Environment Doctor

Overview

Run environment diagnostics across 15 check categories. Doctor 2.0 identifies misconfigured providers, stale loaded or cached plugin versions, invalid plugin assembly, unwritable state, non-terminal run records, orphan process evidence, broken hooks, and other issues that prevent Claude Octopus from working correctly.

Core principle: Detect problems before they surface in workflows.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Something isn't working and you're not sure why
• After installing or updating the plugin
• Before a demo or important workflow run
• Checking if providers are properly authenticated
• Verifying scheduler, hooks, or skills are correctly configured

Do NOT use for:

• First-time setup (use /octo:setup — it guides configuration)
• Project workflow status (use /octo:status)
• Debugging application code (use /octo:debug)

The Process

Step 1: Resolve Plugin Root and Run Full Diagnostics

Use this resolver before running Octopus scripts. Prefer the active host root, then the stable root or the installed CLI. Do not create or replace a stable link while collecting diagnostics. Run this as a single Bash call.

OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}}"
if [[ -z "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT" || ! -x "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" ]]; then
  OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT="${HOME}/.claude-octopus/plugin"
fi
if [[ ! -x "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" ]] && command -v octopus >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  OCTO_BIN="$(command -v octopus)"
  OCTO_LINK_HOPS=0
  while [[ -L "$OCTO_BIN" ]]; do
    OCTO_LINK_HOPS=$((OCTO_LINK_HOPS + 1))
    if [[ "$OCTO_LINK_HOPS" -le 40 ]]; then
      OCTO_BIN_DIR="$(cd -P "$(dirname "$OCTO_BIN")" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)" || { OCTO_BIN=""; break; }
      OCTO_LINK_TARGET="$(readlink "$OCTO_BIN")" || { OCTO_BIN=""; break; }
      case "$OCTO_LINK_TARGET" in
        /*) OCTO_BIN="$OCTO_LINK_TARGET" ;;
        *) OCTO_BIN="$OCTO_BIN_DIR/$OCTO_LINK_TARGET" ;;
      esac
    else
      OCTO_BIN=""
      break
    fi
  done
  if [[ -n "$OCTO_BIN" ]]; then
    OCTO_BIN_DIR="$(cd -P "$(dirname "$OCTO_BIN")" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)" || OCTO_BIN_DIR=""
    [[ -z "$OCTO_BIN_DIR" ]] || OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT="$(cd "$OCTO_BIN_DIR/.." 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)"
  fi
fi
if [[ ! -x "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" ]]; then
  OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT="$(
    find "${HOME}/.claude/plugins" -type f -path "*/scripts/orchestrate.sh" -print 2>/dev/null \
      | sed 's#/scripts/orchestrate.sh$##' \
      | { grep -E '(nyldn-plugins|claude-octopus|/octo(/[0-9]|$))' || true; } \
      | sort \
      | tail -1
  )"
fi
if [[ -z "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT" || ! -x "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" ]]; then
  echo "Claude Octopus plugin root not found. Reinstall the octo plugin, then retry doctor diagnostics."
  exit 1
fi
export OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor --verbose

This runs all 15 check categories and displays a formatted report. The installation category reports a missing or mismatched stable root; it does not repair it.

Step 2: Filter by Category (Optional)

If the user asks about a specific area, reuse the resolver from Step 1 and replace its final doctor --verbose invocation with one of these lines. These are replacement lines, not standalone shell calls; OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT must be resolved in the same Bash call.

bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor providers
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor providers --live
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor companions
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor auth
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor config
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor updates
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor state
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor smoke
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor hooks
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor scheduler
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor skills
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor conflicts
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor agents
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor recurrence
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor cache
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor installation

Step 3: Check & Install Dependencies

Reuse the Step 1 resolver and replace its final invocation with the dependency checker to find missing CLIs, statusline config, and recommended plugins:

bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/install-deps.sh" check

If the check reports missing deps, offer to install them:

bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/install-deps.sh" install

This auto-installs Codex CLI, jq, and the statusline resolver. Antigravity CLI (agy) setup is detected and reported with install guidance. For plugins (claude-mem, document-skills), it prints /plugin install commands the user must run manually.

Step 4: Verbose or JSON Output

As above, run these as the final line of the Step 1 resolver call:

# Detailed output for troubleshooting
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor --verbose

# Machine-readable output
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor --json

# Combine: specific category + verbose
bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" doctor auth --verbose

Doctor 2.0 JSON always uses this outer contract:

{
  "schema_version": "10.0",
  "summary": {"passed": 0, "warnings": 0, "failures": 0, "exit_code": 0},
  "results": []
}

A check with status fail makes both summary.exit_code and the process exit code 1, while stdout remains valid JSON. Warnings remain structured but do not make the command fail. Unknown flags, unknown categories, and multiple category arguments are usage errors with exit code 2; do not retry them as full scans.

The providers --live variant is an explicit, bounded AGY capability check. It uses one small real request to verify the CLI version, live model catalog and keyring authentication, configured model, and print-mode dispatch. Do not run it from startup hooks or routine preflight. If its catalog/auth stage fails, tell the user to launch plain agy and complete the browser sign-in; AGY has no separate login shell subcommand. On macOS keyring errors, direct them to Keychain Access, the Antigravity CLI item, and its Access Control settings.

Step 5: Interactive Remediation (MANDATORY for fixable issues)

After running diagnostics, if ANY fixable issues are found, you MUST use AskUserQuestion to offer fixes. Do not just print instructions. Offer to execute them.

