safety-checks
Verify before you trust — model pinning, fallbacks, and runtime safety validation.
safety-checks (安全)
Unified skill for runtime safety verification including model version pinning, fallback chain validation, cache staleness detection, and cross-session state checks. Consolidates 4 granular skills into a single safety verification suite.
Trigger: 事前検証 (pre-flight) or HEARTBEAT
Source skills: model-pinner, fallback-checker, cache-validator, cross-session-safety-check (from extensions)
Installation
openclaw install leegitw/safety-checks
Dependencies: leegitw/constraint-engine (for enforcement integration)
# Install with dependencies
openclaw install leegitw/context-verifier
openclaw install leegitw/failure-memory
openclaw install leegitw/constraint-engine
openclaw install leegitw/safety-checks
Standalone usage: Model pinning and cache checks work independently. Full integration with constraint enforcement requires constraint-engine.
Data handling: This skill performs local-only operations. All checks (model version comparison,
cache age verification, file lock detection) are local file/metadata operations — no data is sent
to any model, API, or external service. Results are written to output/safety/ in your workspace.
What This Solves
AI systems can silently degrade — model versions drift, caches go stale, sessions accumulate state. This skill catches these issues before they cause problems:
- Model pinning — verify you're using the model you expect
- Fallback validation — ensure degraded-mode paths exist and work
- Cache checks — detect stale or corrupted cached data
- Session hygiene — identify cross-session state contamination
The insight: Runtime verification catches what static rules miss. Check the system state, not just the configuration.
Usage
/sc <sub-command> [arguments]
Sub-Commands
| Command | CJK | Logic | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
/sc model | 機種 | model.version→pinned✓∨drift✗ | HEARTBEAT |
/sc fallback | 代替 | chain.exists→safe✓∨missing✗ | HEARTBEAT |
/sc cache | 快取 | response.age>TTL→stale✗ | HEARTBEAT |
/sc session | 会話 | cross_session.state→clean✓∨interference✗ | HEARTBEAT |
Arguments
/sc model
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --expected | No | Expected model version (default: from config) |
| --strict | No | Fail on any version mismatch |
/sc fallback
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --chain | No | Specific fallback chain to check in config |
Note: This command validates that fallback configurations exist in your config file. It does NOT make network calls or test actual connectivity. It's a config file audit.
/sc cache
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --ttl | No | TTL in seconds (default: 3600) |
| --clear | No | Clear stale cache entries |
/sc session
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --check-state | No | Check for state leakage between sessions |
| --clear-state | No | Clear any leaked state |
Configuration
Configuration is loaded from (in order of precedence):
.openclaw/safety-checks.yaml(OpenClaw standard).claude/safety-checks.yaml(Claude Code compatibility)- Defaults (built-in)
Core Logic
Model Version Pinning
Ensures AI model version matches expected configuration.
How it works: This skill compares the model version reported in your agent's session metadata (e.g., the model name in API responses or agent headers) against the expected version in your config file. It does NOT call the model API to check — it reads the version string that your agent runtime already exposes.
Model version format: {provider}-{model}-{version}-{date}
Examples:
anthropic-opus-4-5-20251101openai-gpt-4-turbo-20250301google-gemini-2-pro-20260101
# .openclaw/safety-checks.yaml
model:
expected: "anthropic-opus-4-5-20251101" # Provider-neutral format
strict: true
| Condition | Result |
|---|---|
| Version matches | ✓ Pinned |
| Version differs, strict=false | ⚠ Warning |
| Version differs, strict=true | ✗ Fail |
Fallback Chain Validation
Config audit only — verifies fallback entries exist in your config file. This does NOT make network calls or test actual connectivity.
Checks that your safety-checks.yaml declares fallback configurations:
# Example config entries this command validates exist:
fallbacks:
model: ["primary-model", "fallback-model", "cached"]
storage: ["primary-path", "backup-path"]
| Check | What It Validates |
|---|---|
| Model fallbacks | Config lists alternative models |
| Storage fallbacks | Config lists backup paths |
Cache Staleness Detection
Prevents use of outdated cached data:
| Age | TTL | Status |
|---|---|---|
| < TTL | Any | ✓ Fresh |
| > TTL | Not critical | ⚠ Stale warning |
| > TTL | Critical | ✗ Stale fail |
Cross-Session State
Detects state leakage between sessions:
| Check | Exact File Checked | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| File locks | .openclaw/safety-checks.lock | Resource contention |
| Workspace temp files | output/safety/temp-* | Disk exhaustion |
| Skill config | .openclaw/safety-checks.yaml values | Configuration drift |
Scope: Checks are limited to this skill's own files only. This skill does NOT scan directories, does NOT read other skills' config files, and does NOT access files outside the specific paths listed above.
Output
/sc model output (pinned)
[MODEL CHECK]
Status: ✓ PINNED
Expected: anthropic-opus-4-5-20251101
Actual: anthropic-opus-4-5-20251101
Model version matches configuration.
/sc model output (drift)
[MODEL CHECK]
Status: ✗ VERSION DRIFT
Expected: anthropic-opus-4-5-20251101
Actual: anthropic-opus-4-5-20251201
WARNING: Model version has changed.
This may affect behavior consistency.
