Running doctor

growther doctor checks your setup and reports anything wrong, in plain words. It is the first thing to try when something is not working.

bash

growther doctor

It only reads and checks. It does not change anything.

What it checks #

Doctor runs 38 checks, grouped below. Which ones appear depends on your install — the enterprise checks are silent unless the feature is configured.

Where your files are

Check	Looking for
Data home	Your data folder exists and can be written to
Home source	How the location was decided: default, pointer, environment or policy
Home resolution	The pointer file parses and agrees with where C5 is actually running
Data dir filesystem	The databases are on a local disk, not a share or a synced folder
Secrets location	Where the key set lives, and whether it is split from the home
Config (c5.yaml)	The config file parses, and which keys the environment overrides
Databases	Your data files are present where they should be
Backup target	The configured backup destination exists and is writable
Lock host	Who holds the single-instance lock, and whether it is this machine
Session host	Whether this is a shared multi-session host, which C5 refuses to run on

This copy of C5

Check	Looking for
Install	The program is where it should be
`growther` on PATH	You can run `growther` from any shell
Build manifest	The record of how this build was made is present
Manifest signature	That record really was signed by Growther.ai
Binary integrity	The program file matches what was installed
OpenSSL 1.1 (SQLCipher)	The library the encrypted databases need is available
SOC2 change-mgmt	Internal build and release change-control checks

Licence and the platform

Check	Looking for
License	This computer is activated
Seed validity	The licence seed is authentic and unexpired
Seed ↔ key binding	The seed belongs to this machine's key
Mothership	C5 can reach the platform, if you use it
Platform URL	Which platform address this install is pointed at
Control-plane hosts	Each host C5 contacts answers, through your proxy settings

Keys and secrets

Check	Looking for
Key custody	Where the device key is kept: keystore, wrapped, or a file
Escrow	Whether the key set has been escrowed, so it can be recovered
Identity key	The deployment identity key is present and readable
Last key mint	When a key was last issued
Retired key on disk	A superseded key that should have been shredded
Plaintext secrets	API keys still stored in the clear rather than in a keystore
Credential-less	Settings that reference a keystore entry that does not exist
Confirmed identity	The machine identity matches what the lock and licence expect

Enterprise

Check	Looking for
Managed install	Whether this install expects a policy, and where the marker is
Egress posture	Online or offline, and whether a policy locked it
Network posture	The proxy, bypass list and certificate pin in effect
Served origin	The origin C5 answers on, and whether passkeys match it
Audit sink	The audit shipping destination, and whether it is reachable
Legal hold	Whether a legal hold is suspending audit pruning
Offline speech	The offline speech model's state

Note Doctor does not test your model providers or your integrations. Those are checked when you save them in Settings, which is also where a bad key is reported. See Model providers.

Reading the output #

Each check gets a clear result:

OK — nothing to do.
Warning — works, but something is not ideal.
Failed — this is broken, and doctor tells you how to fix it.

Work top to bottom. An early failure often causes the ones below it, so fixing the first problem sometimes clears several at once.

Common findings #

"Install" failed C5 is not where it expects to be. Reinstall — see Installation. If your terminal simply cannot find the growther command, close the terminal window and open a new one first; shells only pick up PATH changes in new sessions.

"Not activated" Run growther activate to pair this computer with your license.

"Database check failed" Your stored data could not be opened. C5 repairs itself where it can — see Backups and recovery if it cannot.

"Cannot reach the update service" Usually a network or firewall issue. C5 keeps working offline; you just will not get updates until it can connect.

"Integrity check failed" The program file does not match what was published.

Danger Do not ignore an integrity failure. It means the program on disk is not the one Growther.ai signed. Reinstall from the official installer, and see Verifying releases.

When you ask for help #

Run doctor first and include its output. It answers most of the questions a support person would otherwise have to ask you.

See Getting help.