diff --git a/src/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/src/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index 6c304cb38..ac35da22f 100644
--- a/src/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -460,6 +460,7 @@ ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( stdhepjob )
 ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( stdhepjob_new )
 ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( addRandomAccess )
 ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( check_missing_cols )
+ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( check_col_params )
 ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( patch_missing_cols )
 ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( lcio_event_counter )
 ADD_LCIO_EXAMPLE( lcio_check_col_elements )
diff --git a/src/cpp/include/IMPL/LCParametersImpl.h b/src/cpp/include/IMPL/LCParametersImpl.h
index 2d157ec23..e5bd1481b 100644
--- a/src/cpp/include/IMPL/LCParametersImpl.h
+++ b/src/cpp/include/IMPL/LCParametersImpl.h
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ namespace IMPL {
     LCParametersImpl() ; 
     
     /// Destructor.
-    virtual ~LCParametersImpl() { /* nop */; }
+    virtual ~LCParametersImpl() = default;
     
     /** Returns the first integer value for the given key.
      */
diff --git a/src/cpp/include/UTIL/CheckCollections.h b/src/cpp/include/UTIL/CheckCollections.h
index f15a374b8..daa253e4a 100644
--- a/src/cpp/include/UTIL/CheckCollections.h
+++ b/src/cpp/include/UTIL/CheckCollections.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define CheckCollections_h 1
 
 #include "lcio.h"
+#include "IMPL/LCParametersImpl.h"
 
 #include <cstdint>
 #include <string>
@@ -77,6 +78,21 @@ class PIDHandler;
      */
     Vector getConsistentCollections() const ;
 
+    using CollectedParameters =
+        std::unordered_map<std::string, IMPL::LCParametersImpl>;
+
+    /// Walk all events in fileNames and capture the first observed value of
+    /// each key in paramNames for every collection. The first value observed
+    /// per (collection, key) pair is retained. Collections where none of the
+    /// requested keys are present still appear in the result with an empty
+    /// LCParametersImpl.
+    void checkParameters(const std::vector<std::string>& fileNames,
+                         const std::vector<std::string>& paramNames);
+
+    /// Captured parameter values for every collection seen. Collections with
+    /// no captured values still appear with an empty LCParametersImpl.
+    const CollectedParameters& getCollectedParameters() const;
+
     /** Add a collection with (name,type) that should be added to events in patchEvent().
      *
      * Depending on the contents of name and type one of the following things
@@ -141,6 +157,7 @@ class PIDHandler;
     /// meta information
     std::unordered_map<std::string, std::vector<PIDMeta>> _particleIDMetas{};
     CollectionVector _patchCols{};
+    CollectedParameters _collectedParams{};
 
   }; // class
 
diff --git a/src/cpp/include/pre-generated/EVENT/LCParameters.h b/src/cpp/include/pre-generated/EVENT/LCParameters.h
index 8205c7f80..6e1368d7a 100644
--- a/src/cpp/include/pre-generated/EVENT/LCParameters.h
+++ b/src/cpp/include/pre-generated/EVENT/LCParameters.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class LCParameters {
 
 public: 
     /// Destructor.
-    virtual ~LCParameters() { /* nop */; }
+    virtual ~LCParameters() = default;
 
     /** Returns the first integer value for the given key.
      */
@@ -67,6 +67,25 @@ class LCParameters {
      */
     virtual StringVec & getStringVals(const std::string & key, StringVec & values) const = 0;
 
