Memory Debugging

Overview

Memory issues manifest as crashes after prolonged use. Core principle 90% of memory leaks follow 3 patterns (retain cycles, timer/observer leaks, collection growth). Diagnose systematically with Instruments, never guess.

Example Prompts

These are real questions developers ask that this skill is designed to answer:

1. "My app crashes after 10-15 minutes of use, but there are no error messages. How do I figure out what's leaking?"

→ The skill covers systematic Instruments workflows to identify memory leaks vs normal memory pressure, with real diagnostic patterns

2. "I'm seeing memory jump from 50MB to 200MB+ when I perform a specific action. Is this a leak or normal caching behavior?"

→ The skill distinguishes between progressive leaks (continuous growth) and temporary spikes (caches that stabilize), with diagnostic criteria

3. "View controllers don't seem to be deallocating after I dismiss them. How do I find the retain cycle causing this?"

→ The skill demonstrates Memory Graph Debugger techniques to identify objects holding strong references and common retain cycle patterns