Action: Update expected version in settings, or investigate change.
/sc fallback output
[FALLBACK CHECK]
Status: ✓ CONFIGURED
Config file: .openclaw/safety-checks.yaml
Fallback entries found:
✓ model.fallbacks: 3 entries defined
✓ storage.fallbacks: 2 entries defined
Note: This validates config entries exist, not actual connectivity.
✓ Tertiary (memory) - 4GB free
/sc cache output
[CACHE CHECK]
Status: ⚠ STALE ENTRIES FOUND
Cache Statistics:
Total entries: 156
Fresh (< 1h): 142
Stale (> 1h): 14
Critical stale: 0
Stale entries:
- api_response_auth (age: 2h 15m)
- user_preferences (age: 1h 30m)
- ...
Action: Run /sc cache --clear to remove stale entries.
/sc session output (clean)
[SESSION CHECK]
Status: ✓ CLEAN
No cross-session interference detected.
Checks passed:
✓ No stale lock file (.openclaw/safety-checks.lock)
✓ No orphan temp files (output/safety/temp-*)
✓ Config file valid (.openclaw/safety-checks.yaml)
/sc session output (interference)
[SESSION CHECK]
Status: ✗ INTERFERENCE DETECTED
Issues found:
1. Stale file lock:
File: .openclaw/safety-checks.lock
Owner: PID 12345 (not running)
Action: Remove lock with /sc session --clear-state
2. Orphan temp files (3):
output/safety/temp-*.log
Age: > 24 hours
Action: Remove with /sc session --clear-state
Run /sc session --clear-state to remediate.
Integration
- Layer: Safety
- Depends on: constraint-engine (for enforcement integration)
- Used by: constraint-engine (for pre-action safety checks), governance (for health monitoring)
Failure Modes
| Condition | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Invalid sub-command | List available sub-commands |
| Config not found | Use defaults, warn user |
| Network unavailable | Skip remote checks, warn |
| Permission denied | Error with remediation steps |
Next Steps
After invoking this skill:
| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
| Model drift | Alert user, suggest config update |
| Fallback missing | Alert user, suggest setup |
| Cache stale | Offer to clear, or auto-clear if configured |
| Session interference | Clear state, log incident |
Workspace Files
This skill reads/writes only within declared paths:
.openclaw/
├── safety-checks.yaml # Primary config (read)
└── cache/
└── staleness.log # Cache check history (read/write)
.claude/
└── safety-checks.yaml # Claude Code config (read)
output/
└── safety/
├── model-checks.log # Model version history (write)
├── fallback-tests.log # Fallback test results (write)
└── session-state.log # Session state log (write)
Note: This skill does NOT read .claude/settings.json or any other tool's configuration.
HEARTBEAT Integration
These checks should run periodically via HEARTBEAT:
## P1: Critical (Every Session)
- [ ] Model version pinned? → /sc model
- [ ] Session state clean? → /sc session
## P2: Important (Weekly)
- [ ] Fallback chains healthy? → /sc fallback
- [ ] Cache fresh? → /sc cache
Examples
Model Drift Detection
/sc model --strict
[MODEL CHECK]
Status: ⚠ VERSION DRIFT
Expected: anthropic-opus-4-5-20251101
Actual: anthropic-opus-4-5-20260101
Model version changed. Review CHANGELOG for behavior changes.
Cache Cleanup
/sc cache --clear
[CACHE CHECK]
Status: ✓ CLEANED
Removed 14 stale entries from .openclaw/cache/
Freed: 2.3 MB
Security Considerations
Local-only processing: All safety checks are local file and metadata operations. No data is sent to any LLM, API, or external service. The "agent's model" is only used to interpret your commands — not to process or transmit your data.
Exact files accessed (read):
.openclaw/safety-checks.yaml— your skill configuration.claude/safety-checks.yaml— alternate config location.openclaw/cache/staleness.log— cache check history (if exists)
Exact files written:
output/safety/*.log— check results and history
This skill does NOT scan directories or read other skills' config files.
What this skill does NOT access:
- Other skills' configuration files
- System environment variables
.claude/settings.jsonor other tool configs- Any files outside the three config paths listed above
- Network resources or external APIs
What this skill does NOT do:
- Send data to any model or external service
- Modify files outside
output/safety/ - Execute arbitrary code
Data handling:
- All checks are read-only except for
--clearoperations on its own cache/output - Results are written to
output/safety/only - No data leaves the local machine
Model version clarification:
The /sc model command compares the expected version in your config against the model
version string reported by your agent runtime (e.g., in session metadata or API headers).
It does NOT make API calls to verify the model — it reads information your agent already has.
Provenance note:
This skill is developed by Live Neon (https://github.com/live-neon/skills) and published
to ClawHub under the leegitw account. Both refer to the same maintainer.
Acceptance Criteria
-
/sc modelverifies model version matches config -
/sc modelwarns or fails on version drift based on strict setting -
/sc fallbackverifies fallback config entries exist in config file -
/sc cachedetects entries older than TTL -
/sc cache --clearremoves stale entries -
/sc sessiondetects cross-session state leakage -
/sc session --clear-stateremediates found issues - All checks integrated with HEARTBEAT
Consolidated from 4 skills as part of agentic skills consolidation (2026-02-15).