No way to bypass symlink restriction in `collie hooks install claude`

[cryptiklemur]

What happened, and what did you expect?

$ collie hooks install claude
error: /home/aaron/.claude is a symlink — refusing to write through it.
  Replace it with the real file or directory (or point the profile at the real one),
  then re-run `collie hooks install claude`.

Ideally, i could tell Collie to ignore the symlink, and write it anyways

Output of collie doctor --json

[
  {
    "check": "collie",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "v1.5.6+bc73318 · linux-x64",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "web-dist",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "16 entries, index.html present",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "path-link",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "/home/aaron/.local/bin/collie → /home/aaron/.local/share/collie/current/bin/collie (this checkout)",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "install",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "binary install, version 1.5.6 at /home/aaron/.local/share/collie (1 previous kept)",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "versions",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "current 1.5.6 · 1 retained (1.5.1)",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "update-source",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "github.com/AltanS/collie",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "herdr-socket",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "/home/aaron/.config/herdr/herdr.sock",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "bind",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "127.0.0.1 (mode solo)",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "bind-wildcard",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "bound to one address",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "acl",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "inbound packet filter is non-empty — can't disprove reachability; non-empty proves nothing",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "front-door",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "sovereign.zebroid-discus.ts.net:443 → http://127.0.0.1:8787 (recorded and live)",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "mux",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "herdr — see herdr-socket · set by COLLIE_MUX",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "beacon-hooks-claude",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "not needed — herdr reports agents itself; hooks installed: no",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "beacons",
    "status": "skipped",
    "detail": "nothing writes one here, because the emitter is not installed",
    "remedy": "`collie hooks install claude`"
  },
  {
    "check": "herdr-version",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "herdr 0.9.0",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "integration-claude",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "installed and current",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "integration-codex",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "installed and current",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "integration-grok",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "no hook is installed — not installed (/home/aaron/.grok/hooks/herdr-agent-state.sh); no grok pane is missing a session right now, so nothing is hidden yet — nothing here needs it",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "integration-opencode",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "installed and current",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "integration-pi",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "no hook is installed — not installed (/home/aaron/.pi/agent/extensions/herdr-agent-state.ts); no pi pane is missing a session right now, so nothing is hidden yet — nothing here needs it",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "hook-python3",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "/usr/bin/python3",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "agent-sessions",
    "status": "skipped",
    "detail": "the bridge did not answer `/api/snapshot`, so no pane can be checked",
    "remedy": "`collie status`, then `collie start` if it is down; re-run `collie doctor` once it answers"
  },
  {
    "check": "journal-roots",
    "status": "ok",
    "detail": "3 of 5 roots present — claude: /home/aaron/.claude/projects, codex: /home/aaron/.codex/sessions, opencode: /home/aaron/.local/share/opencode (resolved from /home/aaron; the BRIDGE resolves them from ITS OWN user's home)",
    "remedy": null
  },
  {
    "check": "restart-pending",
    "status": "skipped",
    "detail": "this install ships no bridge/ source, so there is nothing for the running process to be behind — `collie update` restarts the service itself",
    "remedy": "`collie logs` dates the running process"
  },
  {
    "check": "clock",
    "status": "skipped",
    "detail": "solo — there is no far side to compare against, and inventing a reference clock is worse than silence",
    "remedy": "re-run `collie doctor` once this collie is in a pack"
  }
]

If collie will not start at all

If this is an install problem

[AltanS]

Thanks @cryptiklemur, you were right that this guard was stricter than it needed to be. collie hooks install claude now follows a symlinked ~/.claude directory and writes inside it, which is the stow and chezmoi setup, and uninstall and hooks status follow it the same way. It still refuses when settings.json itself is a symlink, because the atomic write would replace the link, and that is the Home Manager case with a read-only store file. A dangling or read-only target now gets a one-line explanation instead of a raw error. It ships in the next release, and the changelog credits you.