debug

name	debug
description	Debug agent issues. Use when things aren't working, agent fails, authentication problems, or to understand how the system works. Covers logs, environment variables, sessions, and common issues.

GhostClaw Agent Debugging

This guide covers debugging the agent execution system.

Architecture Overview

Host (macOS/Linux)
───────────────────────────────────────────────
src/index.ts                   agent-runner/
    │                               │
    │ spawns child process          │ runs Claude Agent SDK
    │ with env vars                 │ with MCP servers
    │                               │
    ├── GHOSTCLAW_GROUP_DIR ──> groups/{folder}/
    ├── GHOSTCLAW_IPC_DIR ───> data/ipc/{folder}/
    ├── GHOSTCLAW_GLOBAL_DIR > groups/global/
    ├── CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR ───> data/sessions/{folder}/.claude/
    └── HOME ────────────────> (inherited, real home)

Important: Agents run as direct Node.js child processes, not containers. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR provides per-group session isolation while HOME stays untouched so tools like gh, Gmail OAuth, etc. find their credentials naturally.

Log Locations

Log	Location	Content
Main app logs	logs/ghostclaw.log	Routing, agent spawning, scheduling
Main app errors	logs/ghostclaw.error.log	Host-side errors
Agent run logs	groups/{folder}/logs/agent-*.log	Per-run: input, stderr, stdout
Claude sessions	data/sessions/{folder}/.claude/projects/	Claude Code session history

Enabling Debug Logging

Set LOG_LEVEL=debug for verbose output:

# For development
LOG_LEVEL=debug npm run dev

# For launchd service (macOS), add to plist EnvironmentVariables:
<key>LOG_LEVEL</key>
<string>debug</string>
# For systemd service (Linux), add to unit [Service] section:
# Environment=LOG_LEVEL=debug

Debug level shows:

• Full environment configuration
• Agent process arguments
• Real-time agent stderr

Common Issues

1. "Claude Code process exited with code 1"

Check the agent log file in groups/{folder}/logs/agent-*.log

Common causes:

Missing Authentication

Invalid API key · Please run /login

Fix: Ensure .env file exists with either OAuth token or API key:

cat .env  # Should show one of:
# CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN=sk-ant-oat01-...  (subscription)
# ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-...        (pay-per-use)

2. Environment Variables

Secrets are passed to the agent via stdin (never written to disk). The agent receives:

• CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
• ELEVENLABS_API_KEY, ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID

Environment variables set via GHOSTCLAW_* paths:

• GHOSTCLAW_GROUP_DIR — group's working directory
• GHOSTCLAW_IPC_DIR — IPC communication directory
• GHOSTCLAW_GLOBAL_DIR — global shared directory
• CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR — per-group Claude session isolation

To verify env vars are correct, check the agent log (first few lines show the input JSON).

3. Session Not Resuming

If sessions aren't being resumed (new session ID every time):

Root cause: The SDK looks for sessions at $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR/projects/. Each group's sessions live in data/sessions/{folder}/.claude/.

Verify sessions exist:

ls -la data/sessions/*/

Check session continuity in logs:

grep "Session initialized" logs/ghostclaw.log | tail -5
# Should show the SAME session ID for consecutive messages in the same group

4. MCP Server Failures

If an MCP server fails to start, the agent may exit. Check agent logs for MCP initialization errors.

MCP servers are configured in data/sessions/{folder}/.claude/settings.json. Global servers are synced automatically from agent-spawner.ts:buildGlobalMcpServers().

5. Agent Timeout

Default timeout is 300 seconds. If the agent takes longer:

• Check logs for what it's doing (long tool calls, large file reads)
• Increase timeout via containerConfig.timeout on the registered group

SDK Options Reference

The agent-runner uses these Claude Agent SDK options:

query({
  prompt: input.prompt,
  options: {
    cwd: groupDir,
    allowedTools: ['Bash', 'Read', 'Write', ...],
    permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions',
    allowDangerouslySkipPermissions: true,
    settingSources: ['project'],
    mcpServers: { ... }
  }
})

Important: allowDangerouslySkipPermissions: true is required when using permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions'. Without it, Claude Code exits with code 1.

Rebuilding After Changes

# Rebuild main app
npm run build

# Rebuild agent runner
cd agent-runner && npm run build && cd ../..

# Restart service
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.ghostclaw  # macOS
# systemctl --user restart ghostclaw                # Linux

Session Persistence

Claude sessions are stored per-group in data/sessions/{group}/.claude/ for security isolation. Each group has its own session directory, preventing cross-group access to conversation history.

To clear sessions:

# Clear all sessions for all groups
rm -rf data/sessions/

# Clear sessions for a specific group
rm -rf data/sessions/{groupFolder}/.claude/

IPC Debugging

Agents communicate back to the host via files in data/ipc/{folder}/:

# Check pending messages
ls -la data/ipc/*/messages/

# Check pending task operations
ls -la data/ipc/*/tasks/

# Read a specific IPC file
cat data/ipc/*/messages/*.json

# Check available groups (main channel only)
cat data/ipc/main/available_groups.json

# Check current tasks snapshot
cat data/ipc/{groupFolder}/current_tasks.json

IPC file types:

• messages/*.json - Agent writes: outgoing messages
• tasks/*.json - Agent writes: task operations (schedule, pause, resume, cancel, refresh_groups)
• current_tasks.json - Host writes: read-only snapshot of scheduled tasks
• available_groups.json - Host writes: read-only list of groups (main only)

Quick Diagnostic Script

Run this to check common issues:

echo "=== Checking GhostClaw Setup ==="

echo -e "\n1. Authentication configured?"
[ -f .env ] && (grep -q "CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN=sk-" .env || grep -q "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-" .env) && echo "OK" || echo "MISSING - add CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to .env"

echo -e "\n2. Node.js available?"
node --version 2>/dev/null && echo "OK" || echo "NOT FOUND - install Node.js 20+"

echo -e "\n3. Built?"
[ -d dist ] && echo "OK" || echo "MISSING - run npm run build"

echo -e "\n4. Agent runner built?"
[ -d agent-runner/dist ] && echo "OK" || echo "MISSING - run cd agent-runner && npm run build"

echo -e "\n5. Groups directory?"
ls -la groups/ 2>/dev/null || echo "MISSING - run /setup-ghostclaw"

echo -e "\n6. Service running?"
launchctl list 2>/dev/null | grep ghostclaw && echo "OK" || echo "NOT RUNNING"

echo -e "\n7. Recent agent logs?"
ls -t groups/*/logs/agent-*.log 2>/dev/null | head -3 || echo "No agent logs yet"

echo -e "\n8. Session continuity working?"
SESSIONS=$(grep "Session initialized" logs/ghostclaw.log 2>/dev/null | tail -5 | awk '{print $NF}' | sort -u | wc -l)
[ "$SESSIONS" -le 2 ] && echo "OK (recent sessions reusing IDs)" || echo "CHECK - multiple different session IDs, may indicate resumption issues"