Health Checks & System Monitoring

Astronox continuously monitors your system health in the background, analyzing performance metrics, suspicious processes, and system logs to keep you informed about your computer's wellbeing.

Overview

Health Checks is a silent, background monitoring feature that:

• Runs automatically every 30 minutes when Astronox is minimized or in the background
• Pauses during power-saving mode to avoid draining your battery
• Analyzes CPU usage, memory pressure, disk space, and running processes
• Detects suspicious process behavior and monitors crash reports
• Summarizes findings using AI for actionable insights
• Stores snapshots locally for review anytime
• Never requires interaction—fully silent by default

Accessing Health Checks

From the Sidebar

1. Look for the "Health checks" button near the bottom of the sidebar (footer area)
2. Click it to open the Health Checks panel

What You'll See

The Health Checks panel displays:

• Snapshot List - All health check reports, sorted by date (newest first)
• Timestamp - When the scan ran
• Verdict - AI-generated summary of system health status
• Summary - Concise recommendations and findings

Each snapshot contains:

• System Metrics - CPU %, memory %, disk free space, process count
• Top Processes - The 6 most CPU-intensive processes running
• Suspicious Processes - Processes flagged for unusual activity (high CPU, high memory, risky names)
• Crash Reports - Recent system crashes detected from Windows/macOS logs
• Log Findings - Analysis of crash reports and system diagnostics
• AI Summary - Detailed assessment from your configured LLM (Gemini, OpenRouter, or NVIDIA)

How It Works

Scheduling & Conditions

Health Checks automatically run in the background when all of these conditions are met:

• ✅ Astronox is minimized or in the background (not actively in focus)
• ✅ You haven't used your computer for 30+ minutes (idle)
• ✅ Power Saving mode is NOT enabled on your system
• ✅ Health Checks are enabled in Settings (default: on)

What Gets Scanned

System Performance Metrics:

• CPU usage (percentage of cores in use)
• Memory usage (RAM utilization)
• Disk space (free percentage per volume)
• Process count (total running processes)

Process Analysis:

• Top 6 processes by CPU usage
• Detection of suspicious process behavior:
  • High CPU usage (>70%)
  • High memory consumption (>750 MB)
  • Risky process names (mining tools, script hosts, etc.)
• Flagged processes are marked with warnings

System Logs:

• Windows: Checks %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ for crash reports
• macOS: Checks ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ for crash logs

AI Summary

The snapshot includes an AI-generated summary that:

• Provides a health verdict in one concise sentence
• Lists 3 actionable recommendations
• Is generated using your selected LLM (Gemini, OpenRouter, or NVIDIA)
• Falls back gracefully if the LLM is unavailable

Managing Your Data

View Snapshots

• Open the Health Checks panel from the sidebar
• Snapshots display in reverse chronological order (newest first)
• Click any snapshot to see full details including:
  • All metrics and process lists
  • Complete AI analysis
  • Crash report details
  • Specific recommendations

Clear Data

Two ways to delete health check history:

Option 1: From Health Checks Panel

1. Open Health Checks from the sidebar
2. Click the Clear All button
3. Confirm deletion

Option 2: From Settings

1. Open Settings from the header
2. Go to the Data & Cleanup section
3. Click Delete Health Checks in the "Clear agent data" zone
4. Confirm deletion

⚠️ Note: Clearing deletes all stored snapshots. This action cannot be undone.

Settings & Configuration

Enable/Disable Health Checks

1. Open Settings from the header
2. Scroll to the Health & Monitoring section
3. Toggle Enable health checks on or off

When disabled:

• No background scans occur
• Existing snapshots remain stored
• You can still manually view stored data

LLM Model for Summaries

Health Check summaries use your currently selected LLM model:

• Gemini users: Uses your selected Gemini model (flash, flash-lite, or pro)
• OpenRouter users: Uses Devstral 2 (premium feature)
• NVIDIA users: Uses your configured NVIDIA model

To change which LLM analyzes health checks, change your active model in Settings.

API Key Requirements

Ensure you have API keys configured for your LLM provider:

• Gemini: Paste your API key in Settings → Gemini API Key
• OpenRouter: Provided automatically for Pro users
• NVIDIA: Paste your API key in Settings → NVIDIA API Key

Interpreting Results

Verdicts & Recommendations

Healthy System

• CPU usage typically <50%
• Memory usage <80%
• Disk space >20% free
• No suspicious processes
• No recent crashes
• ✅ Recommendation: "System is running smoothly."

