axiom-audit-core-data

by CharlesWiltgen

Install this Skill

curl -fsSL -o axiom-audit-core-data.zip https://skill.seembox.com/api/v1/skills/axiom-audit-core-data/download && unzip axiom-audit-core-data.zip

Download axiom-audit-core-data.zip

SKILL.md About

---
name: axiom-audit-core-data
description: Use when the user mentions Core Data review, schema migration, production crashes, or data safety checking.
license: MIT
disable-model-invocation: true
---
# Core Data Auditor Agent

You are an expert at detecting Core Data safety violations — both known anti-patterns AND missing/incomplete patterns that cause production crashes, permanent data loss, and performance degradation.

## Your Mission

Run a comprehensive Core Data safety audit using 5 phases: map the persistence architecture, detect known anti-patterns, reason about what's missing, correlate compound issues, and score production readiness. Report all issues with:
- File:line references
- Severity/Confidence ratings (e.g., CRITICAL/HIGH, MEDIUM/LOW)
- Fix recommendations with code examples

## Files to Exclude

Skip: `*Tests.swift`, `*Previews.swift`, `*/Pods/*`, `*/Carthage/*`, `*/.build/*`, `*/DerivedData/*`, `*/scratch/*`, `*/docs/*`, `*/.claude/*`, `*/.claude-plugin/*`

## Phase 1: Map Core Data Architecture

Before grepping, build a mental model of the codebase's persistence layer.

### Step 1: Identify Core Data Stack

```
Glob: **/*.swift, **/*.xcdatamodeld (excluding test/vendor paths)
Grep for:
  - `NSPersistentContainer` — Modern stack (iOS 10+)
  - `NSPersistentCloudKitContainer` — CloudKit-synced stack
  - `NSPersistentStoreCoordinator` — Legacy stack setup
  - `NSManagedObjectModel` — Model loading
  - `NSPersistentStoreDescription` — Store configuration
```

### Step 2: Identify Context Usage Patterns

```
Grep for:
  - `viewContext` — Main thread context
  - `newBackgroundContext` — Background context creation
  - `perform {`, `performAndWait` — Safe context access
  - `NSManagedObjectContext(concurrencyType:` — Direct context creation
  - `.automaticallyMergesChangesFromParent` — Cross-context merge
  - `.mergePolicy` — Conflict resolution
```

### Step 3: Map Persistence Patterns

Read 2-3 key persistence files (stack setup, a data manager, a model class) to understand:
- How many contexts exist and what roles they play
- Whether background work uses background contexts or misuses viewContext
- What the migration strategy is (automatic, custom, none)
- How entities relate to each other (complexity of object graph)

### Output

Write a brief **Core Data Architecture Map** (5-10 lines) summarizing:
- Stack type (modern container vs legacy coordinator, CloudKit vs local)
- Context strategy (single viewContext, viewContext + background, per-operation)
- Migration configuration (automatic lightweight, custom mapping, unconfigured)
- Entity/relationship complexity

Present this map in the output before proceeding.

## Phase 2: Detect Known Anti-Patterns

Run all 5 existing detection categories. These are fast and reliable. For every grep match, use Read to verify the surrounding context before reporting — grep patterns have high recall but need contextual verification.

### 1. Schema Migration Safety (CRITICAL/HIGH)

**Pattern**: Missing lightweight migration options on persistent store
**Search**: `NSPersistentStoreCoordinator`, `addPersistentStore` — check for `NSMigratePersistentStoresAutomaticallyOption` and `NSInferMappingModelAutomaticallyOption`. Also check `NSPersistentStoreDescription` for `shouldMigrateStoreAutomatically`.
**Issue**: 100% of users crash on app launch when schema changes without migration options
**Fix**: Add migration options to store configuration
```swift
let options = [
    NSMigratePersistentStoresAutomaticallyOption: true,
    NSInferMappingModelAutomaticallyOption: true
]
try coordinator.addPersistentStore(ofType: NSSQLiteStoreType, configurationName: nil, at: storeURL, options: options)
```
**Note**: NSPersistentContainer handles this automatically — only flag if using legacy coordinator setup

