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claude mcp add-json dorsal '{"type":"http","url":"https://godorsal.com/api/dorsal","headers":{"Authorization":"Bearer dor_a_<generated-when-copied>"}}' --scope user

Claude Code · Run this

dorsal audit

Read-only · Raw history stays local

“Dorsal improved what I do today, in minutes. Now I want more.”
Boris Pavlovic · Founder & CEO, itlook.ai

Claude Code

›

dorsal audit

Dorsal audit

Aug 5 · Boris’s Claude Code

Top 3 findings out of 5 total

13 local artifacts inspected

3 Dorsal queries · 11 full records

Code, files, and history stayed local

1. Add a permissions.deny list for destructive git commands.

Checkout, stash, and hard reset could run unprompted. Boris’s own CLAUDE.md recorded that this mechanism had already destroyed uncommitted work twice.

Impact · Uncommitted work silently destroyed

Fix: Deny git checkout, git stash, and git reset --hard in ~/.claude/settings.json.

2. Cut MEMORY.md below the 24.4 KB cap.

The 26,185-byte index was truncated in the active session, so only part of the project memory loaded.

Impact · Project rules load partially

Fix: Trim index entries and move detail into topic files until MEMORY.md is under 20 KB.

3. Set cleanupPeriodDays before more history expires.

The 30-day default still applied. Only five project transcripts remained, and the June branch history was already gone.

Impact · Audit evidence already lost

Fix: Set cleanupPeriodDays to 365 and back up the Claude project transcripts.

At the time of this audit, local audit memory was off.

Better decisions at every step.

> dorsal <anything> in Claude Code

> dorsal what if we convert the Excel into a PDF and let the PDF parser take over?

Real output

Keep Excel as the primary path. Use rendering only as a bounded fallback.

Nike became 1,591 PDF pages; 117 were blank.
The model saw only 40 of 647 rows and 26 of 37 columns.

Remove hidden blockers

Catch upstream bugs and silent failures your repo cannot show you.

codex

›

dorsal audit

•

I’ll inspect the recent work locally, then check every proposed improvement against Dorsal MCP. Raw history stays local.

61 Dorsal MCP calls

10 concurrent sub-agents · 2 adversarial rounds

~120 distinct sources inspected

•

7 of 21 proposed fixes would fail or backfire. 5 of 21 would fail silently.

Do not replace prose rules with hooks

Hooks do not reliably fire for sub-agent Bash. Removing the rules would leave no gate.

Do not add the longer HALT clause

The goal text is resent until the evaluator jams. The proposed fix triggers a worse version of the bug.

Do not trust the git-status digest

Re-editing an already-dirty file does not change it. The receipt can certify untested code.

Turn a website agent into a lead magnet

Let visitors experience the product’s value before asking them to sign up.

codex

›

dorsal improve this website agent into a compelling lead magnet.

•

I’ll compare measured successes, failed first-use experiences, and the MCP servers developers keep using.

48 Dorsal MCP calls

38 getSummaries · 5 related360 · 4 getSet · 1 getWaves

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSummaries

{
  "query": "homepage embedded AI chat agent interactive demo converts visitors into users activation adoption conversion",
  "kind": [
    "ux",
    "agent",
    "app",
    "service"
  ],
  "total": 40
}

83 records

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSummaries

{
  "query": "homepage AI chat agent onboarding failure empty prompt trust latency citations user experience",
  "kind": [
    "ux",
    "limitation",
    "reliability"
  ],
  "total": 40
}

80 records

•

Make the agent prove the product before asking the visitor to sign up.

Perform the product’s job

Let the visitor make one consequential technical decision before signup.

Show what changed

–Lead with the recommendation
–Expose the evidence that changed it
–Show the strongest counterevidence

Close the loop

End with one concrete change to the plan. Offer MCP installation only after delivering value.

Result

Rebuilt the homepage agent around this pattern. “Dramatically better. Night and day.”

Evaluate ideas against prior art

See who tried it, what failed, and whether the gap is real—in seconds, not hours.

codex

›

dorsal evaluate this coding-history audit idea against prior art and known failure modes.

•

I’ll test the idea against existing retrospective products, current research, privacy failures, and false-audit reports.

17 Dorsal MCP calls

11 getSummaries · 5 related360 · 1 getSet

~1,410 summary records · 16 full records inspected

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSummaries

{
  "query": "Claude Code Codex coding history session transcript audit analyze past work mistakes recurring failures personalized best practices"
}

retrospective products and practices ranked

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSummaries

{
  "query": "session retrospective false conclusions overgeneralizing from one failure human approval repeated pattern threshold privacy local processing"
}

failure modes and safeguards ranked

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSet

{
  "ids": [
    "gh-anthropics-claude-code-issues-78991_issue_filed",
    "gh-obra-superpowers-issues-864_issue_filed",
    "gh-openai-codex-issues-31588_issue_filed"
  ]
}

3 of 16 decisive records shown

•

Strong first-use hook: 9/10. Change the promise before building it.

