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doctor

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$97 forever

OrchestKit doctor for health diagnostics across manifest integrity, hook configuration, skill validation, agent frontmatter, MCP server connectivity, CC version compatibility, and permission rules. Reports issues with severity levels and auto-remediation suggestions. Validates component counts, detects orphaned entries, and checks CC version matrix compliance. Use when diagnosing plugin health, troubleshooting configuration issues, or running pre-release checks.

Designhealth-checkdiagnosticsvalidationpermissionshooksskillsagentsmemoryscripts

What this skill does


# OrchestKit Health Diagnostics

## Argument Resolution

```python
FLAGS = "$ARGUMENTS"         # Full argument string, e.g., "--verbose" or "--json"
FLAG = "$ARGUMENTS[0]"       # First token: -v, --verbose, --json, --category=X
# $ARGUMENTS[0], $ARGUMENTS[1] for indexed access (CC 2.1.59)
```

## STEP 0: Choose Scope (AskUserQuestion — M118 #1464)

A full doctor run takes ~20s. Most invocations only need one slice. Ask the user up-front so voice-flow shortcuts ("just the MCPs") map cleanly:

```python
# Skip the prompt when an explicit scope arg or env override is present:
#   /ork:doctor cc      → skip, use cc-only
#   /ork:doctor mcp     → skip, use mcp-only
#   /ork:doctor plugin  → skip, use plugin-only
#   ORK_DOCTOR_SCOPE=all (or any of the above) → skip, use the env value
#
# Otherwise, ask:
AskUserQuestion(questions=[{
  "question": "What should doctor check?",
  "header": "Scope",
  "options": [
    {"label": "Everything (default)", "description": "Full system health — ~20s; runs all 14 categories"},
    {"label": "CC version & features only", "description": "Categories 10 + 13 + 14; ~3s — for 'is my CC up to date?'"},
    {"label": "MCP servers only", "description": "Category 12 (incl. pinning sub-check); ~5s — for 'are MCPs working?'"},
    {"label": "Plugin health only", "description": "Categories 0-3 + 5 (skills, agents, hooks, build); ~8s — for 'after npm run build'"}
  ]
}])
```

Skip the prompt entirely when the scope is unambiguous from the invocation. The fast scopes (3-8s) are 3-7× faster than the full run — voice users say "just the MCPs" and get a 5s answer.

## Overview

The `/ork:doctor` command performs comprehensive health checks on your OrchestKit installation. It auto-detects installed plugins and validates 14 categories:

1. **Installed Plugins** - Detects ork plugin
2. **Skills Validation** - Frontmatter, references, token budget (dynamic count)
3. **Agents Validation** - Frontmatter, tool refs, skill refs (dynamic count)
4. **Hook Health** - Registration, bundles, async patterns
5. **Permission Rules** - Detects unreachable rules
6. **Schema Compliance** - Validates JSON files against schemas
7. **Coordination System** - Checks lock health and registry integrity
8. **Context Budget** - Monitors token usage against budget
9. **Memory System** - Graph memory health
10. **Claude Code Version & Channel** - Validates CC >= 2.1.168 (supported floor), detects release channel (stable/beta/alpha), recommends 2.1.154+ for Opus 4.8 / `xhigh` effort, `/ultrareview`, stream-json `plugin_errors`
11. **External Dependencies** - Checks optional tool availability (agent-browser)
12. **MCP Status** - Active vs disabled vs misconfigured, API key presence for paid MCPs. CC 2.1.110: detects duplicate definitions across config scopes. Sub-check warns when HIGH-tier servers resolve to `@latest` in `.mcp.json` (closes #1462)
13. **Plugin Validate** - Runs `claude plugin validate` for official CC frontmatter + hooks.json validation (CC >= 2.1.77)
14. **Effort/Model Compatibility** - Warns when `xhigh` effort is requested without Opus 4.8 (silent fallback otherwise)

## When to Use

- After installing or updating OrchestKit
- When hooks aren't firing as expected
- Before deploying to a team environment
- When debugging coordination issues
- After running `npm run build`

## Quick Start

```bash
/ork:doctor           # Standard health check
/ork:doctor -v        # Verbose output
/ork:doctor --json    # Machine-readable for CI
```

## CLI Options

| Flag | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `-v`, `--verbose` | Detailed output per check |
| `--json` | JSON output for CI integration |
| `--category=X` | Run only specific category |

## Health Check Categories

> **Detailed check procedures**: Load `Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/diagnostic-checks.md")` for bash commands and validation logic per category.
>
> **MCP-specific checks**: Load `Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/mcp-status-checks.md")` for credential validation and misconfiguration detection.
>
> **Output examples**: Load `Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/health-check-outputs.md")` for sample output per category.

