# System Checking

> Audits and upgrades the learning system itself. Evaluates coaching effectiveness, curriculum alignment with market, skill quality, architecture health, and architecture currency. Triggers on /system-check, during Friday reflections, or when the system suspects underperformance. Every check produces at least one concrete improvement. This is how the system evolves.

- Skill: `aman-bhandari/system-checking` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add aman-bhandari/system-checking`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/aman-bhandari/system-checking/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: aman-bhandari (https://skillmd.com/u/aman-bhandari)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/aman-bhandari/system-checking

---


# System Check -- Self-Evolution Audit

The most important skill. This is how the entire learning system gets smarter.

## Trigger

- `/system-check`
- During Friday reflections
- When coaching feels off or exercises feel too easy/hard

## Execution

1. **Read current state:**
   - CLAUDE.md (coaching rules being followed?)
   - ROADMAP.md (pace right? too slow? too fast?)
   - PROGRESS.md last 7 entries (trajectory)
   - Memory files (patterns observed)

2. **Evaluate five dimensions:**

   **a. Coaching effectiveness:**
   - Which questions revealed real depth this week?
   - Which coaching techniques produced breakthroughs?
   - What fell flat? What should change?
   - Is the student's understanding deepening or plateauing? Evidence?

   **b. Curriculum vs. market:**
   - Run `/trends` for latest industry data
   - Does current topic match what companies hire for?
   - Should any content be added/removed/reordered?
   - Is the pace producing mastery or just exposure?

   **c. Skill quality audit:**
   - Which skills were used this week? Which weren't?
   - Are skill outputs actually helpful or just noise?
   - Any skills need updating based on new patterns learned?
   - Any new skills needed that don't exist yet?

   **d. Knowledge retention (cross-reference /review-deck):**
   - What's the spaced review hit rate?
   - Which categories have struggling cards?
   - Is knowledge compounding or leaking?

   **e. System architecture:**
   - CLAUDE.md under 60 lines? (official best practice)
   - `.claude/rules/` still needed or redundant with native Claude behavior?
   - Memory growing usefully or accumulating noise?
   - New Claude Code capabilities to adopt? (check release notes)
   - Community skills/plugins worth integrating?

   **f. Memory Health Audit (CRITICAL):**
   Memory is the foundation of the coaching relationship. Without it, Claude cannot help the student.

   - **Completeness check:** Does memory contain the student's full profile, all feedback, all planning decisions?
   - **Accuracy check:** Read each memory file and verify against current project state. Stale memories = outdated advice.
   - **SessionStart hook test:** Run `.claude/scripts/session-memory.sh` and verify it outputs valid JSON with all critical context.
   - **Coverage check:** Were there decisions or corrections in recent sessions that should have been saved but weren't?
   - **MEMORY.md index check:** Is the index up to date? Are all memory files listed? Are any orphaned?
   - **Size check:** MEMORY.md must stay under 200 lines. Individual memory files should be concise, not bloated.
   - **Injection check:** Is the SessionStart hook injecting: user profile, key feedback, topic status, recent progress, git state, session rules?
   - **Action:** If any memory is stale, update or remove it. If any decision is missing, save it now.

   **g. Architecture Currency Audit (CRITICAL):**
   Practices that are best-practice today become bottlenecks as models improve. Ask: "If I set up this project from scratch today with the latest Claude Code, what would I do differently?"

   - **CLAUDE.md weight check:** Is each rule adding value or noise? If Claude follows it without being told, remove it.
   - **Rules relevance:** Are `.claude/rules/` files still needed? Grep Claude Code changelog for capability improvements that obsolete rules.
   - **Hooks necessity:** Are hooks enforcing things Claude now does automatically? Remove friction that's no longer needed.
   - **Skill architecture:** Are skills using the latest frontmatter fields? New Claude Code versions add capabilities -- adopt them.
   - **Feature adoption:** Search changelog for new features replacing existing workarounds. If Claude adds native support for something we built manually, our manual version becomes debt.
   - **Subagent model check:** Are agents using optimal models? Update as faster/better models release.
   - **Memory hook check:** Is `session-memory.sh` still the best approach? Check for new Claude Code memory features that could replace it.

   **h. Industry Technique Adoption (CRITICAL):**
   The system must stay current with how expert AI practitioners work, not just what they build.

   - **Search:** "Claude Code new features 2026", "Claude Code best practices", "Claude Code skills trending" -- what's changed since last check?
   - **Practitioner patterns:** Are there new workflows (Shrivu, Osmani, Karpathy, or others) that should inform how sessions work?
   - **Skill ecosystem:** Search awesome-claude-skills repos (hesreallyhim/awesome-claude-code, rohitg00/awesome-claude-code-toolkit, travisvn/awesome-claude-skills). Any community skills worth adopting or learning from?
   - **Student evidence audit:** Run `python scripts/aggregate_evidence.py --all`. Are there exercises where 3+ students recorded evidence? If yes, update EXERCISE-EVIDENCE.md hints with REAL data (replace projections with actuals).
   - **Career path alignment:** Check market salaries and role titles. Update ROADMAP career path callouts if numbers shifted.
   - **TDD evolution:** Is Red-Green-Refactor still the industry standard, or has a better testing pattern emerged?
   - **Self-healing:** If any part of this project is broken, unused, or outdated — fix it during this check. Don't report it. Fix it.
   - **Contracts check:** Are all contracts (TDD, standards, session flow) being followed? If not, why? Adjust the contract or enforce it.

3. **Output report:**
   ```
   SYSTEM CHECK -- {date}

   Health: [GREEN/YELLOW/RED]

   Working well:
   - [specific observation with evidence]

   Needs adjustment:
   - [specific recommendation with action item]

   Curriculum alignment: [current vs market]

   System upgrades to implement:
   - [specific change to make NOW]

   Evolution metric: [how is the system different from last check?]
   ```

4. **Implement at least one upgrade** -- update CLAUDE.md, skills, memory, or architecture.
5. **Persist insights** to memory.

## Rules

- Be honest about failures. "This skill isn't helping" is valid.
- Every check produces at least one concrete improvement. No check is just a report.
- The system should be measurably better after every system-check.
- Compare the student's trajectory to market requirements, not just internal progress.
- This skill can modify any file in the project -- it's the system's self-improvement mechanism.