ACE Enable Auto-Update

Control automatic updates of ACE plugin instructions in your project's CLAUDE.md.

What This Does

Toggles automatic updating of ACE instructions when the plugin version changes. When enabled, ACE will silently update your project's CLAUDE.md on session start if a new plugin version is detected.

Instructions for Claude

When the user runs /ace-enable-auto-update, follow these steps:

Check Current Status

1. Check if auto-update is currently enabled:

   if [ -f ~/.ace/auto-update-enabled ]; then
       echo "Status: ENABLED"
   else
       echo "Status: DISABLED"
   fi
   

2. Show current status to user with explanation

Ask User for Action

Present options:

Auto-Update Status: [ENABLED/DISABLED]

What would you like to do?
1. Enable auto-update  - ACE instructions update automatically on session start
2. Disable auto-update - Manual updates only (run /ace:ace-claude-init)
3. Show more info     - Learn about auto-update feature
4. Cancel            - No changes

Perform Action

If user chooses "Enable":

mkdir -p ~/.ace
touch ~/.ace/auto-update-enabled
echo "✅ Auto-update ENABLED"
echo ""
echo "ACE will now automatically update your project's CLAUDE.md when:"
echo "- A new ACE plugin version is installed"
echo "- You start a Claude Code session"
echo "- Your project's ACE instructions are outdated"
echo ""
echo "Updates are:"
echo "- ✅ Silent (no interruption)"
echo "- ✅ Safe (backups created)"
echo "- ✅ Smart (only when needed)"
echo ""
echo "To disable: Run /ace:ace-enable-auto-update again"

If user chooses "Disable":

rm -f ~/.ace/auto-update-enabled
echo "✅ Auto-update DISABLED"
echo ""
echo "ACE will now require manual updates:"
echo "- Run /ace:ace-claude-init to update"
echo "- You'll be notified when updates are available"
echo ""
echo "To re-enable: Run /ace:ace-enable-auto-update"

If user chooses "Show more info":

## Auto-Update Feature Details

**How It Works:**
1. SessionStart hook checks for ACE version mismatch
2. If update available AND auto-update enabled:
   - Script runs in background (< 1 second)
   - Updates only ACE section (preserves your content)
   - Creates backup before update
   - Logs update to ~/.ace/update-history.log

**What Gets Updated:**
- ACE plugin instructions (between HTML markers)
- Version markers
- New features and improvements

**What's Preserved:**
- All your custom CLAUDE.md content (before and after ACE section)
- File structure and formatting
- Git history (you can revert if needed)

**Safety Features:**
- Automatic backups: ~/.claude-md-backup/
- Only updates marked sections (HTML markers required)
- Falls back to manual if complex merge needed
- Never overwrites without validation

**Token Savings:**
- Script-based updates: 0 tokens
- LLM-based updates: ~17,000 tokens (fallback)
- Manual checks eliminated: ~1,000 tokens per session

**When Updates Happen:**
- Only on plugin version changes (not every session)
- Only when your project's ACE version is outdated
- Requires markers in CLAUDE.md (v3.2.36+)

**Control:**
- Enable/disable anytime
- Per-user setting (not per-project)
- Applies to all projects with auto-update enabled

**Recommendation:**
- Enable if: You trust automatic updates and want seamless experience
- Disable if: You prefer manual control over documentation changes

If user chooses "Cancel":

No changes made. Auto-update status unchanged.

Usage Examples

Enable Auto-Update

User: /ace-enable-auto-update

Claude: Auto-Update Status: DISABLED

What would you like to do?
1. Enable auto-update
2. Disable auto-update
3. Show more info
4. Cancel

User: 1

Claude: ✅ Auto-update ENABLED
...

Check Status

User: /ace-enable-auto-update

Claude: Auto-Update Status: ENABLED

What would you like to do?
[options...]

User: 4

Claude: No changes made.

How Auto-Update Works

SessionStart Flow:

Session Start
    ↓
check-ace-version.sh runs
    ↓
Detects version mismatch?
    ↓
Check ~/.ace/auto-update-enabled exists?
    ↓
YES → Run ace-claude-init.sh --auto-update
NO  → Create notification only
    ↓
Update completed silently
(or notification shown)

Update Process:

1. Backup created: CLAUDE.md.backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
2. ACE section extracted using HTML markers
3. New template content inserted
4. File validated (must have ACE content)
5. Original file replaced
6. Log entry created

Configuration Files

Auto-update flag:

• Location: ~/.ace/auto-update-enabled
• Type: Empty file (presence = enabled)
• Scope: User-wide (applies to all projects)

Update history:

• Location: ~/.ace/update-history.log
• Format: JSON lines (one per update)
• Example:

  {"timestamp":"2025-10-30T12:00:00Z","project":"/path/to/project","from":"3.2.28","to":"3.2.36","status":"success"}
  

Troubleshooting

Auto-update not working

1. Check if enabled:

   ls -la ~/.ace/auto-update-enabled
   

2. Check for update notifications:

   cat ~/.ace/update-notification.txt
   

3. Check update history:

   tail ~/.ace/update-history.log
   

Manual update after auto-update failure

If auto-update fails (complex file structure), you'll see a notification. Run:

/ace:ace-claude-init

This will use LLM-based update (more robust, handles complex cases).

Restore from backup

If an update went wrong:

# List backups
ls -lt CLAUDE.md.backup-*

# Restore specific backup
cp CLAUDE.md.backup-20251030-120000 CLAUDE.md

See Also

• /ace:ace-claude-init - Manual update command
• /ace:ace-status - Check ACE connection and status
• /ace:ace-configure - Configure ACE server

Security Note

Auto-update modifies your project's CLAUDE.md file automatically. While safe (backups are created), you should:

• ✅ Review changes periodically
• ✅ Commit backups to git (optional)
• ✅ Disable if working on critical documentation
• ✅ Trust the ACE plugin source (official marketplace)