Capability Check

VerifiedSafe

Verify if a specific action is possible and diagnose any blockers. Useful for checking permissions, verifying capability existence, or troubleshooting issues.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
ProductivityBeginner
306/2/2026
Claude Code
#capability-check#troubleshooting#permissions#diagnostics

Recommended for

Our review

Checks whether a specific action is possible and identifies any blockers such as permissions, running services, or configuration.

Strengths

  • Provides a quick capability matrix for common actions.
  • Automates diagnosis of permissions and configuration issues.
  • Uses native commands and scripts (AppleScript, Bash) for accurate checks.
  • Offers a step-by-step troubleshooting flow.

Limitations

  • Requires the agent to have access to Bash, Read, and Grep tools.
  • Relies on the existence of `~/.claude-mind/capabilities/inventory.md`.
  • Some checks are macOS-specific (AppleScript, osascript).
When to use it

When you need to confirm an action is possible before attempting it.

When not to use it

For trivial actions that don't require permission or configuration checks.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score85/100

The skill only runs diagnostic commands (pgrep, cat, grep, osascript, ls, log) to check permissions and capabilities locally, with no destructive, exfiltrating, or obfuscated actions.

No concerns found

Examples

Check iMessage capability
Can I send an iMessage? Please check my capability and any blockers.
Check calendar read access
Is it possible to read my calendar? What permissions are needed?
Full capability inventory
Show me the full capability inventory and check which features are currently working.

name: capability description: Check if a specific action is possible and what might be blocking it. Use when asking if you can do something, checking permissions, verifying a capability exists, or troubleshooting why something isn't working. Trigger words: can I, capability, able to, permission, possible, how do I. context: fork allowed-tools:

  • Bash
  • Read
  • Grep
  • Glob

Capability Check

Verify if a specific action is possible and diagnose any blockers.

Capability Inventory

Full capabilities documentation: ~/.claude-mind/capabilities/inventory.md

Access Patterns

# Read full inventory (comprehensive reference)
cat ~/.claude-mind/capabilities/inventory.md

# Search for specific capability
grep -ni "search term" ~/.claude-mind/capabilities/inventory.md

# List all sections
grep "^## " ~/.claude-mind/capabilities/inventory.md

Quick Capability Matrix

| Capability | Method | Requires | |------------|--------|----------| | Send iMessage | AppleScript via Samara | Samara running, Automation permission | | Send image | send-image script | Pictures folder workaround | | Read calendar | AppleScript | Calendar permission | | Write calendar | AppleScript | Calendar permission | | Read contacts | AppleScript | Contacts permission | | Read/write notes | AppleScript | Notes permission | | Send email | AppleScript | Mail permission | | Post to Bluesky | bluesky-post script | Credentials in config | | Browse web | Playwright MCP | MCP server running | | Take screenshot | screenshot script | Screen recording permission | | Read Messages DB | Direct file access | Full Disk Access | | Run shell commands | Bash | Always available | | Read/write files | Direct | Always available |

Checking Specific Capabilities

Messaging

pgrep -q Samara && echo "Samara: OK" || echo "Samara: Not running"
~/.claude-mind/bin/message "test" --dry-run 2>/dev/null

Calendar

osascript -e 'tell application "Calendar" to get name of calendars' 2>&1

Contacts

osascript -e 'tell application "Contacts" to get name of first person' 2>&1

Notes

osascript -e 'tell application "Notes" to get name of first note' 2>&1

Mail

osascript -e 'tell application "Mail" to get name of first account' 2>&1

Bluesky

grep -q "bluesky" ~/.claude-mind/config.json && echo "Bluesky: Configured" || echo "Bluesky: Not configured"

Full Disk Access

ls ~/Library/Messages/chat.db 2>/dev/null && echo "FDA: OK" || echo "FDA: Missing"

Troubleshooting Flow

  1. Identify the capability: What action is being attempted?

  2. Check prerequisites:

    • Is the required app/service running?
    • Are permissions granted?
    • Is configuration present?
  3. Test minimally: Run simplest possible version of the action

  4. Check logs: Look for error messages

log show --predicate 'process == "osascript"' --last 2m
  1. Report findings: What works, what doesn't, what to fix

Common Blockers

  • "Not authorized to send Apple events": Missing Automation permission
  • "Operation not permitted": Missing FDA or specific permission
  • "Application isn't running": Need to launch the app first
  • "No such file": Script or config missing
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