Diagnostic Issue Resolver

Diagnose and fix common TTS + Telegram bot issues through systematic symptom collection, automated diagnostics, and targeted fixes.

Platform: macOS (Apple Silicon)

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Self-Evolving Skill: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

When to Use This Skill

• TTS audio is not playing or sounds wrong
• Telegram bot is not responding to messages
• Kokoro engine errors or timeouts
• Lock file appears stuck
• Audio plays twice (race condition)
• MLX Metal acceleration is not working
• Queue appears full or backed up

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Requirements

• Access to ~/.claude/automation/claude-telegram-sync/ (bot source)
• Access to ~/.local/share/kokoro/ (Kokoro engine)
• Access to ~/.local/state/launchd-logs/telegram-bot/ (launchd logs)
• Access to ~/.claude/automation/claude-telegram-sync/logs/audit/ (NDJSON audit)

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Known Issue Table

Issue	Likely Cause	Diagnostic	Fix
No audio output	Stale TTS lock	stat /tmp/kokoro-tts.lock	rm -f /tmp/kokoro-tts.lock
Bot not responding	Process crashed	pgrep -la 'bun.*src/main.ts'	Restart: cd ~/.claude/automation/claude-telegram-sync && bun --watch run src/main.ts
Kokoro timeout	First-run model load	Check ~/.cache/huggingface/	Wait for download, or re-run kokoro-install.sh --install
Queue full	Rapid-fire notifications	Check queue depth in audit log	Increase TTS_MAX_QUEUE_DEPTH in mise.toml or drain queue
Lock stuck forever	Heartbeat process died	stat /tmp/kokoro-tts.lock + pgrep -x afplay	If lock stale >30s AND no audio process, rm lock
Slow MLX acceleration	Wrong Python or deps	python -c "from mlx_audio.tts.utils import load_model; print('MLX OK')"	Reinstall via kokoro-install.sh --upgrade
Double audio playback	Lock race condition	Check for multiple afplay processes	Kill all: pkill -x afplay, then restart

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Workflow Phases

Phase 1: Symptom Collection

Use AskUserQuestion to understand what the user is experiencing. Key questions:

• What happened? (no audio, wrong audio, bot silent, error message)
• When did it start? (after upgrade, suddenly, always)
• What were you doing? (clipboard read, Telegram notification, manual TTS)

Phase 2: Automated Diagnostics

Based on symptoms, run the relevant subset of these checks:

# Lock state
ls -la /tmp/kokoro-tts.lock 2>/dev/null && stat -f "%Sm" /tmp/kokoro-tts.lock || echo "No lock file"

# Audio processes
pgrep -la afplay; pgrep -la say

# Bot process
pgrep -la 'bun.*src/main.ts'

# Kokoro health
~/.local/share/kokoro/.venv/bin/python -c "from mlx_audio.tts.utils import load_model; print('MLX-Audio OK')"

# Recent errors in audit log
tail -20 ~/.claude/automation/claude-telegram-sync/logs/audit/*.ndjson 2>/dev/null | grep -i error

# Recent bot console output
tail -50 /private/tmp/telegram-bot.log 2>/dev/null | grep -i -E '(error|fail|timeout)'

Phase 3: Root Cause Analysis

Map diagnostic output to the Known Issue Table above. Common patterns:

• Lock file exists + mtime > 30s ago + no afplay = stale lock
• No bot PID found = bot crashed
• from mlx_audio.tts.utils import load_model fails = MLX-Audio broken
• Multiple afplay PIDs = race condition

Phase 4: Fix Application

Apply the targeted fix from the Known Issue Table. Always use the least disruptive fix first.

Phase 5: Verification

After applying the fix, verify the issue is resolved:

# Quick TTS test
~/.local/share/kokoro/.venv/bin/python ~/.local/share/kokoro/tts_generate.py \
  --text "Diagnostic test complete" --voice af_heart --lang en-us --speed 1.0 \
  --output /tmp/kokoro-tts-diag-test.wav && afplay /tmp/kokoro-tts-diag-test.wav && echo "OK"

# Full health check
~/eon/cc-skills/plugins/tts-tg-sync/scripts/kokoro-install.sh --health

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TodoWrite Task Templates

1. [Symptoms] Collect symptoms via AskUserQuestion
2. [Triage] Map symptoms to likely causes
3. [Lock] Check TTS lock state (mtime, PID, stale detection)
4. [Process] Check bot process and audio processes
5. [Kokoro] Verify Kokoro venv and MLX-Audio availability
6. [Logs] Check recent audit logs for errors
7. [Fix] Apply targeted fix for identified root cause
8. [Verify] Run health check to confirm resolution

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Post-Change Checklist

• Root cause identified and documented
• Fix applied successfully
• Health check passes
• Test audio plays correctly
• No stale locks or orphan processes remain

Troubleshooting

This skill IS the troubleshooting skill. If the standard diagnostics do not identify the issue:

1. Check the full bot console log: cat /private/tmp/telegram-bot.log
2. Check all NDJSON audit logs: ls -lt ~/.claude/automation/claude-telegram-sync/logs/audit/
3. Check system audio: afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Tink.aiff (if this fails, it is a macOS audio issue, not TTS)
4. Run a manual Kokoro generation outside the bot to isolate the problem
5. If all else fails, do a full teardown and reinstall using clean-component-removal then full-stack-bootstrap

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Reference Documentation

• Common Issues -- Expanded diagnostic procedures for each known issue
• Lock Debugging -- Deep dive into the two-layer lock mechanism
• Evolution Log -- Change history for this skill

Post-Execution Reflection

After this skill completes, reflect before closing the task:

0. Locate yourself. — Find this SKILL.md's canonical path (Glob for this skill's name) before editing. All corrections target THIS file and its sibling references/ — never other documentation.
1. What failed? — Fix the instruction that caused it. If it could recur, add it as an anti-pattern.
2. What worked better than expected? — Promote it to recommended practice. Document why.
3. What drifted? — Any script, reference, or external dependency that no longer matches reality gets fixed now.
4. Log it. — Every change gets an evolution-log entry with trigger, fix, and evidence.

Do NOT defer. The next invocation inherits whatever you leave behind.

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