How do I install the Brain skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add tonydzi/brain in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Brain safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Brain?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Brain free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under MIT.

tonydzi (@tonydzi) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Brain by tonydzi — Agent Skill

Name: Brain
Author: tonydzi

Brain

Health-check the second brain so failures are not silent: is the local search server alive, is the RAG index fresh, is the session-memory ledger filling, did the nightly distillation run. Read-only, with a green/red verdict per component. Triggers: "/brain", "/memory", "is the reindex alive".

tonydzi 93d7833 3.1 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

/brain — second-brain health at one glance

🧒 When reporting to a non-technical operator, end with a short plain-words recap (rule eli5-always).

Catches SILENT breakage of the memory/RAG stack (the things that kept breaking month after month: the reindex, the local search server, the memory pilot). Read-only, 0 tokens.

What it does (one script)

python $IMPORTS_ROOT/brain_health.py

Checks 5 things and colors them 🟢/🟡/🔴:

Search server on its local port — alive or not (if it's down, auto-recall silently disappears); also shows whether the graph-assisted mode is on.
Index _brain_e5.npy — how fresh (🟡 if the reindex lags >48h).
TurnState ledger — how many turns recorded (memory Phase 1), when the last one was.
Nightly distillation — candidates in quarantine + when the last run happened.
A/B direct-vs-graph recall — how many runs + the operator's verdicts (👍/👎).

Writes a dashboard $OBSIDIAN_VAULT/_Dashboards/Brain-Health.html (the operator reads with their eyes, [[prefer-visual-dashboards]]). Exit code 0/1/2 = ok/warn/red (for scripts).

When to fix (on 🔴/🟡)

🔴 search server down → run the restart script (as admin, see [[always-on-memory-pilot]]); or reboot (the at-logon task brings it up).
🟡 index lagging → gpu_check.py [--kill], then brain_embed_update.py [--wait-gpu 10] ([[reindex-routine]]).
🟡 ledger empty → fine if memory Phase 1 was just enabled (it fills from the next sessions on).

What it does NOT do

It doesn't fix anything and doesn't write to the vault. It's a diagnostic. Fixing is a separate explicit step (the "read before you fix" rule, [[verify-existing-before-proposing]]).

Like this skill? It is one of 100 in second-brain-starter-kit: the second brain we built for ourselves and run every day at Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Install the whole set with npx skills add tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit. Everything is open source and free, so take what you need.

Flagships worth a look on their own: secondop-panel (a second opinion from a panel of external models), claude-memory-tidy (stop your agent's memory from rotting), telegram-mcp-kit (your own Telegram over MCP in about 15 minutes).

Author: Anton Dziatkovskii, Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Telegram @tonydzi - WhatsApp +1 341 222 9178 - X @Tony_Stef_

Engineers: want to test-drive this setup? Message me. I hand out free starter seeds to engineers who test and report back, and custom skill requests are welcome.

---name: braindescription: Health-check the second brain so failures are not silent: is the local search server alive, is the RAG index fresh, is the session-memory ledger filling, did the nightly distillation run. Read-only, with a green/red verdict per component. Triggers: "/brain", "/memory", "is the reindex alive".license: MIT---# /brain — second-brain health at one glance> 🧒 When reporting to a non-technical operator, end with a short plain-words recap (rule `eli5-always`).Catches SILENT breakage of the memory/RAG stack (the things that kept breaking month after month: the reindex, the local search server, the memory pilot). Read-only, 0 tokens.## What it does (one script)`python $IMPORTS_ROOT/brain_health.py`Checks 5 things and colors them 🟢/🟡/🔴:1. **Search server** on its local port — alive or not (if it's down, auto-recall silently disappears); also shows whether the graph-assisted mode is on.2. **Index** `_brain_e5.npy` — how fresh (🟡 if the reindex lags >48h).3. **TurnState ledger** — how many turns recorded (memory Phase 1), when the last one was.4. **Nightly distillation** — candidates in quarantine + when the last run happened.5. **A/B direct-vs-graph recall** — how many runs + the operator's verdicts (👍/👎).Writes a dashboard `$OBSIDIAN_VAULT/_Dashboards/Brain-Health.html` (the operator reads with their eyes, [[prefer-visual-dashboards]]). Exit code 0/1/2 = ok/warn/red (for scripts).## When to fix (on 🔴/🟡)- **🔴 search server down** → run the restart script (as admin, see [[always-on-memory-pilot]]); or reboot (the at-logon task brings it up).- **🟡 index lagging** → `gpu_check.py [--kill]`, then `brain_embed_update.py [--wait-gpu 10]` ([[reindex-routine]]).- **🟡 ledger empty** → fine if memory Phase 1 was just enabled (it fills from the next sessions on).## What it does NOT doIt doesn't fix anything and doesn't write to the vault. It's a diagnostic. Fixing is a separate explicit step (the "read before you fix" rule, [[verify-existing-before-proposing]]).------**Like this skill?** It is one of 100 in [second-brain-starter-kit](https://github.com/tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit): the second brain we built for ourselves and run every day at Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Install the whole set with `npx skills add tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit`. Everything is open source and free, so take what you need.Flagships worth a look on their own: [secondop-panel](https://github.com/tonydzi/secondop-panel) (a second opinion from a panel of external models), [claude-memory-tidy](https://github.com/tonydzi/claude-memory-tidy) (stop your agent's memory from rotting), [telegram-mcp-kit](https://github.com/tonydzi/telegram-mcp-kit) (your own Telegram over MCP in about 15 minutes).Author: **Anton Dziatkovskii**, Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Telegram [@tonydzi](https://t.me/tonydzi) - WhatsApp [+1 341 222 9178](https://wa.me/13412229178) - X [@Tony_Stef_](https://x.com/Tony_Stef_)**Engineers: want to test-drive this setup?** Message me. I hand out free starter seeds to engineers who test and report back, and custom skill requests are welcome.

Frequently asked questions