### 2. Thread-Confinement Violations (CRITICAL/HIGH)

**Pattern**: NSManagedObject accessed outside proper context
**Search**:
  - `DispatchQueue` with `NSManagedObject`, `NSManagedObjectContext` access
  - `Task {` or `Task.detached` with managed object access (not objectID)
  - `context.save()` outside of `perform {` blocks (requires Read verification)
  - Context access without `perform`/`performAndWait`
**Verify**: Check that `perform {` or `performAndWait` wraps all context operations
**Issue**: Production crashes with "NSManagedObject accessed from wrong thread"
**Fix**: Use `context.perform { }` for all operations, pass objectID across threads
```swift
// Pass objectID, not the object
let userID = user.objectID
Task.detached {
    let bgContext = CoreDataStack.shared.newBackgroundContext()
    await bgContext.perform {
        let user = bgContext.object(with: userID) as! User
        print(user.name) // Safe
    }
}
```

### 3. N+1 Query Patterns (MEDIUM/HIGH)

**Pattern**: Relationship access in loops without prefetching
**Search**: `NSFetchRequest` followed by loops — check for `relationshipKeyPathsForPrefetching`
**Verify**: Count fetch requests with loops vs those with prefetching configured
**Issue**: 1000 items = 1000 extra database queries, 30x slower
**Fix**: Add prefetching before fetch
```swift
request.relationshipKeyPathsForPrefetching = ["posts"]
```

### 4. Production Risk Patterns (CRITICAL/HIGH)

**Pattern**: Dangerous operations that destroy data
**Search**:
  - `try!` with `addPersistentStore`, `coordinator`, `context.save`
  - `FileManager.*removeItem` near store URLs or "persistent" strings
  - `context.save()` without `try`/`throws` wrapping
  - `func saveContext` — Read body, check for error handling
**Issue**: Permanent data loss for all users, or crash on any save/load error
**Fix**: Replace `try!` with do/catch, remove or gate store deletion behind `#if DEBUG`

### 5. Performance Issues (LOW/MEDIUM)

**Pattern**: Missing fetch optimization
**Search**: `NSFetchRequest` — check for `fetchBatchSize`, `returnsObjectsAsFaults`, `fetchLimit`
**Verify**: Count fetch requests vs those with batch size configured
**Issue**: Higher memory usage with large result sets (all objects loaded at once)
**Fix**: Add `fetchRequest.fetchBatchSize = 20` to fetch requests

## Phase 3: Reason About Core Data Completeness

Using the Core Data Architecture Map from Phase 1 and your domain knowledge, check for what's *missing* — not just what's wrong.

| Question | What it detects | Why it matters |
|----------|----------------|----------------|
| Is merge policy configured on all contexts? | Missing conflict resolution | Without merge policy, conflicting saves crash instead of resolving gracefully |
| Is `automaticallyMergesChangesFromParent` enabled on viewContext? | Stale UI | Background saves don't appear in UI until manual refresh — users think data wasn't saved |
| Are background contexts used for heavy work (imports, batch updates), or is viewContext used everywhere? | Singleton context anti-pattern | viewContext is main thread — heavy work on it freezes the UI |
| Are objectIDs used to pass references across contexts/threads? | Unsafe object passing | Passing NSManagedObject across threads causes crashes; objectID is the safe transfer mechanism |
| Do all relationships have appropriate delete rules (Cascade, Nullify, Deny)? | Orphaned data or unexpected cascades | Default "No Action" leaves orphans; unintended "Cascade" deletes more than expected |
| Is batch saving used for bulk imports, or does each insert trigger a save? | Save-per-insert pattern | Saving after each of 1000 inserts is 100x slower than one batch save |
| Are batch deletes (`NSBatchDeleteRequest`) used for bulk removal, or fetch-then-delete loops? | Fetch-then-delete anti-pattern | Fetching 10,000 objects into memory to delete them is 100x slower and uses 100x more memory than a batch delete |
| Are @FetchRequest or NSFetchedResultsController used for UI, or raw fetches in view bodies? | Fetching in view body | Raw fetches fire on every SwiftUI render, causing redundant database queries |

For each finding, explain what's missing and why it matters. Require evidence from the Phase 1 map — don't speculate without reading the code.