Moderate Issues

• CPU usage 50-80%
• Memory usage 75-90%
• Disk space 10-20% free
• 1-2 suspicious processes detected
• 🟡 Recommendations focus on closing heavy apps or freeing disk space

High-Risk Conditions

• CPU usage >85%
• Memory usage >90%
• Disk space <10% free
• Multiple suspicious processes
• Recent crashes detected
• 🔴 Recommendations: Close resource-heavy apps, investigate crashes, upgrade storage

Understanding Flags

Suspicious Process Flags:

Troubleshooting

"Health checks not running"

Possible Causes:

• Feature is disabled in Settings (toggle it on)
• Power Saving mode is active (disable to allow background scans)
• Astronox is in focus (minimize or switch to another app)
• Computer is in use (idle threshold not reached; requires 30+ minutes)

Solution: Ensure Astronox is in the background, idle for 30+ minutes, Power Saving is off, and Health Checks are enabled in Settings.

"LLM summary unavailable"

Possible Causes:

• API key missing or invalid
• Network connection issue
• LLM provider temporarily unavailable

Solution:

• Check Settings to verify your API key is correct
• Confirm your internet connection
• Try again in a few minutes
• Check your LLM provider's status page

"No crash reports found"

Normal behavior on stable systems. Astronox only logs crashes when they occur. If you recently had a crash, it should appear in the next health check scan.

"Disk space percentage seems wrong"

Health Checks shows free percentage (not used percentage). For example, "30% free" means 70% of the disk is in use.

Best Practices

Regular Review

• Check Health Checks weekly to catch emerging issues
• Review snapshots after major software installations
• Monitor trend over time (is disk filling up? is memory pressure increasing?)

Responding to Alerts

1. High CPU Usage: Close unnecessary applications or restart your computer
2. High Memory Pressure: Close resource-heavy apps (browsers with many tabs, IDEs, video editors)
3. Low Disk Space: Delete old files, empty your trash/recycle bin, archive downloads
4. Suspicious Processes: Research the process name; if malicious, run antivirus scan
5. Frequent Crashes: Check Windows Event Viewer (Windows) or Console.app (macOS) for error codes

Automation Ideas

Ask Astronox to help with common optimization tasks:

"Analyze my recent health checks and recommend actions"
"Free up disk space by removing old logs"
"Close all background apps using more than 500MB memory"
"Check if any suspicious processes need investigation"

Technical Details

Storage Location

Health check snapshots are stored as JSON files in your Astronox app data directory:

• Windows: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\com.astronox.app\health_checks.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.astronox.app/health_checks.json
• Linux: ~/.config/astronox/health_checks.json

Data Structure

Each snapshot contains:

{
  "id": "unique-snapshot-id",
  "created_at": "2025-12-24T14:30:00Z",
  "verdict": "Health status: Good. Consider freeing disk space.",
  "summary": "Recommendations: Free disk space; Processes stable; No recent crashes",
  "metrics": {
    "cpu_usage": 45.2,
    "memory_usage": 62.8,
    "disk_free": [["C:", 35.5], ["D:", 72.1]],
    "process_count": 156
  },
  "top_processes": [...],
  "suspicious_processes": [...],
  "crash_reports": [...],
  "llm_summary": "Detailed AI analysis..."
}

Maximum Snapshots

• Astronox keeps the last 200 snapshots
• Older snapshots are automatically removed
• You can manually clear all snapshots anytime from Settings

Cadence

• Runs every 30 minutes (configurable in code, not in UI)
• Only when conditions are met (backgrounded, idle, power saver off)
• Silent—no notifications or chat messages
• Takes <5 seconds per scan

Privacy & Data

What's Collected

• System metrics (CPU, memory, disk, process counts)
• Process names and resource usage
• Crash report metadata (path, date, size)
• Your LLM provider analyzes findings

What's NOT Collected

• ❌ File contents (except crash report paths)
• ❌ Passwords or secrets
• ❌ Detailed network activity
• ❌ Personal documents

Data Storage

• All snapshots stored locally on your machine
• Sent to LLM only for summary generation (brief text prompt)
• Never uploaded to Astronox servers
• Deleted when you clear from Settings or via the UI

FAQ

Q: Does Health Checks slow down my computer?
A: No. Scans take <5 seconds and only run when your computer is idle in the background.

Q: Can I change the 30-minute idle threshold?
A: Currently, the 30-minute threshold is fixed. This is configurable in the code but not exposed in the UI yet.

Q: Will Health Checks wake my laptop from sleep?
A: No. Scans only run when the app is active (even if minimized). They do not trigger wake-from-sleep.

Q: How much disk space does Health Checks use?
A: Minimal. 200 snapshots typically use <5 MB of disk space.

Q: Can I export health check reports?
A: Currently, snapshots are viewable only within the Astronox UI. Copy/export is not yet supported in the UI.

Q: What if I disable Power Saving mode but my system detects a different power state?
A: Health Checks checks the OS power-saving state, not just the toggle. This ensures compatibility across Windows and macOS power management APIs.

Need help? Check Troubleshooting or ask Astronox directly: "Analyze my system health" or "Show me recent health checks."