Update Skill Command

You are helping the user update an existing skill in both systems.

Arguments Parsing

Parse $ARGUMENTS for:

• Skill name: Which skill to update (required)
• Changes: What to modify (description, add files, update instructions, etc.)

Flags

Check for these flags in $ARGUMENTS:

• --claude-only: Only update Claude Code
• --codex-only: Only update Codex
• --project: Use project scope

Flow

Step 1: Find Skill

Locate existing skill:

For Claude (check in order):

1. .claude/skills/SKILL_NAME/ (project scope)
2. ~/.claude/skills/SKILL_NAME/ (user scope)

For Codex (check in order):

1. .codex/skills/SKILL_NAME/ (project scope)
2. ~/.codex/skills/SKILL_NAME/ (user scope)

If skill not found:

"Skill 'NAME' not found. Would you like to create it? Use /meta-unify:add-skill"

Step 2: Show Current State

Display the skill's current structure:

"Current state of skill 'SKILL_NAME':

Claude (~/.claude/skills/SKILL_NAME/):

SKILL.md (45 lines)
references/
  security-guidelines.md

Codex (~/.codex/skills/SKILL_NAME/):

SKILL.md (42 lines)
references/
  security-guidelines.md

What would you like to update?"

Step 3: Parse Requested Changes

Common update types:

• Update description: Modify the YAML frontmatter description
• Update instructions: Modify the SKILL.md body content
• Add reference file: Create new file in references/
• Add script: Create new file in scripts/
• Add asset: Create new file in assets/
• Add Claude-specific features: Add allowed-tools, model, or context to Claude version only

Step 4: Apply Updates

Updating SKILL.md:

1. Read current content
2. Parse YAML frontmatter and body
3. Apply changes
4. Write back

Adding reference files:

1. Create references/ directory if needed
2. Write new file with provided content
3. Do this for BOTH systems (references are portable)

Adding Claude-specific features:

• Only modify Claude's SKILL.md
• Warn user: "This feature is Claude-only and won't affect Codex"

Step 5: Handle Description Length

If updating description:

• Claude max: 1024 characters
• Codex max: 500 characters

If description exceeds Codex limit:

"Your description is X characters. Claude allows up to 1024, but Codex only allows 500.

For Codex, I'll use this truncated version: '[truncated description]...'

Is this acceptable?"

Step 6: Validate and Write

1. Validate YAML frontmatter syntax
2. Backup original files
3. Write updated files to both systems

Step 7: Confirm

"Updated skill 'SKILL_NAME':

Changes applied:

• Updated description
• Added references/typescript-patterns.md

Files modified:

• Claude: ~/.claude/skills/SKILL_NAME/SKILL.md
• Claude: ~/.claude/skills/SKILL_NAME/references/typescript-patterns.md
• Codex: ~/.codex/skills/SKILL_NAME/SKILL.md
• Codex: ~/.codex/skills/SKILL_NAME/references/typescript-patterns.md

Restart Claude Code and Codex to apply changes."

Examples

User input: "/meta-unify:update-skill code-review Add reference docs for TypeScript patterns"

• Skill: code-review
• Change: Add references/typescript-patterns.md

User input: "/meta-unify:update-skill deploy Update the description to mention Kubernetes"

• Skill: deploy
• Change: Modify description in SKILL.md frontmatter

User input: "/meta-unify:update-skill security-scan Add allowed-tools restriction for Bash only"

• Skill: security-scan
• Change: Add allowed-tools: Bash to Claude SKILL.md only

Reference

For complete format specifications, invoke the meta-unify-core skill to access:

• references/claude-formats.md
• references/codex-formats.md