---
name: service-health-check
risk_class: read_only
inputs: [service_name]
verification: "homelab service <name> health"
docs_update_checklist: []
---

# Service health check

Goal: determine whether a service is actually healthy, without ad-hoc SSH.

1. `homelab service <name> explain` — read the context card: backend,
   blast radius, doc pointer, risk notes.
2. `homelab service <name> health` — live health probe (HTTP code against
   the service's `url`/`endpoint`). Once the Week-3 scheduler ships, this
   reads a cached snapshot by default; pass `--live` to force a fresh probe.
3. If unhealthy, `homelab service <name> log` (or MCP `tail_log`) for the
   last 200 lines.
4. Cross-check blast radius: `homelab node <name> relations` — is this
   entity's own backend host healthy? A downstream failure (e.g. `strong`
   down) will show up here before the service's own logs explain anything.
5. If the fix is a restart: classify first (`seeds/policy.yaml` —
   `service-restart` is `reversible_low` unless the service has a
   `service_overrides` entry, e.g. `caddy`/`dns` are `config_mutation`).
   Unattended agents may act on `reversible_low` without approval.

Docs-update checklist: none for a pure health check. If the investigation
reveals stale `risk_notes` or a wrong `doc_page`, fix `inventory.yaml` in
the same session.
