Samara.app Debug and Control

VerifiedSafe

Diagnose and manage Samara.app, the message broker connecting iMessage to Claude. Check logs, Full Disk Access, and restart the application as needed.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
406/2/2026
Claude Code
#samara#debugging#message-broker#fda#logs

Recommended for

Our review

Diagnoses and manages Samara.app, the message broker connecting iMessage to Claude.

Strengths

  • Provides quick commands to check status, view logs, and restart the app.
  • Verifies Full Disk Access (FDA) integrity needed to read the messages database.
  • Warns about code signature errors that can revoke FDA after a rebuild.
  • Offers a secure rebuild process via a dedicated script to avoid certificate issues.

Limitations

  • Requires basic macOS command-line knowledge.
  • FDA checks depend on database location, which may vary.
When to use it

Use this skill when Samara fails to detect messages, crashes, or after an update needing permission checks.

When not to use it

Avoid if debugging session issues or thought leaks—use the related specialized skills instead.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score90/100

The skill uses legitimate system commands for monitoring and restarting an application. It explicitly warns against unsafe practices (copying from DerivedData). No destructive, exfiltrating, or obfuscated actions. The pre-tool hook is a safety measure, not a risk.

No concerns found

Examples

Check Samara Status
Is Samara running? Check its status and logs for any errors.
Restart Samara
Samara stopped detecting messages. Please restart it and verify everything works.
Verify Full Disk Access
Check if Samara has Full Disk Access and if the code signature is correct (must be G4XVD3J52J).

name: samara description: Debug, check, or restart Samara.app - the message broker. Use when messages aren't being detected, Samara crashed, need to view logs, check Full Disk Access, or restart the app. Trigger words: samara, messages not working, restart, logs, FDA, broker. context: fork allowed-tools:

  • Bash
  • Read
  • Grep
  • Glob
  • Write hooks: PreToolUse:
    • matcher: "Bash" hooks:
      • type: command command: "/Users/claude/Developer/samara-main/.claude/hooks/block-deriveddata-copy.sh" timeout: 5

Samara Debug and Control

Diagnose and manage Samara.app, the message broker that connects iMessage to Claude.

Quick Actions

Check if Running

pgrep -fl Samara
ps aux | grep -i [S]amara

View Recent Logs

# Samara's own logs
tail -50 ~/.claude-mind/logs/samara.log 2>/dev/null

# System logs for Samara
log show --predicate 'process == "Samara"' --last 5m 2>/dev/null | tail -30

Restart Samara

# Kill if running
pkill -f Samara

# Wait a moment
sleep 2

# Relaunch
open /Applications/Samara.app

Tip: This sequence is a good candidate for the Bash subagent (Task tool with subagent_type=Bash) to avoid polluting context with intermediate steps.

Check Full Disk Access

# This will work if FDA is granted
ls ~/Library/Messages/chat.db && echo "FDA: OK" || echo "FDA: MISSING"

# Check code signature (Team ID must be stable)
codesign -d -r- /Applications/Samara.app 2>&1 | head -5

Common Issues

Messages Not Being Detected

  1. Check Samara is running
  2. Check FDA is intact
  3. Check chat.db is readable
  4. Look for errors in logs

Samara Crashed

  1. Check system logs for crash reason
  2. Restart with open /Applications/Samara.app
  3. If repeated crashes, may need rebuild

FDA Revoked After Update

This happens if Team ID changed during rebuild:

# Check current signature - MUST show G4XVD3J52J
codesign -d -r- /Applications/Samara.app 2>&1 | grep "subject.OU"

# If shows 7V9XLQ8YNQ or any other team: WRONG CERTIFICATE USED
# Must rebuild properly and re-grant FDA

Rebuild Samara

CRITICAL: ONLY use the update-samara script. NEVER copy from DerivedData.

A Claude instance previously broke FDA by copying a Debug build from ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/. This used automatic signing which picked the WRONG certificate and revoked all permissions.

The ONLY correct way to rebuild:

~/.claude-mind/bin/update-samara

FORBIDDEN (will break FDA):

  • cp -R ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/.../Samara.app /Applications/
  • xcodebuild -configuration Debug for deployment
  • Any manual copy of Samara.app to /Applications

Verify after rebuild:

codesign -d -r- /Applications/Samara.app 2>&1 | grep "subject.OU"
# Must show: G4XVD3J52J
# If shows: 7V9XLQ8YNQ - WRONG! FDA will be revoked

Diagnostic Report

When troubleshooting, gather:

  1. Is Samara running?
  2. FDA status
  3. Recent log errors
  4. Last successful message detection
  5. Code signature validity

Present findings clearly with recommended actions.

Related Skills

For specific issues, use these specialized skills:

  • /diagnose-leaks — Debug thinking traces or session IDs leaking into messages
  • /debug-session — Debug session management, batching, and task routing
  • /status — Quick system health check
Related skills