-investigation/SKILL.md | New skill write-up defining the end-to-end investigation workflow and report templates. |
| plugins/newtab/skills/backend-investigation/references/data-sources.md | New reference guide for where/how to collect evidence across HNT backend systems. |
| plugins/newtab/README.md | Adds user-facing documentation entry for the new backend-investigation skill. |
Suppressed comments (1)
plugins/newtab/skills/backend-investigation/SKILL.md:254
- In the
FINDINGS.mdtemplate, the Timeline header row is missing the Markdown table separator line, so the timeline won’t format as a table.
## Timeline (UTC)
| Time | Observation | Source |
💡 Add a code-review agent skill or configure MCP servers for context-aware, tailored reviews. Learn more in the docs.
| | No `mcp__sentry__` tools at all | `claude mcp add --scope user --transport http sentry https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp`, then `/mcp` in the restarted session to authenticate | | ||
| | Sentry connected but unauthenticated or scoped too narrowly | `/mcp`, and authenticate for the `mozilla` org | | ||
| | Corpus MySQL hangs rather than erroring, and they have the VPN client | Connect to the AWS Client VPN, then say so; if it still hangs, the login path itself is stale | | ||
| | Corpus MySQL hangs and there is no VPN client installed | Install the AWS VPN Client from https://aws.amazon.com/vpn/client-vpn-download/, then download the client configuration from the endpoint page — https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/vpcconsole/home?region=us-east-1#ClientVPNEndpointDetails:clientVpnEndpointId=cvpn-endpoint-0d3c4e4a0121a5763 — load that profile into the client, connect, and say so | |
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| ```markdown | ||
| | # | Hypothesis | What would kill it | Probe | Result | Status | | ||
| ``` |
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Adds
hnt-backend-investigationto the newtab plugin: a diagnostic workflow for Home New Tab backend incidents, covering content recommendations, Picture of the Day and the daily crossword. It produces an evidence-backedFINDINGS.mdcarrying a root cause, quantified impact and the change that would resolve it, alongside aHYPOTHESES.mdworking list.references/data-sources.mdholds per-system access and the data traps that silently return wrong answers. Its table shapes, project ids, endpoints, API auth and database accounts were checked against the live systems rather than written from memory. Docs only, no code changes.Installing it before this merges
This repo is itself a plugin marketplace, so installing from the branch is two sequential steps: register the branch as a marketplace, then install the
newtabplugin from it. The path you register is the repo root, the directory holding.claude-plugin/marketplace.json, not the skill folder.1. Clone the branch:
2. Start Claude Code from that same directory, then run both commands:
/plugin installopens a details view where you pick an install scope to confirm. If the summary saysRun /reload-plugins to activate., run that. Then check it landed:/skillsshould listnewtab:backend-investigation, and you can invoke it directly with/newtab:backend-investigation.To undo:
/plugin marketplace remove firefox-aidev-plugins. If you already have that marketplace frommozilla/firefox-aidev-plugins, remove it first, since both share the name.What to look at
User action:task for anything it cannot reach, such as corpus MySQL needing the AWS Client VPN, rather than stopping to waitFINDINGS.mdshould be reproducible from the queries saved beside it