+    /**
+     * Get all values for the given key and type
+     */
+    template <typename T>
+    std::vector<T> getVals(const std::string &key) const {
+      std::vector<T> values;
+      if constexpr (std::is_same_v<int, T>) {
+        getIntVals(key, values);
+      } else if constexpr (std::is_same_v<float, T>) {
+        getFloatVals(key, values);
+      } else if constexpr (std::is_same_v<double, T>) {
+        getDoubleVals(key, values);
+      } else {
+        getStringVals(key, values);
+      }
+
+      return values;
+    }
+
     /** Returns a list of all keys of integer parameters.
      */
     virtual const StringVec & getIntKeys(StringVec & keys) const = 0;
diff --git a/src/cpp/src/EXAMPLE/check_col_params.cc b/src/cpp/src/EXAMPLE/check_col_params.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0c7bfc2de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cpp/src/EXAMPLE/check_col_params.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+#include "EVENT/LCParameters.h"
+#include "UTIL/BitField64.h"
+#include "UTIL/CheckCollections.h"
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <iomanip>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <limits>
+#include <string>
+#include <type_traits>
+#include <vector>
+
+namespace {
+
+void jsonEscape(std::ostream &os, const std::string &s) {
+    os << '"';
+    for (char c : s) {
+        switch (c) {
+        case '"':
+            os << "\\\"";
+            break;
+        case '\\':
+            os << "\\\\";
+            break;
+        case '\b':
+            os << "\\b";
+            break;
+        case '\f':
+            os << "\\f";
+            break;
+        case '\n':
+            os << "\\n";
+            break;
+        case '\r':
+            os << "\\r";
+            break;
+        case '\t':
+            os << "\\t";
+            break;
+        default:
+            if (static_cast<unsigned char>(c) < 0x20) {
+                os << "\\u" << std::hex << std::setw(4) << std::setfill('0')
+                   << static_cast<int>(c) << std::dec << std::setfill(' ');
+            } else {
+                os << c;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    os << '"';
+}
+
+template <typename T>
+void emitArray(std::ostream &os, const std::vector<T> &v) {
+    os << '[';
+    if constexpr (std::is_floating_point_v<T>) {
+        os << std::setprecision(std::numeric_limits<T>::max_digits10);
+    }
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < v.size(); ++i) {
+        if (i) {
+            os << ", ";
+        }
+        if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, std::string>) {
+            jsonEscape(os, v[i]);
+        } else {
+            os << v[i];
+        }
+    }
+    os << ']';
+}
+
+template <typename T>
+bool emitGroup(std::ostream &os, const std::string &label,
+               const EVENT::LCParameters &params, const EVENT::StringVec &keys,
+               bool needsComma) {
+    if (keys.empty()) {
+        return needsComma;
+    }
+    if (needsComma) {
+        os << ",\n";
+    }
+    os << "    \"" << label << "\": {";
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < keys.size(); ++i) {
+        os << (i ? ",\n      " : "\n      ");
+        jsonEscape(os, keys[i]);
+        os << ": ";
+        emitArray(os, params.getVals<T>(keys[i]));
+    }
+    os << "\n    }";
+    return true;
+}
+
+void usage() {
+    std::cout
+        << "usage: check_col_params --output <out.json> --params <p1,p2,...> "
+           "<input-file1> [input-file2 ...]\n";
+}
+
+} // namespace
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+    std::string outputPath;
+    std::vector<std::string> paramNames;
+    std::vector<std::string> inputs;
+
+    for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i) {
+        std::string a = argv[i];
+        if ((a == "--output" || a == "-o") && i + 1 < argc) {
+            outputPath = argv[++i];
+        } else if ((a == "--params" || a == "-p") && i + 1 < argc) {
+            const std::string ps = argv[++i];
+            std::for_each(ps.begin(), ps.end(),
+                          UTIL::LCTokenizer(paramNames, ','));
+        } else if (a == "-h" || a == "--help") {
+            usage();
+            return 0;
+        } else {
+            inputs.push_back(a);
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (outputPath.empty() || paramNames.empty() || inputs.empty()) {
+        usage();
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    UTIL::CheckCollections cc;
+    cc.checkParameters(inputs, paramNames);
+    const auto &collected = cc.getCollectedParameters();
+
+    std::ofstream out(outputPath);
+    if (!out) {
+        std::cerr << "error: cannot open '" << outputPath << "' for writing\n";
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    out << "{";
+    bool firstColl = true;
+    for (const auto &[name, vals] : collected) {
+        EVENT::StringVec intKeys, floatKeys, doubleKeys, stringKeys;
+        vals.getIntKeys(intKeys);
+        vals.getFloatKeys(floatKeys);
+        vals.getDoubleKeys(doubleKeys);
+        vals.getStringKeys(stringKeys);
+
+        if (intKeys.empty() && floatKeys.empty() && doubleKeys.empty() &&
+            stringKeys.empty()) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        if (!firstColl) {
+            out << ",";
+        }
+        firstColl = false;
+        out << "\n  \"" << name << "\": {";
+
+        bool needsComma = false;
+
+        needsComma =
+            emitGroup<int>(out, "int-params", vals, intKeys, needsComma);
+        needsComma =
+            emitGroup<float>(out, "float-params", vals, floatKeys, needsComma);
+        needsComma = emitGroup<double>(out, "double-params", vals, doubleKeys,
+                                       needsComma);
+        needsComma = emitGroup<std::string>(out, "string-params", vals,
+                                            stringKeys, needsComma);
+
+        if (needsComma) {
+            out << "\n  ";
+        }
+        out << "}";
+    }
+    out << "\n}\n";
+
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/cpp/src/UTIL/CheckCollections.cc b/src/cpp/src/UTIL/CheckCollections.cc
index fa605fd31..56f4323a9 100644
--- a/src/cpp/src/UTIL/CheckCollections.cc
+++ b/src/cpp/src/UTIL/CheckCollections.cc
@@ -9,6 +9,31 @@
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <iomanip>
+#include <unordered_set>
+
+namespace {
+bool captureParam(const EVENT::LCParameters &src, const std::string &key,
+                  IMPL::LCParametersImpl &dest) {
+    bool found = false;
+    if (const auto vals = src.getVals<int>(key); !vals.empty()) {
+        dest.setValues(key, vals);
+        found = true;
+    }
+    if (const auto vals = src.getVals<float>(key); !vals.empty()) {
+        dest.setValues(key, vals);
+        found = true;
+    }
+    if (const auto vals = src.getVals<double>(key); !vals.empty()) {
+        dest.setValues(key, vals);
+        found = true;
+    }
+    if (const auto vals = src.getVals<std::string>(key); !vals.empty()) {
+        dest.setValues(key, vals);
+        found = true;
+    }
+    return found;
+}
+} // namespace
 
