smoke-test

garrytan/gbrain/skills/smoke-test/SKILL.md

Health smoke tests + auto-fix for gbrain installs (and OpenClaw services when present). Run after machine/container restarts or whenever something seems broken. Tests critical services, auto-fixes bounded local issues, and reports worker topology without starting daemons. Extensible via user-defined test scripts in ~/.gbrain/smoke-tests.d/*.sh.

Skill31k starsChanged 2 months ago
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What's in it

  1. Smoke Test Skillpack
  2. Contract
  3. Built-in Tests
  4. Usage
  5. CLI
  6. From any startup script or login hook
  7. From OpenClaw bootstrap (OpenClaw deployments only)
  8. From an agent
  9. Adding Custom Tests
  10. Adding Built-in Tests (gbrain contributors)
  11. Design rules:
  12. Environment Variables
  13. Known Issues & Their Auto-Fixes
  14. Codex Zod core.cjs Missing (discovered 2026-04-23)
  15. GBrain Worker Auth Failure
  16. When it fails
  17. Anti-Patterns
  18. Output Format
---
name: smoke-test
description: |
  Health smoke tests + auto-fix for gbrain installs (and OpenClaw services
  when present). Run after machine/container restarts or whenever something
  seems broken. Tests critical services, auto-fixes bounded local issues,
  and reports worker topology without starting daemons. Extensible via
  user-defined test scripts in ~/.gbrain/smoke-tests.d/*.sh.
triggers:
  - "smoke test"
  - "run smoke tests"
  - "container restart check"
  - "health check"
  - "did the restart break anything"
  - "did the container restart break anything"
tools:
  - exec
  - read
mutating: true
---

# Smoke Test Skillpack

> Run `gbrain smoke-test` after any machine or container restart, or whenever
> something seems broken.

## Contract

This skill guarantees:
- 8 core tests verify gbrain health after restart (plus OpenClaw services when
  present; skipped otherwise)
- Bounded local failures are auto-fixed before reporting; worker repair is
  explicit because process topology and shell-job policy are operator choices
- User-extensible via `~/.gbrain/smoke-tests.d/*.sh` drop-in scripts
- Results logged to `/tmp/gbrain-smoke-test.log`
- Exit code = number of unfixed failures (0 = all pass)

## Built-in Tests

| # | Test | Auto-Fix |
|---|------|----------|
| 1 | Bun runtime | Install from bun.sh |
| 2 | GBrain CLI loads | Reinstall deps |
| 3 | GBrain database (engine identity via `gbrain engine status --json`, then `doctor --json`'s `connection` check) | `gbrain db-repair --yes`, re-test |
| 4 | GBrain worker process | — (native supervisor status + duplicate detection) |
| 5 | OpenClaw Codex plugin (Zod CJS); skips if OpenClaw absent | `npm install zod@4 --force` |
| 6 | OpenClaw gateway; skips if OpenClaw absent | — (may not be started yet) |
| 7 | Embedding API key | — (check .env) |
| 8 | Brain repo exists | — |

## Usage

### CLI
```bash
gbrain smoke-test
```

This is the invocation for all installs; it resolves the test script from the
installed package.

### From any startup script or login hook
```bash
gbrain smoke-test >> /tmp/bootstrap.log 2>&1
```

### From OpenClaw bootstrap (OpenClaw deployments only)
Add to your `ensure-services.sh` or equivalent:
```bash
bash /path/to/gbrain/scripts/smoke-test.sh >> /tmp/bootstrap.log 2>&1
```

### From an agent
```
exec: gbrain smoke-test
```

Contributor note: inside a gbrain repo checkout you can also run the script
directly with `bash scripts/smoke-test.sh`.

## Adding Custom Tests

Create executable scripts in `~/.gbrain/smoke-tests.d/`:

```bash
# ~/.gbrain/smoke-tests.d/check-redis.sh
#!/bin/bash
redis-cli ping | grep -q PONG
```

Rules:
- Exit 0 = pass, non-zero = fail
- Filename becomes the test name (e.g. `check-redis` from `check-redis.sh`)
- Keep tests fast (< 10s each)
- Tests run in alphabetical order

## Adding Built-in Tests (gbrain contributors)

This section is for contributors working in the gbrain source repo. Plugin
installs ship the script read-only and upgrades overwrite it; if you just want
extra checks, use the `~/.gbrain/smoke-tests.d/` drop-in scripts above.

