Spine Health

Spine Health — Vault Curator Scan

Audit the Spine Architecture vault for quality and completeness.

Vault Path Resolution

Resolve the vault path using this config chain:

1. $SPINE_VAULT_PATH environment variable
2. ~/.spine/config.json → read the vaultPath field
3. Default: ~/Documents/SpineVault/

If the vault doesn't exist, tell the user to run /spine-init first.

Scope

If $ARGUMENTS specifies a feature or repo, limit the scan to that area. Otherwise, scan the entire vault.

Check 1: Coverage Gaps

Compare recent git history against existing Obsidian docs to find undocumented work.

1. Run git log --oneline --since="2 weeks ago" in the current repo
2. Group commits by feature area (based on file paths changed)
3. For each group, check if a corresponding Obsidian doc exists
4. Report any significant work (not just typo fixes) that has no documentation

Output:

## Coverage Gaps
- [repo/feature] 3 commits touching auth logic — no doc since YYYY-MM-DD
- [repo/feature] New API endpoint added — no architecture doc

Check 2: Stale Docs

Find docs that reference code that has changed significantly since the doc was written.

1. Read each doc's **Files changed:** section
2. For each referenced file, check git log --oneline --since="{doc date}" -- {filepath}
3. If the file has 3+ commits since the doc was written, flag as potentially stale

Output:

## Potentially Stale
- Fix - Session Bug (2026-03-18) — session.hook.ts has 5 commits since

Check 3: Duplicate/Overlapping Docs

Find docs within the same feature that describe overlapping issues.

1. Read all docs under each feature folder
2. Check for:

• Same files referenced in multiple docs
• Similar root causes described
• Wikilinks that create circular clusters

1. Suggest consolidation where appropriate

Check 4: Spine Note Integrity

Verify each spine note accurately reflects its children.

1. List all files in each feature folder
2. Compare against wikilinks in the spine note
3. Flag:

• Docs that exist but aren't linked from the spine
• Wikilinks that point to non-existent docs (ghost links)
• Missing sections (e.g., feature has fixes but spine has no "## Fixes" section)

Check 5: Tag Consistency

Verify all docs have proper type/* tags for graph coloring.

1. Read frontmatter of every doc in the vault (skip .obsidian/)
2. Flag any doc missing a type/* tag
3. Flag any doc with a type/* tag that doesn't match its naming prefix

Check 6: Claude Memory Sync

Verify Claude memory signposts match the vault structure.

1. Read MEMORY.md from the project memory directory
2. Compare feature signposts against feature folders in the vault
3. Flag:

• Features in vault with no memory signpost
• Memory signposts pointing to features that don't exist
• Incorrect spine paths in memory signposts

Summary Report

Present a summary table:

## Spine Health Report — {date}

| Check | Status | Issues |
|-------|--------|--------|
| Coverage | {pass/warn} | {count} gaps |
| Staleness | {pass/warn} | {count} stale docs |
| Duplicates | {pass/warn} | {count} candidates |
| Spine Integrity | {pass/warn} | {count} issues |
| Tags | {pass/warn} | {count} missing |
| Memory Sync | {pass/warn} | {count} mismatches |

Then list each issue with a suggested action. Do NOT auto-fix — present findings and let the user decide.

If user approves fixes, use /spine-capture for new docs, and direct edits for spine note / tag updates.

Output Contract

After presenting the human-readable report, emit a structured observation block.

spine_health_result:
  status: healthy | warning | critical | error
  summary: "6 checks complete — 2 warnings (coverage, staleness)"
  checks:
    - { name: "coverage", status: "warn", count: 2, issues: ["auth: 3 commits undocumented", "payments: new endpoint"] }
    - { name: "staleness", status: "warn", count: 1, issues: ["Fix - Session Bug: 5 commits since"] }
    - { name: "duplicates", status: "pass", count: 0, issues: [] }
    - { name: "spine_integrity", status: "pass", count: 0, issues: [] }
    - { name: "tags", status: "pass", count: 0, issues: [] }
    - { name: "memory_sync", status: "pass", count: 0, issues: [] }
  next_actions:
    - { action: "/spine-capture", reason: "2 coverage gaps to document" }
    - { action: "review stale", file: "2026-03-18 Fix - Session Bug.md" }
  recovery_hint: null

Status values:

• healthy — all checks passed
• warning — some checks have issues, vault is functional
• critical — spine integrity broken (ghost links, missing spine notes)
• error — scan failed (vault missing, permissions) — include recovery_hint

Cross-skill handoff: Health results inform /spine-scan's staleness checks. If health was run recently (last-health-timestamp < 14 days), scan can skip its own staleness pass and reference health's findings.

Update Health Timestamp

After presenting the report, write the current ISO timestamp to {vault}/.spine/last-health-timestamp. This lets /spine-scan know when the last full health check was run and remind the user when it's been too long (14+ days).

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Nodewarrior
• Source: Nodewarrior/spine
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.