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Quick health check to verify your Athena workspace is properly configured. Runs essential diagnostics including workspace marker detection, directory structure, and environment variables.

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Usage

athena check

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What It Checks

The basic health check verifies:
  1. CLI Version - Confirms Athena SDK is installed
  2. Workspace Marker - Checks for .athena_root file
  3. Key Directories - Validates .agent/, .context/, .framework/ exist
  4. Environment Variables - Reports on optional cloud features

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Example Output

$ athena check

🩺 ATHENA SYSTEM CHECK
============================================================
   CLI Version: 1.0.0
   ✅ Workspace marker: Found
   ✅ .agent/: Found
   ✅ .context/: Found
   ✅ .framework/: Found

🔑 Environment Variables:
   ✅ SUPABASE_URL: Set
   ✅ SUPABASE_ANON_KEY: Set
   ⚠️  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: Not set (optional for cloud features)

============================================================
📚 Docs: https://github.com/winstonkoh87/Athena-Public

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Interpreting Results

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Success Indicators (✅)

  • Workspace marker: Found - .athena_root exists, workspace is initialized
  • Directory: Found - Required directory exists
  • Environment variable: Set - Cloud feature is configured

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Warnings (⚠️)

  • Workspace marker: Missing - Run athena init . to initialize workspace
  • Directory: Missing - Critical directory not found, run athena init . or create manually
  • Environment variable: Not set - Optional cloud feature unavailable (workspace still functional)

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Failures (❌)

  • Directory: Missing - Core directory structure is incomplete

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Common Issues

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Workspace Not Initialized

Symptom: 
⚠️  Workspace marker: Missing (run `athena init .` first)
❌ .agent/: Missing
❌ .context/: Missing
❌ .framework/: Missing
Solution: 
athena init .

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Missing Environment Variables

Symptom: 
⚠️  SUPABASE_URL: Not set (optional for cloud features)
⚠️  SUPABASE_ANON_KEY: Not set (optional for cloud features)
Solution: Create a .env file in your workspace root:
.env
SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
Environment variables are optional. Athena works fully offline without them. They only enable cloud sync features.

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Running in Wrong Directory

Symptom: 
⚠️  Workspace marker: Missing
Solution: Navigate to your Athena workspace root: 
cd /path/to/your/workspace
athena check

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When to Use

Use athena check when you:
  • Just initialized a workspace and want to verify setup
  • Cloned a workspace from git and need to check configuration
  • Experience issues and want to rule out basic setup problems
  • Haven’t used Athena in a while and want to confirm everything’s ready

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vs athena doctor

athena check is a lightweight alternative to athena doctor:
Featurecheckdoctor
Checks run4 basic15 comprehensive
Execution timeLess than 1 second2-5 seconds
ReportsEssential onlyDetailed diagnostics
Auto-fixNoYes (with --fix)
JSON outputNoYes (with --json)
Best forQuick verificationDeep troubleshooting
For comprehensive diagnostics including git health, memory bank validation, and secret scanning, use athena doctor.

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Exit Codes

CodeMeaning
0Check completed (warnings don’t affect exit code)
Unlike athena doctor, the basic check always exits with code 0. It’s informational only.

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