Edit `scripts/smoke-test.sh`. Follow this pattern:

```bash
# ── N. [Service Name] ──────────────────────────────────────
if [test condition]; then
  pass "[Service Name]"
else
  # Auto-fix attempt
  [fix command]
  if [re-test condition]; then
    fixed "[What was fixed]"
    pass "[Service Name] (after fix)"
  else
    fail "[Service Name] — [error detail]"
  fi
fi
```

### Design rules:
1. **Test first** — never fix without confirming broken
2. **Re-test after fix** — verify the fix worked
3. **Timeout everything** — `timeout N` on any command that could hang
4. **Use helpers** — `pass()`, `fail()`, `fixed()`, `skip()`
5. **Idempotent fixes** — safe to run repeatedly
6. **Skip gracefully** — `skip()` when a prerequisite is missing, don't fail

## Environment Variables

| Var | Default | Description |
|-----|---------|-------------|
| `GBRAIN_SMOKE_LOG` | `/tmp/gbrain-smoke-test.log` | Log file path |
| `GBRAIN_DIR_OVERRIDE` | (auto-detect) | Force gbrain install path |
| `GBRAIN_BUN_PATH` | (auto-detect) | Force Bun binary path |
| `GBRAIN_DATABASE_URL` | (from .env) | Database connection URL |
| `GBRAIN_SMOKE_WORKER_PID_FILE` | `/tmp/gbrain-worker.pid` | Legacy bare-worker PID path |
| `OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PORT` | `18789` | Gateway port to test |
| `GBRAIN_BRAIN_PATH` | (deployment-specific) | Brain repo path. Container deployments default to `/data/brain`; set it to your brain repo path otherwise. Test 8 skips (not fails) when unset. |

## Known Issues & Their Auto-Fixes

### Codex Zod core.cjs Missing (discovered 2026-04-23)
(OpenClaw gateway deployments only: this concerns OpenClaw's Codex ACP plugin,
not the OpenAI Codex CLI.)
- **Symptom:** `Cannot find module './core.cjs'` → all Codex ACP sessions fail
- **Cause:** Zod v4 npm package ships without `core.cjs` in some installs
- **Auto-fix:** `npm install zod@4 --force` in the codex extension's zod dir
- **Persistence:** Does NOT survive container restart (gateway reinstalls deps)
- This is why smoke tests must run on every restart

### GBrain Worker Auth Failure
- **Symptom:** Worker can't connect to DB
- **Cause:** `GBRAIN_DATABASE_URL` not propagated to worker subprocess
- **Auto-fix:** Script explicitly passes both `DATABASE_URL` and `GBRAIN_DATABASE_URL`

## When it fails

Follow the [agent operator protocol](../conventions/agent-operator-protocol.md) for any gbrain error `code`, exit code, `[AGENT]` block or notice block. Specific to this skill:

- Exit code = number of unfixed failures: report each by name and the attempted fix; never report all-green when a test was skipped.
- The database test fails with a `GBRAIN_DB_ACCESS` marker: run `gbrain db-repair` and re-test; the rewrite tier needs the user's agreement.
- The embedding API key check fails: there is no auto-fix. Tell the user which key is missing and that search runs keyword-only until it is set.

## Anti-Patterns

- ❌ Running smoke tests on every chat turn. Once per container restart (or
  on user request) is plenty. The script is cheap but it's not free.
- ❌ Writing a user drop-in without `timeout N` around any command that
  could hang. A single hung drop-in stalls every subsequent run.
- ❌ Auto-fixing without confirming the check is actually broken first.
  The `pass → fail-detected → fix → re-test` loop is the contract; fixes
  that skip the re-test can report success on a still-broken state.
- ❌ Treating `skip` as `fail`. Missing prerequisites (no OpenClaw installed,
  no brain repo configured) are skips, not failures. Exit code = count of
  real failures, not skipped checks.
- ❌ Hardcoding paths in a user drop-in. Read env vars
  (`GBRAIN_DATABASE_URL`, `HOME`, etc.) so the script travels across
  container rebuilds.

## Output Format

The script writes a one-line status per check to stdout (✅/❌/🔧/⏭️) plus a
final summary line: `Results: N/M passed, F auto-fixed, S skipped`. A
structured timestamped log appends to `$GBRAIN_SMOKE_LOG`
(default `/tmp/gbrain-smoke-test.log`) for post-run forensics. Exit code
equals the count of unfixed failures (0 = all pass, positive integer =
count of remaining failures).

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