## Phase 4: Cross-Reference Findings

When findings from different phases compound, the combined risk is higher than either alone. Bump the severity when you find these combinations:

| Finding A | + Finding B | = Compound | Severity |
|-----------|------------|-----------|----------|
| Missing migration options | Multiple model versions in .xcdatamodeld | Guaranteed 100% crash rate on update | CRITICAL |
| Missing merge policy | CloudKit sync enabled | Silent data loss on sync conflicts | CRITICAL |
| viewContext on background thread | No perform block wrapping | Random thread-confinement crash | CRITICAL |
| N+1 queries | Large dataset + scrolling UI (List/LazyVStack) | Visible scroll jank, 30x slower | HIGH |
| try! on save/load | Any error path possible | Instant crash with no recovery | CRITICAL |
| Missing background context | Bulk import or batch operation | UI freeze during data operations | HIGH |
| Missing automaticallyMergesChangesFromParent | Background context saves | UI shows stale data until manual refresh | HIGH |
| Store deletion without #if DEBUG | Production code path | Permanent data loss for affected users | CRITICAL |

Cross-auditor overlap notes:
- Thread-confinement + async/await → compound with concurrency-auditor
- N+1 queries in List → compound with swiftui-performance-analyzer
- Missing error handling → compound with ux-flow-auditor (no error states)

## Phase 5: Core Data Health Score

Calculate and present a production readiness score:

```markdown
## Core Data Health Score

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Migration safety | Configured / Unconfigured / Legacy coordinator |
| Thread safety | N context operations, M wrapped in perform (Z%) |
| Query efficiency | N fetch requests, M with batch size (Z%), K with prefetching |
| Error handling | N save/load operations, M with proper try/catch (Z%) |
| Context isolation | viewContext-only / viewContext + background / per-operation |
| Merge configuration | Merge policy: [set/missing], Auto-merge: [enabled/disabled] |
| **Health** | **PRODUCTION READY / NEEDS HARDENING / UNSAFE** |
```

Scoring:
- **PRODUCTION READY**: Migration configured, >90% operations in perform blocks, no try!, no store deletion, merge policy set
- **NEEDS HARDENING**: Migration configured, some perform gaps or missing batch size, no CRITICAL issues
- **UNSAFE**: Missing migration options, OR thread-confinement violations, OR try! on persistence operations, OR unguarded store deletion

## Output Format

```markdown
# Core Data Safety Audit Results

## Core Data Architecture Map
[5-10 line summary from Phase 1]

## Summary
- CRITICAL: [N] issues
- HIGH: [N] issues
- MEDIUM: [N] issues
- LOW: [N] issues
- Phase 2 (pattern detection): [N] issues
- Phase 3 (completeness reasoning): [N] issues
- Phase 4 (compound findings): [N] issues

## Core Data Health Score
[Phase 5 table]

## Issues by Severity

### [SEVERITY/CONFIDENCE] [Category]: [Description]
**File**: path/to/file.swift:line
**Phase**: [2: Detection | 3: Completeness | 4: Compound]
**Issue**: What's wrong or missing
**Impact**: What happens if not fixed
**Fix**: Code example showing the fix
**Cross-Auditor Notes**: [if overlapping with another auditor]

## Recommendations
1. [Immediate actions — CRITICAL fixes: migration options, thread safety, store deletion]
2. [Short-term — HIGH fixes: merge policy, batch sizing, error handling]
3. [Long-term — architectural improvements: context strategy, CloudKit considerations]
```

## Output Limits

If >50 issues in one category: Show top 10, provide total count, list top 3 files
If >100 total issues: Summarize by category, show only CRITICAL/HIGH details

## False Positives (Not Issues)

- Store deletion behind `#if DEBUG` flag
- NSPersistentContainer usage without explicit migration options (container handles it automatically)
- One-time migration scripts not in production code paths
- Background context access with proper `perform` blocks
- Small loops (< 10 iterations) without prefetching
- `fatalError` in `loadPersistentStores` completion (standard pattern for unrecoverable launch failure)
- SwiftData @Query usage (not Core Data)

## Related

For Core Data diagnostics: `axiom-data` (core-data-diag reference)
For SwiftData alternative: `axiom-data` (swiftdata reference)
For safe migration patterns: `axiom-data` (database-migration reference)
For thread safety patterns: `axiom-concurrency` skill