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/system/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/system/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