Samara Debug and Control

VerifiedSafe

Debug, check, or restart Samara.app, the message broker connecting iMessage to Claude. Use this skill when messages aren't being detected, Samara has crashed, or you need to view logs, verify Full Disk Access, or restart the application. It provides commands to check running status, recent logs, restart, and rebuild with proper code signing to avoid revoking permissions.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevOpsIntermediate
706/2/2026
Claude Code
#samara#message-broker#debugging#macos#full-disk-access

Recommended for

Our review

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

Strengths

  • Quickly checks if Samara is running
  • Provides commands to view recent logs
  • Includes Full Disk Access (FDA) verification
  • Guides proper restart and rebuild procedures

Limitations

  • Requires filesystem and macOS log access
  • Rebuild must use a specific script to avoid breaking FDA
  • Does not cover network or iMessage configuration issues
When to use it

Use this skill when Samara is unresponsive, messages aren't being detected, or you suspect permission issues or crashes.

When not to use it

Avoid this skill for Samara UI issues or features unrelated to app execution.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score95/100

The skill uses standard Unix commands for process inspection, file readability checks, and app control, all scoped to a specific application (Samara). It warns against dangerous file copying and enforces safe rebuild procedure via PreToolUse hook that likely prevents destructive operations. No exfiltration, obfuscation, or attack patterns detected.

No concerns found

Examples

Check Samara status
Is Samara running? Check its logs and show me if FDA is granted.
Restart Samara
Restart Samara.app because messages are not being detected.
Diagnose FDA revoked after update
Samara stopped working after I rebuilt it. Check the code signature and tell me if FDA is broken.

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