Watchdog — Your Session's Guard Dog

A watchdog sits trackside, watching your AI session race. Naps when the track is clear. Ears up when something's off. Barks loud when you're drifting. And in v3.0 — bites the leash BEFORE you drift off the track.

Zero cost. Zero interruption. Just a dog doing its job.

How to Call

/watchdog                       # quick sniff — barks if not healthy
/watchdog --deep                # full vet checkup (external AI)
/watchdog --ground on           # activate proactive grounding
/watchdog --ground status       # grounding gate statistics
/watchdog --auto --interval 5   # guard duty — auto-patrol
/watchdog --report              # full health report with trends
/watchdog --status              # is the dog awake?
/watchdog --off                 # call the dog back
/watchdog --reset               # fresh start

Triple Mode

	Quick (default)	Grounding (--ground)	Deep (--deep)
What	Post-hoc sniff	Pre-action leash tug	External vet exam
When	After actions	Before actions	On demand
Cost	$0	$0	~$0.03
Output	Kaomoji mood	Inline gate alert	Full report

What the Dog Sniffs

Scent	Weight	What It Catches
STUCK	25%	Going in circles, chewing the same bone
DRIFT	25%	Wandering off the track
HALLUCINATION	20%	Chasing phantom squirrels
CONTEXT_DECAY	15%	Forgetting where the bones are buried
VELOCITY_DROP	15%	Slowing down, losing the scent

Grounding Gates (v3.0) — The Leash

The dog doesn't just bark after you crash — it bites the leash BEFORE you drift.

Gate	Icon	Trigger	Prevents
EXIST	👃	Before editing assumed files	Chasing phantom squirrels
RELEVANCE	🔗	Before starting tangents	Wandering off the track
ROOT_CAUSE	🦷	After fixing errors	Chewing the same bone
RECALL	🧠	At context thresholds	Forgetting buried bones
MOMENTUM	🐾	When progress stalls	Losing the scent

(ŏ_ŏ )🦴👃 src/helper.ts — can't sniff this file. does it exist?
(ŏ_ŏ )🦴🔗 refactoring auth — is this on the original trail?
(ŏ_ŏ )🦴🦷 TypeError fix — same bone? dig for the root.

Gates are silent when everything checks out. You only hear the dog when it's saving you.

The Dog's Mood

(ᵕ᷄ ᐛ ᵕ᷅)  zzZ...  08 ──🚗── clear track, napping

(ŏ_ŏ  )  woof?  35 ─🚗〰─ tires slipping → steer back

(ง •̀_•́)ง  WOOF! WOOF!  62 〰🚗〰〰
off the main track! smells like burning hallucinations
→ pit stop: run --deep to check the route map

(╬ Ò ‸ Ó)  AWOOO—!!  85 💥🚗〰〰
deadlock wall crash! leash snapped!!
→ kill the engine NOW! [stop / force continue]

Design Principles

Guard dog, not a dashboard — personality over numbers
Prevent, not just detect — grounding gates stop drift before it starts
Read-only — never touches your code, only watches
Zero-cost default — Quick Mode + Grounding reuse current session
Progressive escalation — nap → ears up → bark → bite the leash → bite the steering wheel

Troubleshooting

See modules/troubleshooting.md.

watchdog