### Categories 0-3: Core Validation

| Category | What It Checks | Reference |
|----------|---------------|-----------|
| **0. Installed Plugins** | Auto-detects ork plugin, counts skills/agents | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/diagnostic-checks.md` |
| **1. Skills** | Frontmatter, context field, token budget, links, **activation-channel reachability** (no orphaned user-invocable skills) | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/skills-validation.md` |
| **2. Agents** | Frontmatter, model, skill refs, tool refs | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/agents-validation.md` |
| **3. Hooks** | hooks.json schema, bundles, async patterns | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/hook-validation.md` |

> **Activation-channel orphans (repo / pre-release):** a user-invocable skill should be reachable by more than a human typing it — via a chain (another skill references `/ork:<skill>`), a subagent grant (`skills:` in `src/agents/*.md`), or a background trigger. A skill with none is an "island" that silently rots. In a repo checkout, run `npm run test:manifests:channels` (gated in CI via `test:manifests`). Fix an island by wiring any one channel, or add it to `STANDALONE_ALLOWLIST` with a justification.

### Categories 4-5: System Health

| Category | What It Checks | Reference |
|----------|---------------|-----------|
| **4. Memory** | .claude/memory/ exists, decisions.jsonl integrity, queue depth | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/memory-health.md` |
| **5. Build** | plugins/ sync with src/, manifest counts, orphans | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/diagnostic-checks.md` |

### Categories 6-9: Infrastructure

| Category | What It Checks |
|----------|---------------|
| **6. Permission Rules** | Unreachable rules detection |
| **7. Schema Compliance** | JSON files against schemas |
| **8. Coordination** | Multi-worktree lock health, stale locks, sparse paths config |
| **9. Context Budget** | Token usage against budget |

### Categories 10-14: Environment

| Category | What It Checks | Reference |
|----------|---------------|-----------|
| **10. CC Version & Channel** | Runtime version against minimum required, release channel (stable/beta/alpha) | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/version-compatibility.md` |
| **11. External Deps** | Optional tools (agent-browser, portless) | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/diagnostic-checks.md` |
| **12. MCP Status** | Enabled/disabled state, credential checks, **HIGH-tier `@latest` pinning warn** | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/mcp-status-checks.md` + `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/mcp-pinning-check.md` |
| **13. Plugin Validate** | Official CC frontmatter + hooks.json validation (CC >= 2.1.77) | load `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/diagnostic-checks.md` |
| **14. Effort/Model** | Detects `xhigh` effort configured without Opus 4.8 — see below | inline |

### Category 14: Effort/Model Compatibility (CC 2.1.111+)

CC 2.1.111 added `xhigh` effort (Opus 4.8; since CC 2.1.154 it defaults to `high` and takes `xhigh` for the hardest tasks). Using it with a model that doesn't support it silently falls back to `high` — producing no error but losing the extra deepening pass documented in the affected skills.

**Detection**:
- If the active model does NOT support `xhigh` (i.e. not Opus 4.8), check whether `/effort` is set to `xhigh`:
  - Read `.claude/settings.json` → `effort` field
  - Read `$ORCHESTKIT_EFFORT` env var (populated by the effort-detector hook)
- Check for any skill invocation under `.claude/chain/*.json` that explicitly set `effort: xhigh` with a non-Opus-4.8 model in scope

**Warning format**:
```
WARNING: xhigh effort requires Opus 4.8.
  Current model: <model-id>
  Configured effort: xhigh
  Impact: Skills fall back to high — xhigh's extra deepening pass is lost silently.
  Fix: Either switch to Opus 4.8 (`claude --model opus-4-8`) 
Files: 18
Size: 145.2 KB
Complexity: 85/100
Category: Design

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