# Run /doctor prompt-audit twice

> Claude Code's /doctor prompt-audit is a model call, not a linter: the re-scan after fixes caught an instance the first pass missed. Fix, then run it again.

URL: https://bartlomiejkrupa.dev/notes/run-prompt-audit-twice/
Category: rule | Updated: 2026-10-07
Summary: Claude Code's /doctor prompt-audit is a model call, not a linter: the re-scan after fixes caught an instance the first pass missed. Fix, then run it again.

**Run the prompt audit twice** because one pass of `/doctor prompt-audit` can miss findings. The command (Claude Code 2.1.283+, alias `/checkup prompt-audit`) audits the instruction files Claude Code loads - `CLAUDE.md`, skills, subagent prompts, slash commands - for wording written for older models, such as rigid length caps, and also reports references to files or commands that don't exist and files that contradict each other. A model does the reading, so the first report is not guaranteed complete.

## Rule

1. Run `/doctor prompt-audit` and save the raw report before changing anything - it is your only before snapshot.
2. Apply the findings the repo itself can verify first: a path or command that no longer exists. These are the safest fixes.
3. Run it again after the fixes. The re-scan sees the cleaned-up config and can surface what the first pass missed.

On this site's config the first pass found 14 findings, including hard output-length caps in three subagent prompts. After the fixes, the re-scan flagged a fifteenth: the same kind of cap, `~50 lines`, in a fourth subagent.

## Not a CI gate

It needs the Claude Code CLI and a model call, and it suggests edits rather than blocking a merge. For rules that must hold every time, use a [hook over prose](/notes/hook-over-prose); use the audit to find prose that has gone stale.

Full before/after: [Claude 5.5 prompt audit: the bad lines weren't there](/articles/claude-5-5-prompt-audit).

Sources:
- How Claude remembers your project: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory
- Commands: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/commands