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memory-safety-patterns

Write and review Rust, C++, and C code with safer memory and resource management. Covers ownership, automatic cleanup tied to scope, and smart pointers to help prevent leaks, double frees, and access to freed memory.

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Implement memory-safe programming with RAII, ownership, smart pointers, and resource management across Rust, C++, and C. Use when writing safe systems code, managing resources, or preventing memory bugs.

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Good for

  • Design safer memory management in systems code
  • Review cleanup of files, sockets, and memory
  • Investigate memory leaks and access to freed memory
  • Review C++ smart pointers and Rust ownership

Files included (2)

  • SKILL.md2.5 KB
  • references/details.md10.8 KB

SKILL.md (original)

Review the instructions the agent will receive before you install.

Memory Safety Patterns

Cross-language patterns for memory-safe programming including RAII, ownership, smart pointers, and resource management.

When to Use This Skill

  • Writing memory-safe systems code
  • Managing resources (files, sockets, memory)
  • Preventing use-after-free and leaks
  • Implementing RAII patterns
  • Choosing between languages for safety
  • Debugging memory issues

Core Concepts

1. Memory Bug Categories

Bug TypeDescriptionPrevention
Use-after-freeAccess freed memoryOwnership, RAII
Double-freeFree same memory twiceSmart pointers
Memory leakNever free memoryRAII, GC
Buffer overflowWrite past buffer endBounds checking
Dangling pointerPointer to freed memoryLifetime tracking
Data raceConcurrent unsynchronized accessOwnership, Sync

2. Safety Spectrum

Manual (C) → Smart Pointers (C++) → Ownership (Rust) → GC (Go, Java)
Less safe                                              More safe
More control                                           Less control

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Best Practices

Do's

  • Prefer RAII - Tie resource lifetime to scope
  • Use smart pointers - Avoid raw pointers in C++
  • Understand ownership - Know who owns what
  • Check bounds - Use safe access methods
  • Use tools - AddressSanitizer, Valgrind, Miri

Don'ts

  • Don't use raw pointers - Unless interfacing with C
  • Don't return local references - Dangling pointer
  • Don't ignore compiler warnings - They catch bugs
  • Don't use unsafe carelessly - In Rust, minimize it
  • Don't assume thread safety - Be explicit

Debugging Tools

# AddressSanitizer (Clang/GCC)
clang++ -fsanitize=address -g source.cpp

# Valgrind
valgrind --leak-check=full ./program

# Rust Miri (undefined behavior detector)
cargo +nightly miri run

# ThreadSanitizer
clang++ -fsanitize=thread -g source.cpp

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