Demand exists

Dreamer collapsed 235 feedback instances into 11 recurring issues. Other tools already mine agent history.

Do not promise “everything wrong”

Claude Code /insights has mistaken its own pipeline failures for user failures and cached the false diagnosis.

Build

Keep raw history local. Require recurrence across independent tasks. Return three evidence-backed improvements and ask before changing anything.

Choose the right design

Compare architectures against your constraints. Pick one. Record why.

codex

›

dorsal design the right cross-client architecture for this audit feature. Compare Codex-first, Claude-first and one local core.

•

I’ll compare Codex-first, Claude-first, dual-agent, and agent-native designs against current client behavior and failure reports.

12 Dorsal MCP calls · 2 web searches

Parallel 30–40 record scans · 13 full records inspected

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSet

{
  "ids": [
    "gh-anthropics-claude-code-issues-76362_issue_filed",
    "gh-anthropics-claude-code-issues-78991_issue_filed",
    "gh-obra-superpowers-issues-864_issue_filed"
  ]
}

3 of 13 decisive records shown

•

Build one local core. Dogfood Codex first. Add Claude Code before the external pilot.

Why Codex first

Its local thread store, rollout JSONL, skills, plugins, hooks, and configuration are inspectable.

Why one local core

Parsing, redaction, task reconstruction, evidence adjudication, and reporting should not drift by client.

Do not trust hooks as history

Hooks miss print-mode exits, active transcripts, and work before compaction. Use them as triggers, not evidence.

Find the best tech

Rank libraries and services by fit, integration cost, failure modes, and current docs.

codex

›

dorsal design the authentication stack for Xapa’s persistent Flutter and web sessions.

•

I’ll rank the stack against Xapa’s Flutter clients, enterprise SSO, daily-return loop, deep links, and account lifecycle.

Initial Dorsal MCP calls completed in parallel

240 records per getSummaries query · 8 WorkOS connections

5 decisive full records inspected · 1.6s

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSummaries

{
  "query": "web application authentication architecture current best practices OAuth OIDC passkeys WebAuthn magic links sessions cookies CSRF account linking multi-tenant organizations RBAC security",
  "total": 100
}

1,120 ms

• Called mcp__dorsal__getSummaries

{
  "query": "best authentication providers libraries for product-led SaaS Next.js React TypeScript Clerk Better Auth Auth.js Supabase Auth WorkOS AuthKit Stytch Descope Auth0 comparison implementation",
  "total": 100
}

1,476 ms

• Called mcp__dorsal__related360

{
  "query": "WorkOS AuthKit",
  "hops": 2,
  "direction": "both",
  "total": 100
}

8 connected records · 511 ms

•

Evaluate Auth0 as the unified option against the existing session system plus WorkOS.

Product decision

Authenticate before entry. Preserve the destination Quest. Make authentication invisible during the session.

Required architecture

Rotating mobile refresh tokens, secure web cookies, silent renewal, server-side membership checks, SSO, and SCIM.

Not the default

Better Auth. Xapa’s Flutter and enterprise lifecycle requirements materially change the ranking.

dorsal <anything>

Probe any decision, claim, design, technology or problem against what builders already learned.

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Your agent interprets the context. Your code stays local.

Or call getSummaries · getSet · related360 directly.

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One complete, source-backed answer. No signup.

53,717 builders. 19,451 products. 20,560 methods. 9,532 problems. 4,036 use cases. Connected to the sources that show what happened.

Explore the data

Adversarial audit

7 of 21

proposed fixes would fail

5 of 21

would fail silently

The agent proposed the fixes. Dorsal found the failures.

Claude Code proposed 21 fixes. Dorsal checked them against upstream bugs, release changes, and failures reported by other builders—and found seven would fail or backfire, including five silently.

Inspect the example

Why Dorsal catches what your agent misses

The current technical record. Connected.

Official documentation, releases, GitHub issues and PRs, research, incidents, and builder reports—linked across products, methods, problems, and use cases.

53,717

builders

19,451

products

20,560

methods

9,532

problems

4,036

use cases

80,639

canonical documentation chunks

Every finding retains its source, date, authority, and lifecycle—including what is superseded or contested.

“Dorsal is integrated into the Keelo Brain and used every day to discover technologies, methods, and open-source components for specialized customer agents.”

Founder, Keelo.ai