Memory Safety Patterns

by wshobson46891e7e60daNo licenseListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026

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.

Instructions onlySoftware Development

AI-generated overview

Cross-language guidance on memory-safe programming patterns in Rust, C++ and C.

What it does: This skill provides reference guidance on memory-safe programming across Rust, C++ and C. It covers memory bug categories such as use-after-free, double-free, leaks and buffer overflows, the safety spectrum from manual memory management to garbage collection, and best practices like RAII, smart pointers and ownership. It also lists debugging tools such as AddressSanitizer, Valgrind, ThreadSanitizer and Rust Miri, with further patterns in a bundled reference file.
When to use it: Use it when writing systems code in Rust, C++ or C, managing resources such as files, sockets or memory, or preventing use-after-free, leaks and dangling pointers. It also fits choosing between languages for safety and debugging memory issues.
Requirements: No scripts; instructions and a reference document only. Following the debugging guidance assumes access to toolchains and tools such as Clang or GCC, Valgrind, and a nightly Rust toolchain with Miri.

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 Type	Description	Prevention
Use-after-free	Access freed memory	Ownership, RAII
Double-free	Free same memory twice	Smart pointers
Memory leak	Never free memory	RAII, GC
Buffer overflow	Write past buffer end	Bounds checking
Dangling pointer	Pointer to freed memory	Lifetime tracking
Data race	Concurrent unsynchronized access	Ownership, Sync

2. Safety Spectrum

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

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

bash

# AddressSanitizer (Clang/GCC)clang++ -fsanitize=address -g source.cpp
# Valgrindvalgrind --leak-check=full ./program
# Rust Miri (undefined behavior detector)cargo +nightly miri run
# ThreadSanitizerclang++ -fsanitize=thread -g source.cpp

# AddressSanitizer (Clang/GCC)clang++ -fsanitize=address -g source.cpp
# Valgrindvalgrind --leak-check=full ./program
# Rust Miri (undefined behavior detector)cargo +nightly miri run
# ThreadSanitizerclang++ -fsanitize=thread -g source.cpp

Source and attribution

Source:wshobson/agentsinplugins/systems-programming/skills/memory-safety-patternsat commit46891e7

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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Memory Safety Patterns

Memory Safety Patterns

When to Use This Skill

Core Concepts

1. Memory Bug Categories

2. Safety Spectrum

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Best Practices

Do's

Don'ts

Debugging Tools

Source and attribution

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