Our review

Diagnose and manage Samara.app, the message broker connecting iMessage to Claude, including checking if running, viewing logs, restarting, and verifying Full Disk Access permissions.

Strengths

Provides precise commands to check Samara status and view system logs
Handles Full Disk Access issues and code signature verification
Offers a safe rebuild procedure that prevents certificate-related permission revocations
Includes a structured diagnostic report to quickly identify issues

Limitations

Relies on user-specific scripts and file paths present in the installation
Does not address root causes of crashes related to the app's code
Requires administrator rights for certain commands

When to use it

Use this skill when messages are not being detected, Samara has crashed, or you suspect FDA permission issues.

When not to use it

Avoid this skill for messaging problems unrelated to Samara (e.g., iOS network issues) or for modifying the application source code.

Examples

Check Samara status and logs

Samara isn't detecting my text messages. Check if it's running, show recent logs, and verify FDA permissions.

Restart Samara after crash

Samara just crashed. Please restart it and confirm it's running properly.

Verify code signature after update

After rebuilding Samara, verify the code signature shows the correct Team ID (G4XVD3J52J) and FDA is intact.

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

Check Samara is running
Check FDA is intact
Check chat.db is readable
Look for errors in logs

Samara Crashed

Check system logs for crash reason
Restart with open /Applications/Samara.app
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:

Is Samara running?
FDA status
Recent log errors
Last successful message detection
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

Samara.app Debug and Control

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