`/neuroflow:sentinel`¶

Full audit of your project — drift detection, broken references, and consistency checks.

/sentinel is a coherence guard. It audits .neuroflow/ for internal consistency: checks that flow.md files match the actual files on disk, detects drift between phases, verifies preregistration compliance, and keeps plugin version in sync.

When to use it¶

Before writing a report or paper — make sure everything is consistent
When you suspect something is out of sync
Periodically, as a project health check
In plugin development mode — to audit the plugin itself

What it does¶

Claude checks which context it's in and routes to the appropriate agent:

If .claude-plugin/plugin.json exists → plugin repo — invokes the sentinel-dev agent
If .neuroflow/ exists → project repo — invokes the sentinel agent
Otherwise → asks you to run /neuroflow first

Sentinel checks (project repo)¶

1 — flow.md completeness¶

Verifies that every file listed in a flow.md actually exists on disk, and every file that exists is listed. Flags mismatches in both directions.

2 — Timestamp drift¶

Compares flow.md last-changed dates against actual file modification times. Flags: - Phase subfolders with recent file activity but stale flow.md - Subfolders that haven't been touched while the project is active (possible abandoned phase)

3 — Broken references¶

Reads .neuroflow/reasoning/flow.md and validates each JSON decision file: - All entries must have statement, source, and reasoning fields - Flags missing fields

4 — Phase consistency¶

Compares the active phase in project_config.md against: - The most recent session log - Which phase subfolders exist and when they were last modified

Flags if these tell inconsistent stories.

5 — Preregistration vs progress¶

If .neuroflow/preregistration/ exists, compares stated hypotheses and planned analyses against: - .neuroflow/reasoning/ (were there undocumented deviations?) - The analysis summary in .neuroflow/data-analyze/

Flags deviations — does not judge them, just surfaces them.

6 — Plugin version sync¶

Reads the current plugin version from plugin.json and compares it against plugin_version in project_config.md.

Flags if plugin_version is missing from project_config.md
Flags if the plugin has been updated since the project was last configured
Auto-fixes: updates plugin_version in project_config.md to match

7 — Subfolder name validation¶

Lists all subfolders in .neuroflow/ and validates them against: - Valid phase names (derived from command frontmatter) - Standard root subfolders (sessions, reasoning, ethics, preregistration, finance)

Flags unrecognized subfolders and skill-named subfolders (skills must not create their own folders).

8 — CLAUDE.md reference check¶

Checks whether .claude/CLAUDE.md exists and references project_config.md.

Auto-fixes: appends the neuroflow block if missing, or creates the file if it doesn't exist.

Example output¶

/neuroflow:sentinel

Sentinel report — 2026-03-09

Issues found:
────────────
1. flow.md drift: .neuroflow/data-preprocess/flow.md lists
   preprocess-config.md but the file does not exist on disk.
   → Fix: remove from flow.md? (y/n)

2. Plugin version: project_config.md has plugin_version: 0.1.1
   but current plugin is 0.1.2.
   → Auto-fixing: updating plugin_version in project_config.md

3. CLAUDE.md: .claude/CLAUDE.md exists but does not reference
   project_config.md.
   → Auto-fixing: appending neuroflow block

All other checks: ✅ All clear

Fixes applied. Rewriting .neuroflow/sentinel.md...

What sentinel can auto-fix¶

Issue	Auto-fix
Missing file listed in `flow.md`	Remove the entry from `flow.md`
Existing file not in `flow.md`	Add it to `flow.md`
Plugin version out of sync	Update `plugin_version` in `project_config.md`
Skill-named subfolder in `.neuroflow/`	Move contents to phase subfolder, delete skill folder
Missing neuroflow block in `CLAUDE.md`	Append the block
`CLAUDE.md` does not exist	Create it with the neuroflow block

Files read and written¶

Direction	Files
Reads	`.neuroflow/project_config.md`, `.neuroflow/flow.md`, `.neuroflow/sentinel.md`, `.neuroflow/preregistration/`, `.neuroflow/sessions/`, `.claude/CLAUDE.md`
Writes	`.neuroflow/sentinel.md`, `.neuroflow/project_config.md`, `.claude/CLAUDE.md`

/phase — check current phase
/write-report — generate a report after sentinel confirms consistency

/neuroflow:sentinel¶