# Cmdstan's diagnose utility - better error checking / error messages?

**URL:** <https://discourse.mc-stan.org/t/cmdstans-diagnose-utility-better-error-checking-error-messages/6247>\
**Category:** CmdStan\
**Created:** [October 28, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://discourse.mc-stan.org/t/cmdstans-diagnose-utility-better-error-checking-error-messages/6247 "2018-10-28T23:36:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mitzimorris](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.mc-stan.org/mitzimorris/32/29_2.png) [@mitzimorris](https://discourse.mc-stan.org/u/mitzimorris)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://discourse.mc-stan.org/t/cmdstans-diagnose-utility-better-error-checking-error-messages/6247/1 "2018-10-28T23:36:41Z")

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what checks should the cmdstan `diagnose` utility impose on a set of inputs?

I ran it on a set of files, carelessly specified as `*.csv`, not realizing that there was one file from a different run hanging around - this was the last file to be read in. it had a different value for `max_depth` than the others. the stats reported made no sense.

which metadata values need to be the same across input files in order to this utility to work correctly?