# Heinzel Housekeeping

> Run a heinzel housekeeping (health) inspection on a Use when this capability is needed.

- Skill: `tomevault-io/heinzel-housekeeping` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/heinzel-housekeeping`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/heinzel-housekeeping/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/heinzel-housekeeping

---


# heinzel-housekeeping

Routine health inspection for a server or the local machine.
**Never run automatically** — only on explicit user request. The
whole of the heinzel first-connection onboarding pipeline still
applies before any of this runs.

## Workflow

1. **Load overrides.** Before running any check, apply the full
   heinzel rule-override chain (later wins):
   - `memory/custom-rules/heinzel-housekeeping.md` if present
     (global custom overrides for this skill — `## Add:`,
     `## Replace:`, `## Remove:` prefixes per `CLAUDE.md`).
   - `memory/housekeeping.md` if present (additional cross-
     server custom checks — free-form Markdown, gitignored by
     default).
   - `memory/servers/<hostname>/memory.md` (service list,
     last-known state, per-server quirks).
   - `memory/servers/<hostname>/rules.md` if present (per-server
     rule overrides — same prefixes as above, highest precedence).
   Note: `memory/custom-rules/all.md` is already loaded by the
   CLAUDE.md session-start preflight — do not re-read it.
2. **Select checks.** Run all baseline checks for the detected OS
   plus any service-specific checks triggered by entries in the
   server's `memory.md` (e.g. PostgreSQL, nginx, Docker). The
   backup-presence check from `references/backup-presence.md`
   runs on every host, independent of `memory.md` entries.
3. **Run the version check** procedure from
   `rules/version-check.md` for all Tier 1 software and include the
   "Versions" section in the report.
4. **Run checks in 2–3 parallel batches** for speed — not one
   massive batch. If a single parallel tool call errors, Claude
   Code cancels sibling calls, so grouping limits blast radius.
5. **Emit the report** using the format in
   `references/report-format.md`.
6. **Update `memory.md`** immediately after, if the checks
   revealed changed facts (disk usage shifted significantly, a
   new service appeared, a service was removed).
7. **Log the summary** to the system journal and mirror to the
   local changelog per `rules/changelog.md`:

       logger -t heinzel "Housekeeping: 1 CRITICAL, 2 WARN, \
       all services OK"

## References

Read on demand, only when the relevant section applies:

- `references/report-format.md` — required output format and
  severity rules (CRITICAL / WARN / INFO).
- `references/baseline-linux.md` — disk, memory, load, uptime,
  updates, firewall, NTP, logs, SSL certs, kernel.
- `references/baseline-macos.md` — disk, memory, load, updates,
  Homebrew, Application Firewall, SMART, time sync.
- `references/backup-presence.md` — generic "any backup at
  all?" probe, the provider-snapshot question, and the
  `Backup:` acknowledgment line in `memory.md`.
- `references/service-checks.md` — PostgreSQL, backups, nginx,
  Docker, Ollama, node_exporter, NVIDIA GPU, MariaDB/MySQL,
  WireGuard. Only run the ones the server's `memory.md` mentions.
- `references/unprivileged.md` — which checks work without root
  and how to report skipped ones.

## Scope and limits

- Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, SUSE) and
  macOS are fully covered by the baseline references above.
- FreeBSD baselines are not yet covered. On a FreeBSD host,
  do not silently skip: run the closest equivalent checks
  manually (`pkg audit -F`, `pkg upgrade -n`,
  `freebsd-update fetch` dry run, `pfctl -s info` for the
  firewall, `df -h` / `swapinfo` / `uptime` for the basics,
  `service -e` for enabled services) and state in the report
  that FreeBSD has no baseline reference yet.

## Custom checks

Users add their own checks in `memory/housekeeping.md`
(gitignored, free-form Markdown). The file describes what to
check, what commands to run, and what thresholds to use. Do not
pre-create an empty file — it is created when needed.

---
> Source: [wintermeyer/heinzel](https://github.com/wintermeyer/heinzel) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).
<!-- tomevault:4.0:skill_md:2026-06-29 -->