Samara Debug and Control

VerifiedSafe

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

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
206/2/2026
Claude Code
#samara#debugging#message-broker#logs#permissions

Recommended for

Our review

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

Strengths

  • Provides clear commands to check if Samara is running and view logs.
  • Offers specific steps to verify and restore Full Disk Access after updates.
  • Includes a diagnostic report checklist for systematic troubleshooting.

Limitations

  • Only works on macOS systems with Samara.app installed.
  • Requires familiarity with command-line and macOS permissions.
  • The rebuild section warns against certain methods but does not automate the rebuild process.
When to use it

Use when iMessage messages are not being detected by Claude, Samara has crashed, or after a macOS update that may have revoked Full Disk Access.

When not to use it

Not suitable for general iMessage troubleshooting unrelated to Samara, or for users who prefer GUI-based management.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score88/100

The skill uses Bash for process management and file checks, but does not instruct any destructive, exfiltrating, or obfuscated actions. It references local helper scripts that appear to be safety measures (blocking DerivedData copy). No sensitive data is exposed or transmitted.

No concerns found

Examples

Check Samara status
Check if Samara is running and show recent logs.
Restart Samara
Restart Samara.app because messages are not being detected.
Verify Full Disk Access
I think Full Disk Access for Samara was revoked after an update. Check it and fix if needed.

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