Verify & Troubleshoot
Verify It's Working
Run olaf status to see a health report:
Files indexed: 142
Symbols: 1,847
Edges: 3,204
Observations: 12
Last indexed: 2026-03-04 10:00:00 UTC
MCP config: /path/to/project/.mcp.json
MCP status: registered
Hook PostToolUse: installed
Hook PreToolUse: installed
Hook SessionEnd: installed
A healthy installation shows:
MCP status: registered- All three hooks:
installed - Non-zero file and symbol counts
In Claude Code, ask Claude to call get_context for a specific task. If it returns a context brief with symbols and file paths, Olaf is working correctly.
Troubleshooting
MCP server not connecting
Run olaf status. If MCP status: not registered, the .mcp.json file is missing or misconfigured. Fix: re-run olaf init from your project root (it is idempotent — safe to run multiple times).
Hooks missing
Run olaf status. If any hook shows missing (e.g., Hook PostToolUse: missing), the hook configuration in .claude/settings.local.json was not written or was removed. Fix: re-run olaf init.
Index is empty (Files indexed: 0)
The index was not built or was cleared. Fix: run olaf index manually from your project root, then olaf status to confirm the counts.
Index not initialized
If olaf status prints Index not initialized. Run olaf index to build the index., run olaf init first to set up the full environment, then olaf index if the index still doesn't build automatically.