Diagnostics are metadata only: status strings, event names, and bounded error messages, never captured text or note bodies. Storage rules are in [Permissions](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/mac-capture/permissions/index.md>). The Settings rows that display this material are in [Settings](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/mac-capture/settings/#diagnostics>). Glyph rendering tests are in [Build](<https://bobs-org.github.io/develop/mac-capture/build/>).

## Menu-bar icon

The only always-visible surface is a purpose-designed monochrome mark: a geometric lowercase "b" (a vertical stem plus a circular bowl, one stroke weight) with a solid bullet centered in the bowl. The bullet is the captured thought — every capture becomes a bullet in the vault. AppKit tints the template image for light and dark menu bars, Liquid Glass wallpapers, and the highlighted (menu-open) state, with no bundled assets.

- **Ready**: the bullet-b. Tooltip and accessibility label are `Bob Mac Capture`.
- **bob unresolved**: the bullet becomes a "!". The tooltip reads `Bob Mac Capture — bob is not resolved. Check Settings.`, and the menu gains a `bob Not Resolved — Open Settings…` row above the healthy items.
- **Capture landed**: after every successful submit, the bullet briefly swells and settles (420 ms). The pulse is skipped when Reduce Motion is on.

## Settings diagnostics and Recent Activity

Settings › Diagnostics shows the current status string (selectable; starts as `Starting`), the signing diagnostic (`Not checked` until inspected), and a Recent Activity disclosure of the last 20 timestamped entries (`HH:mm:ss  message`). Each status change appends one entry; the list is in-memory only and never contains captured text.

A hotkey registration failure reports `Hotkey conflict` with the Carbon status, or `Refs hotkey conflict: …`. Recovery is in [Resolve a Mac Capture hotkey conflict](<https://bobs-org.github.io/guides/resolve-mac-capture-hotkey-conflict/>). Target/route completion problems report `Target cache stale` with the scan error; recovery is in [Fix Mac Capture when bob is not resolved](<https://bobs-org.github.io/guides/fix-mac-capture-bob-resolution/>).

## Timeouts

Every `bob` invocation is bounded by a 20-second timeout (`BobProcessClient.defaultTimeout`) that terminates and reaps a wedged process instead of leaving the panel waiting indefinitely; a fired timeout surfaces as an actionable `BobClientError.timedOut` that names the timed-out command and never the captured text. Quit cancels every outstanding invocation via `cancelActiveProcess()`. A Bob Refs scan uses its own `refs-scan` lane with a 300 s timeout and never cancels another lane's work. Required commands and guard retries are in [Protocol](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/mac-capture/protocol/index.md>).

## Copy Diagnostic

Capture errors keep the complete draft on screen. **Copy Diagnostic** next to the error copies the exact `bob` error message to the pasteboard (`BobClientError.description` redacts the trailing draft argument).

In Bob Refs, Copy Diagnostic on the load-failed card copies the refresh failure's bounded message; an open-error banner copies its own diagnostic first. Problem scans raise a banner: a warning with Copy Diagnostic for per-PDF failures (the footer can say `+N more · Copy Diagnostic lists them all`), an error with Scan Again and Copy Diagnostic for hard failures.

## Signposts

The app emits `os_signpost` intervals/events (subsystem `org.bobs.bob-mac-capture`, category `capture`) around hotkey receipt, panel ordering, editor focus, parse, completion, preview, submit, the settled `capture-related` lane, block-ID focus claims, plain-text paste (`paste-plain-text`), notification scheduling, install-restart notification requests (`install-restart-notification-requested`), the idle agenda (intervals `agenda-refresh`, `agenda-measure`, `agenda-plan`; events `agenda-unchanged`, `agenda-published`, `agenda-hold-released`), Bob Refs (intervals `refs-pull`, `refs-refresh`, `refs-scan`, `refs-panel-show`, `refs-panel-prepare`, `refs-panel-order`, `refs-library-publish`; event `refs-today-skipped`), and the Ctrl+Tab panel switch (interval `panel-switch`; event `panel-switch-key`), visible in Instruments' Points of Interest / os\_signpost templates. Capture show and hide add intervals `capture-prepare` and `capture-dismiss`; the template shelf refresh adds interval `templates-refresh`; the related lane adds interval `capture-related` and metadata-only events `capture-related-unsupported`, `capture-related-failed`, `capture-related-publish` (settled response changed the visible rows), and `capture-related-empty` (settled response had no matches). These, and the bounded Recent Activity list in Settings, are metadata-only by construction — see [Permissions](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/mac-capture/permissions/#privacy>).

Inspect them with:

```
log show --signpost --predicate 'subsystem == "org.bobs.bob-mac-capture"'
```

## refs-rank

`swift run refs-rank` ranks a `bob ref list` snapshot with the same ranker the panel uses. Ranking rules, NEW, and the Newest timeline are in [Bob Refs](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/mac-capture/refs/#tuning>). The binary is never bundled: `Scripts/bundle.sh` copies only the `BobMacCapture` product.

```
swift run refs-rank [--plan plan.json] [--opens open-log.json]
[--new-marks refs-new-marks.json] [--scope chats]
[--now 2026-10-08T09:00:00] [--tz America/New_York]
[--newest] [query...] < ref-list.json
```

`--now` accepts a full ISO 8601 time with an offset or a local date-time without one, interpreted in `--tz` (default: the current time zone). Browse mode prints the sections; search mode prints `rank  tier  score (m P W L F R)  state  kind  title` with padded columns (rank 4, tier 9, state 8, kind 7), each followed by its why-here line. `--newest` prints the Newest timeline. `--new-marks` loads Mac-local NEW marks.

```
bob ref list -R all -A -f json -g | swift run refs-rank --newest
```