What is linux-proc-diagnostics?

A guide to reading Linux system files such as /proc and /sys, which expose live information about the operating system. It focuses on parsing that data for diagnostics and monitoring tools.

Useful for reading memory, CPU, load, and other Linux diagnostics data in tools or MCP servers. It covers safe parsing, refreshes, and handling changing files.

It helps avoid incorrect results when these files change while they are being read or contain unexpected text.

How alonf/MCPPythonDemo configures Claude Code and Codex

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to alonf/MCPPythonDemo. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alonf/MCPPythonDemo/master/.squad/skills/linux-proc-diagnostics/SKILL.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/alonf/MCPPythonDemo

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/alonf/mcppythondemo/linux-proc-diagnostics/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/alonf/mcppythondemo/linux-proc-diagnostics)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/alonf/mcppythondemo/linux-proc-diagnostics"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/alonf/mcppythondemo/linux-proc-diagnostics/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/alonf/mcppythondemo/linux-proc-diagnostics"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/alonf/mcppythondemo/linux-proc-diagnostics.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 0 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.

When invoked 2,528 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00000	$0.02528
Opus 5.5	$0.00000	$0.01011
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00000	$0.00506
Haiku 4.5	$0.00000	$0.00253

Measured 2mo ago against content hash df61db30211f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

linux-proc-diagnostics scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2mo ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Asks for rootmediumPrivilege escalation

A mod that escalates privileges can change anything on the machine, not only the project.

sudo python3 -c "

.squad/skills/linux-proc-diagnostics/SKILL.md · 289 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 289 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Linux /proc Diagnostics Parsing Skill

Author: Dallas (Linux Diagnostics Expert)
Date: 2026-04-14
Purpose: Reliable parsing of Linux /proc interfaces for diagnostics tools, MCP servers, and system monitoring.

Overview

Linux /proc and /sys are the primary sources of system diagnostics data. Unlike Windows WMI (object-oriented), these are raw, ephemeral, text-based kernel interfaces. This skill documents the patterns for safe, robust parsing.

Core Principle

/proc is the truth layer. Always read fresh. Cache strategically. Handle races gracefully.

Key Files & Formats

System-Level Diagnostics

/proc/meminfo - Memory usage (read-only, always available)

MemTotal:       8167848 kB
MemFree:        2048576 kB
MemAvailable:   3145728 kB
Buffers:         102400 kB
Cached:         1024000 kB
...

Pattern: Key-value pairs, values in kB. Safe for non-root.

/proc/cpuinfo - CPU info (read-only, always available)

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
...

Pattern: Colon-separated; processor lines repeat per core.

/proc/loadavg - Load average (read-only, always available)

0.45 0.52 0.48 2/412 12345

Pattern: 5 fields: 1m avg, 5m avg, 15m avg, tasks running/total, last pid. Always safe.

Process-Level Diagnostics

/proc/[pid]/stat - Process CPU/memory snapshot (ephemeral, permission-guarded)

12345 (bash) S 1 12345 12345 0 -1 4218880 15234 0 0 0 234 12 0 0 20 0 1 0 123456789 45678912 1234

Pattern: Space-separated fields; #1=pid, #2=comm, #3=state (S=sleeping, R=running, Z=zombie).

Fields 13,14: utime, stime (jiffies)
Field 23: vss (virtual set size)
Field 24: rss (resident set size, in pages)

Race condition: PID may exit between listing /proc and reading /proc/[pid]/stat. Wrap in try/except.

Permission: Non-root can read own process; cannot read others' by default (depends on ptrace_scope).

/proc/[pid]/status - Process metadata (human-readable alternative to stat)

Name:   bash
State:  S (sleeping)
Tgid:   12345
Pid:    12345
PPid:   1
VmPeak:  45678 kB
VmSize:  40960 kB
VmRSS:   8192 kB
...

Pattern: Human-readable format. Same data as stat but easier to parse selectively.

Read the full file on GitHub · 289 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

2mo ago First seen · 289 lines · 0 tokens per session scan B df61db30211f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

linux-proc-diagnostics is a skill published in the GitHub repository alonf/MCPPythonDemo (0 stars, last pushed 6mo ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 2,528 tokens. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (asks for root). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

Debugging

linux-proc-diagnostics next to 6 skills from other repositories
Mod	Type	Stars	Last push	Licence	Scan	Tokens	Works with
linux-proc-diagnosticsalonf/MCPPythonDemo	Skill	0	6mo ago	MIT	B	0	Claude Code, Codex
systematic-debuggingopen-metadata/OpenMetadata	Skill	16k	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	37	Claude Code
log-error-digestzebbern/claude-code-guide	Skill	4.7k	3d ago	MIT	A	71	Claude Code, Codex
cwv-optimizeradobe/skills	Skill	319	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	112	Claude Code
ci-fixersipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein	Skill	1.2k	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	15	Claude Code, Codex
triaging-web-analytics-supportPostHog/posthog	Skill	41k	yesterday	none	A	151	Claude Code, Codex
diagnosing-missing-recordingsPostHog/posthog	Skill	41k	yesterday	none	A	76	Claude Code, Codex

MCPPythonDemo: Skill for Claude Code