Splunk Data Source Readiness Doctor

Prerequisites

Tool or access	Purpose	Verify
Bash and Python 3	Run bundled setup and validation helpers	bash --version && python3 --version
Required product/platform access	Inspect or configure the selected target	Complete the documented preflight
Credential files for live modes	Keep secrets out of chat	Verify paths only

Workflow Overview

┌───────────┐   ┌───────────────┐   ┌───────────────┐   ┌─────────────────┐
│ Preflight │ → │ Render/review │ → │ Apply/handoff │ → │ Validate evidence │
└───────────┘   └───────────────┘   └───────────────┘   └─────────────────┘

When to Activate

• The user asks for data-source readiness, ES/ITSI/ARI readiness scoring, CIM or OCSF validation, data-model acceleration checks, dashboard population checks, ingest pipeline health, knowledge-object enrichment, federated data usability,.
• Preview and review the splunk data source readiness doctor workflow before any live apply phase.
• Diagnose failed prerequisites, generated assets, configuration, or validation evidence.

Scope

Follow the documented read-only or render-first path whenever it is available. This skill does not imply permission to mutate live systems. Require explicit apply flags, protected credentials, and operator review for state changes.

Examples

Inspect the supported setup modes before selecting one:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/setup.sh --help

Expected output: usage, supported modes, and required arguments are displayed without changing the target environment.

Inspect validation modes before running completion checks:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/validate.sh --help

Expected output: offline, live, and completion options are displayed when the skill supports them; help exits without mutation.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Resolution
Preflight fails	A required tool or access path is missing	Resolve it before rendering or applying
Rendered assets are incomplete	Required non-secret inputs are absent	Complete intake and render again
Apply is blocked	Review, credentials, or explicit acceptance is missing	Use the documented handoff
Validation is incomplete	Live evidence is unavailable	Record the gap and keep completion open

Shared add-on completion gate

Whenever this workflow validates or hands off a registry-listed Splunk app or add-on, use the shared completion gate. Package presence alone is not readiness; require applicable ingest and dashboard evidence, or explicit package evidence that no dashboards ship.

This skill proves that already-onboarded data is usable by the consumers that matter after installation: ES, ITSI, ARI, CIM, OCSF, and dashboards. It does not install apps or mutate Splunk. It consumes evidence from live searches, the shared app registry, expected index/sourcetype/macro contracts, sample-event summaries, CIM tags/eventtypes, data model acceleration state, OCSF transform status, and product-specific readiness signals. It also applies bundled source-specific packs for common sources such as AWS CloudTrail, Amazon Security Lake OCSF, Cisco ASA, Cisco Secure Firewall, Cisco Secure Access, Kubernetes Audit, Linux secure/auditd, Microsoft 365 management activity, Windows Security events, Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, AWS VPC Flow Logs, AWS Security Hub/GuardDuty, Duo, GitHub audit logs, and Fortinet FortiGate. Those readiness signals include ES correlation/content activation, SSE data inventory and CIM compliance outputs, ITSI KPI threshold/entity-split/runtime state, ITSI Event Analytics, metrics/mstats readiness, ES risk/threat/ESCU readiness, Dashboard Studio data-source health, ARI relevant-event/key-field/event-search evidence, ingest pipeline and latency evidence, lookup/field-alias/calculated-field enrichment, federated/remote dataset usability, ITSI summary-index health, scheduled content execution, and retention/lookback coverage. Live collection can now synthesize source evidence and a dashboard/content dependency graph from read-only REST export results.

Agent Behavior

Never ask for passwords, session keys, API keys, HEC tokens, or bearer tokens in chat. Keep all credentials in local files and pass only file paths to the underlying collection workflows.

Live REST collection requires a credential-free HTTPS origin and never follows redirects. Plaintext HTTP is refused unless an operator explicitly sets SPLUNK_ALLOW_INSECURE_HTTP=true for an isolated, short-lived lab; --no-verify-tls does not authorize HTTP.

Use this doctor after an input/app setup skill says ingestion is configured, or when dashboards, ES detections, ITSI services, ARI inventories, or CIM/OCSF content are not producing useful results.

Safety model:

• doctor, fix-plan, validate, status, source-packs, collect, and synthesize are read-only.
• collect renders a collector manifest and can optionally run read-only Splunk REST export searches when given --splunk-uri and a local --session-key-file.
• synthesize consumes live-collector-results.redacted.json or --collector-results-file, writes synthesized evidence, and reruns scoring without querying Splunk.
• apply renders local handoff/support packets for selected finding IDs only.
• The doctor does not create indexes, alter macros, enable searches, rebuild data models, install apps, activate ARI data sources, import ITSI objects, or change ES configuration.
• Remediation routes to mature skills such as splunk-enterprise-security-config, splunk-itsi-config, splunk-asset-risk-intelligence-setup, splunk-hec-service-setup, splunk-app-install, and product setup skills.

Quick Start

Validate catalog coverage:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/validate.sh

Render a readiness report from evidence:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase doctor \
  --evidence-file skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/fixtures/comprehensive_unready.json

List source-specific packs:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase source-packs \
  --json

Render a source-specific collection manifest without live credentials:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase collect \
  --source-pack aws_cloudtrail \
  --evidence-file evidence.json

Synthesize live collector rows into evidence and refreshed scoring:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase synthesize \
  --evidence-file evidence.json \
  --collector-results-file splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor-rendered/live-collector-results.redacted.json \
  --json

Preview selected handoff packets:

bash skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/scripts/setup.sh \
  --phase apply \
  --evidence-file skills/splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor/fixtures/comprehensive_unready.json \
  --fixes DSRD-CIM-TAG-EVENTTYPE-GAP,DSRD-DM-ACCELERATION-GAP \
  --dry-run \
  --json

Outputs

The default output directory is splunk-data-source-readiness-doctor-rendered/:

• readiness-report.md and readiness-report.json
• fix-plan.md and fix-plan.json
• coverage-report.json
• registry-projection.json
• source-pack-catalog.json
• source-pack-report.json
• collector-manifest.json
• collection-searches.spl
• live-collector-results.redacted.json from collect
• evidence/live-evidence.synthesized.json from collect or synthesize
• dashboard-dependency-graph.json
• synthesis-report.json
• evidence/input-evidence.redacted.json
• handoffs/*.md for delegated or direct fix packets
• support-tickets/*.md for manual/support packets

Read reference.md before changing rule coverage, target scoring, evidence shape, registry consumption, or apply behavior.