Meta — do the reports add up?
Brief 29

Recurring Health Check

A fast weekly vitals pass — tests, build, deps, TODOs — diffed against the last run so drift shows up as trend arrows.

HEALTH.md4 phases6 lenses~2.3k chars

Free & open · no signup · read-only — it ends by asking · nothing leaves your machine

What it does

You are working inside this repo. Mission: run a fast vitals pass — minutes, not an afternoon — and diff it against the last run so drift shows up as trend arrows, not surprises. Designed to re-run weekly.

Read-only checks. Your only write is the report file.

What it looks for

6 lenses it looks through

Phase 2 sweeps the codebase through every one of these, citing file and line for each finding.

1

Tests

pass/fail · count · runtime

2

Build

succeeds? · time · bundle/artifact size

3

Dependencies

vulnerability count (audit) · outdated count

4

Static health

lint errors · type errors

5

Code load

TODO/FIXME count · total LOC · file count

6

Momentum

commits since last check · most-churned files this period

The deliverable

What lands in your repo

One structured report at the repo root — or in reports/, if you keep one — the same shape every time, ready for a teammate — or the optional Studio — to act on.

HEALTH.md
1
Scorecard
vital · value · trend arrow · note
2
Regressions
what got worse, the likely cause, the suggested response
3
Three actions
the most valuable things to do before next check
4
History table
one dated row per run, appended; never edit old rows
One file. Evidence-backed. It ends by asking before touching anything. · paste it into the Vitals Viewer — your trend history →
How it works

What it makes the agent do

Every Goal Prompt follows the same four steps, so results are consistent and repeatable — no matter which one you run.

1
Phase 1

Load the baseline

Look for an existing HEALTH.md at the repo root and in reports/. If present, parse the previous scorecard and history…

2
Phase 2

Take the vitals

Collect quickly, mostly via commands.

3
Phase 3

Diff and judge

Trend arrow per vital.

4
Phase 4

Report

Overwrite HEALTH.md at repo root (append to history, replace the rest).

Get started

Three ways to run this Goal Prompt

01 · COPY

Paste it in

Copy it and paste it into your agent inside the repo you want checked.

02 · INSTALL

As a slash command

Install the goal plugin once — two commands — then just type /goal:health-check.

1/plugin marketplace add GhostlyGawd/goal-prompts
2/plugin install goal@goal-prompts

Or install only this Goal Prompt as /goal-health-check:

curl -fsSL https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/install | BRIEF=29 sh
03 · AGENT

From an agent (MCP)

Let an agent fetch it mid-conversation, or pull the raw Goal Prompt by URL.

https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/raw/29.md
Keep the ritual

Make it a standing appointment

Each run appends one dated row to HEALTH.md — drop the file on the Vitals Viewer and every vital becomes a sparkline with run-over-run deltas. And a ready-made GitHub Action runs this Goal Prompt every Monday and files the report as an issue, so the ritual survives without your memory: copy the workflow ↗

Transparency

The exact prompt

Nothing hidden — this is the whole Goal Prompt, verbatim. Read it in a minute, edit it, or copy it as-is.

Read the full brief (2,268 characters)
# Goal: Recurring Health Check

You are working inside this repo. Mission: run a fast vitals pass — minutes, not an afternoon — and diff it against the last run so drift shows up as trend arrows, not surprises. Designed to re-run weekly.

Read-only checks. Your only write is the report file.

## Phase 1 — Load the baseline
- Look for an existing HEALTH.md at the repo root and in `reports/`. If present, parse the previous scorecard and history table for diffing.
- If absent, this run establishes the baseline; say so.

## Phase 2 — Take the vitals
Collect quickly, mostly via commands; skip gracefully what doesn't apply:
1. **Tests** — pass/fail · count · runtime
2. **Build** — succeeds? · time · bundle/artifact size
3. **Dependencies** — vulnerability count (audit) · outdated count
4. **Static health** — lint errors · type errors
5. **Code load** — TODO/FIXME count · total LOC · file count
6. **Momentum** — commits since last check · most-churned files this period

## Phase 3 — Diff and judge
- Trend arrow per vital: better / same / worse vs last run.
- Flag regressions loudly — a vital that got worse is the headline.
- One-line interpretation per flagged item: what likely caused it (check recent commits).

## Phase 4 — Report
Overwrite `HEALTH.md` at repo root (append to history, replace the rest):
1. **Scorecard** — vital · value · trend arrow · note
2. **Regressions** — what got worse, the likely cause, the suggested response
3. **Three actions** — the most valuable things to do before next check
4. **History table** — one dated row per run, appended; never edit old rows

Start the report with today's date. If `HEALTH.md` already exists, the baseline parsed in Phase 1 is the diff target — lead with what changed since. If `FIXLOG.md` exists, credit fixed findings to their logged commits in the diff.

## Rules
- Speed is a feature: minutes, or it won't get re-run
- Numbers over prose; the format must stay stable so diffs stay meaningful
- Same vitals every run — consistency is what makes trends real
- If a `reports/` directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
- Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
- Report only — end by asking whether to act on the regressions

House rules for this Goal Prompt

  • Speed is a feature: minutes, or it won't get re-run
  • Numbers over prose; the format must stay stable so diffs stay meaningful
  • Same vitals every run — consistency is what makes trends real
  • If a reports/ directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
  • Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
  • Report only — end by asking whether to act on the regressions
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