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watchdog
// Pair-programmer that watches a primary CC session for execution drift and direction drift. Fresh-context CC reads primary's transcript against the original spec and course-corrects.
// Pair-programmer that watches a primary CC session for execution drift and direction drift. Fresh-context CC reads primary's transcript against the original spec and course-corrects.
[HINT] Download the complete skill directory including SKILL.md and all related files
| name | watchdog |
| description | Pair-programmer that watches a primary CC session for execution drift and direction drift. Fresh-context CC reads primary's transcript against the original spec and course-corrects. |
| triggers | ["watchdog","pair programmer","watch this session","drift check","watch primary"] |
Fresh-context CC reads a primary session's recent turns against the original spec and flags drift. Distinct from securin (which watches mtor dispatch) and from the architect-implementer split (CC โ ribosome). Watchdog watches CC's own primary session.
Inspired by Eugene Yan's pattern (eugeneyan.com May 2026): a secondary tmux pane periodically scans the primary's transcript for misalignment with the spec.
Default cadence: execution drift every ~15 turns or ~30 min; direction drift every ~60 turns or ~2 hours.
Inputs the watchdog needs:
~/.claude/projects/-home-vivesca/<session-id>.jsonl (find via ls -lt).Self-ping loop in the watchdog session:
Bash(command="sleep 1800 && watchdog-tick <session-id> <spec-path>", run_in_background=true)
Each tick:
~/.claude/watchdog/<session-id>.md) with severity + suggested correction.Write to ~/.claude/watchdog/<session-id>.md. Append-only, timestamped. Primary's UserPromptSubmit hook can surface the latest unread entry.
## 2026-05-06 13:42 โ execution drift
Spec ยง3 says "smoke-test container builds before full run."
Primary skipped smoke test, ran full eval (turn 47).
Suggest: stop, build smoke test, then resume.
Do not invoke for:
securin โ watches mtor/ribosome dispatch, not CC. Watchdog watches CC.autopoiesis โ self-repair loop after detection. Watchdog is the detection layer.examen โ premise audit before delegating. Watchdog audits during execution.ribosome) โ CC dispatches ribosome to do work. Watchdog is a third party reading both.Skeleton โ watchdog-tick CLI not yet built. Open question: hook vs skill vs background loop. Hook (PostToolUse periodic) is cheapest but lacks judgment; skill + scheduled tick is the closest match to Eugene's pattern.