 namespace UTIL {
 
@@ -114,6 +139,43 @@ void CheckCollections::insertParticleIDMetas(const UTIL::PIDHandler &pidHandler,
   }
 }
 
+void CheckCollections::checkParameters(
+    const std::vector<std::string> &fileNames,
+    const std::vector<std::string> &paramNames) {
+    // keep track of the parameters for each collection that we have already
+    // recorded. Only record the first value (and simply assume they are always
+    // the same)
+    std::unordered_map<std::string, std::unordered_set<std::string>> recorded;
+    for (const auto &fileName : fileNames) {
+        MT::LCReader lcReader(0);
+        lcReader.open(fileName);
+        while (const auto evt = lcReader.readNextEvent()) {
+            for (const auto &name : *evt->getCollectionNames()) {
+                auto &dest = _collectedParams[name];
+                auto &done = recorded[name];
+                if (done.size() == paramNames.size()) {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                const auto &params = evt->getCollection(name)->getParameters();
+                for (const auto &pname : paramNames) {
+                    if (done.count(pname)) {
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    if (captureParam(params, pname, dest)) {
+                        done.insert(pname);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        lcReader.close();
+    }
+}
+
+const CheckCollections::CollectedParameters&
+CheckCollections::getCollectedParameters() const {
+  return _collectedParams;
+}
+
 CheckCollections::Vector CheckCollections::getMissingCollections() const {
   Vector s;
   for (const auto &[name, coll] : _map) {