Doctor flags a working yt-dlp as wedged on Windows: 3s probe timeout is shorter than the onefile exe's ~4s cold start, and the fix hint is brew/apt only #2531

Version

LifeOS 8.761.0 · attestation: unattested (could not extract v8.761.0: tar (child): Cannot connect to C: resolve failed

gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
tar: Child returned status 128
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now)

What is broken

On Windows, Doctor reports ytdlp as broken ("yt-dlp --version timed out — the binary is wedged") when yt-dlp is current and working. probeLive gives every binary a fixed 3s timeout. The winget build of yt-dlp (2026.10.26) is a self-extracting onefile exe that unpacks on every launch, and --version takes about 4.2s on two consecutive runs, so the probe times out before the binary answers. A real fetch (yt-dlp --skip-download --print title <youtube url>) succeeds in about 8s. The suggested fix is also macOS/Linux only (brew install yt-dlp / apt-get), so a Windows user is sent to a command that does not exist on their machine for a tool that does not need fixing. This is a false positive introduced by the liveness probe from #2066.

Where (file:line)

LIFEOS/TOOLS/Doctor.ts:169

Repro on a clean tree

1. On Windows 11, install yt-dlp with `winget install yt-dlp.yt-dlp` (gives 2026.10.26).
2. Time it: `Measure-Command { yt-dlp --version }` gives about 4.2s, every run, with output `2026.10.26` and exit 0.
3. Run `bun ~/.claude/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Doctor.ts`.
4. Expected: `YouTube ingestion (yt-dlp) — live`.
5. Actual: `❌ YouTube ingestion (yt-dlp) — broken ... timed out — the binary is wedged`, fix `brew install yt-dlp (Linux: sudo apt-get install yt-dlp)`.

Separately noticed while filing: `Report.ts attest` returns `unattested` on Windows because tar reads `C:` in the archive path as a remote host ("Cannot connect to C: resolve failed"). Passing `--force-local`, or a relative path, would avoid it.

Negative control

Probe: yt-dlp --version && out=$(bun ~/.claude/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Doctor.ts); echo "$out" | grep -A2 -F "(yt-dlp)"; echo "$out" | grep -qF "(yt-dlp) — live" · exit 1 · captured 2026-10-31T22:34:41.819Z

Red looks like: timed out — the binary is wedged

2026.10.26
❌ YouTube ingestion (yt-dlp) — broken
   powers: the Feed YouTube source and the Upgrade skill's channel scan
   yt-dlp on PATH but `yt-dlp --version` timed out — the binary is wedged

Suggested fix

• Raise the probeLive timeout on Windows (e.g. 10s), or let a capability set its own timeout, with yt-dlp given more because of the onefile cold start.
• Make the yt-dlp fix hint platform-aware: winget upgrade yt-dlp.yt-dlp (or pip install -U yt-dlp) on Windows.
• Optionally word a timeout as "slow to start (>Ns)" rather than "wedged", since a slow-but-working binary is not broken.

Environment

• OS: Windows (x64)
• Harness: claude-code
• bun: not found · git: not found
• Doctor broken: interceptor, cloudflare, ytdlp