/validator-help

Evidence-based diagnosis of validator behavior. This skill is diagnosis-only — it explains what happened and why, but does not auto-fix issues. It operates from runtime artifacts and CLI outputs, not source code.

Diagnostic Workflow

Follow this order for every diagnostic question:

1. Resolve log_dir: Read .validator/config.yml and extract the log_dir field (default: validator_logs). All log paths below are relative to <log_dir>/.
2. Passive evidence first: Read files before running commands.
   • <log_dir>/.debug.log — timestamped event log (commands, gate results, state changes, errors)
   • <log_dir>/.execution_state — JSON with last_run_completed_at, branch, commit, working_tree_ref, and unhealthy_adapters (adapter name → {marked_at, reason})
   • <log_dir>/console.*.log — console output per run (highest number = latest)
   • <log_dir>/check_*.log — check gate output
   • <log_dir>/review_*.json — review gate results with violations (file, line, issue, fix, priority, status)
   • .validator/config.yml — project configuration
3. Active evidence when needed: Run CLI commands only when passive evidence is insufficient for a confident diagnosis.
4. Explain with evidence: Clearly distinguish confirmed findings from inference.