Stable-root repair is bounded and requires explicit authorization. First show the proposed change with:

bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" repair --dry-run

Only after the user authorizes that exact repair may you run:

bash "$OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/orchestrate.sh" repair --apply

Never recreate the stable link in the resolver or as an automatic doctor follow-up. Cache cleanup, stale PID cleanup, login flows, package installation, and plugin updates also require explicit confirmation.

Before each accepted repair, restate the exact target and action. Configuration repairs must use a validated sibling temporary file and atomic rename; if any step fails, keep the original and report the failure. Cache cleanup, stale PID cleanup, login flows, package installation, and plugin updates always require explicit confirmation. After repair, rerun only the affected category first, then offer a full scan.

RTK not installed:

AskUserQuestion({
  questions: [{
    question: "RTK saves 60-90% on bash output tokens. Install it now?",
    header: "Install RTK",
    multiSelect: false,
    options: [
      {label: "Install via brew (Recommended)", description: "brew install rtk — fast, macOS"},
      {label: "Install via cargo", description: "cargo install rtk-token-killer"},
      {label: "Skip", description: "Continue without RTK"}
    ]
  }]
})

If user chooses install, run it, then offer hook setup.

RTK installed but hook not configured on macOS/Linux:

On Windows Git Bash, do not offer rtk init -g. RTK uses CLAUDE.md injection mode there, so report the hook check as skipped.

AskUserQuestion({
  questions: [{
    question: "RTK is installed but the Claude Code hook isn't active. Configure it?",
    header: "RTK Hook",
    multiSelect: false,
    options: [
      {label: "Run rtk init -g (Recommended)", description: "Auto-installs Claude Code bash hook on macOS/Linux"},
      {label: "Skip", description: "I'll configure it later"}
    ]
  }]
})

Missing optional providers:

AskUserQuestion({
  questions: [{
    question: "Some providers are missing. Install them?",
    header: "Providers",
    multiSelect: true,
    options: [
      {label: "Codex CLI", description: "npm install -g @openai/codex"},
      {label: "Antigravity CLI", description: "Install agy, then verify with agy --version && agy models"},
      {label: "Skip all", description: "Continue with available providers"}
    ]
  }]
})

Auth expired: Offer to run the login command for the expired provider.

Multiple fixable issues: Batch them into a single AskUserQuestion with multiSelect where appropriate, rather than asking one at a time.

Check Categories

Software dependency installation is checked separately by scripts/install-deps.sh check in Step 3, including Node.js, jq, provider CLIs, RTK token compression, the statusline resolver, and recommended plugins.

Interpreting Results

Healthy Output

All checks pass — no action needed.

Common Issues and Fixes

Integration with Other Skills

Context and intensity profiles

The installation report exposes two optional context settings:

• OCTOPUS_CONTEXT_PROFILE selects core, orchestration, or full context behavior. The octopus profile command reads and writes this setting.
• OCTOPUS_HOOK_PROFILE can override the optional context-hook profile with core, orchestration, or full.

These settings control optional context work only. They never disable safety or lifecycle hooks. A missing or invalid hook-profile registry fails closed.

OCTO_PROFILE is a separate legacy intensity setting with budget, balanced, and quality values. It is not an alias for either context setting, and it must not be used to claim that safety hooks are disabled.

Legacy intensity profile

Some older workflow paths use OCTO_PROFILE as an intensity setting for model selection, phase skipping, and context verbosity. This setting is separate from the optional context-hook profiles above.

What the Doctor Checks

• Context profile: OCTOPUS_CONTEXT_PROFILE value, default core
• Optional hook profile: OCTOPUS_HOOK_PROFILE when set, otherwise the context profile
• Legacy intensity: OCTO_PROFILE when a legacy workflow reads it
• Hook gating: optional context hooks only; safety and lifecycle hooks remain active
• Model hints: which model (sonnet/opus) is recommended for each phase
• Context verbosity: compressed/standard/full

Legacy intensity summary

Optional context profile summary

Project Tier Hint

Also report OCTO_TIER when set. This is a recommendation hint, not a hard policy.

If unset, show OCTO_TIER=unset and suggest setting it only when the project has a stable risk profile.

Remote Session Checks

If CLAUDE_CODE_REMOTE=true or OCTOPUS_REMOTE_SESSION=true, report:

• remote session detected
• autonomous mode default active when no explicit autonomy is set
• provider probes skipped to conserve time/quota
• full HUD disabled unless OCTOPUS_REMOTE_STATUSLINE=full
• provider CLIs may need to be installed in the cloud setup script

Suggest /octo:setup only for configuration guidance; do not recommend interactive provider logins inside the remote session.

Runtime Context

The doctor checks for project-level RUNTIME.md — a file that provides project-specific context (API endpoints, env vars, test commands, build steps) to orchestration prompts.

What the Doctor Checks

• RUNTIME.md exists in the project root (also checks .octopus/RUNTIME.md and .claude-octopus/RUNTIME.md)
• If missing, suggest creating one from the template: cp "${HOME}/.claude-octopus/plugin/config/templates/RUNTIME.md" ./RUNTIME.md
• If present, confirm it contains at least one populated section (not just the template defaults)

Why It Matters

Without a RUNTIME.md, orchestration prompts lack project-specific details — leading to generic advice about test commands, environment variables, and build steps. A populated RUNTIME.md makes every workflow more accurate.

Quick Reference

/octo:doctor was removed in v9.41.0 to preserve Claude Code's native /doctor command. Invoke this manual skill explicitly, or run the CLI directly:

If the octopus CLI is not on PATH, resolve and export OCTO_PLUGIN_ROOT with the Step 1 resolver, then run the equivalent scripts/orchestrate.sh command directly.