/popkit-core:upstream - Anthropic Update Tracking

Track Anthropic repository updates (Claude Code, official plugins, SDKs) with research state management - essentially a "dependabot for Claude Code."

Problem

Manually tracking which Anthropic changelog items have been researched becomes "muddy and confusing":

Unclear if already researched a specific item
No historical tracking of what was investigated
No linkage between Anthropic changes and PopKit issues/PRs

Solution

Automated tracking with status lifecycle: pending_research → researched → synthesized

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
check	Check monitored repos for new updates
list	List changelog items by status
research	Research a specific item with guided flow
synthesize	Mark item as integrated, link issues/PRs
stats	Show tracking statistics and velocity

Monitored Repositories

anthropics/claude-code - Core CLI tool
anthropics/claude-plugins-official - Official plugin collection
anthropics/anthropic-sdk-python - Python SDK
anthropics/anthropic-sdk-typescript - TypeScript SDK

check

Check all monitored repositories for new updates since last check.

Process

Load tracking state from .claude/popkit/upstream-tracking.json
For each monitored repo:
- Fetch releases via gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases
- Fetch recent commits via gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits (main branch, since last check)
- Compare with tracked items
- Add new items with status pending_research
Save updated tracking state
Report summary

Output

🔍 Checking Anthropic repositories for updates...

anthropics/claude-code
  ✓ Latest: v2.1.0 (released 2026-01-25)
  📋 1 new item found:
    - Enhanced hook system (2026-01-20)

anthropics/claude-plugins-official
  ✓ Up to date
  📋 2 new items found:
    - feature-dev: New template system (2026-01-29)
    - debugging: Added trace visualization (2026-01-27)

anthropics/anthropic-sdk-python
  ✓ Latest: v0.42.0 (released 2026-01-28)

anthropics/anthropic-sdk-typescript
  ✓ Latest: v0.42.0 (released 2026-01-28)

Summary: 3 new items need research
Last checked: 2026-01-31T10:30:00Z

Options

Flag	Description
--brief	One-line summary for routines
--json	Machine-readable JSON output
--verbose	Show detailed discovery process

Brief Output (for morning routine)

🔍 Anthropic Updates: 3 items need research

list

List tracked changelog items filtered by status.

Usage

/popkit-core:upstream list               # All items
/popkit-core:upstream list pending       # Need research
/popkit-core:upstream list researched    # Researched
/popkit-core:upstream list synthesized   # Integrated

Output

📋 Upstream Tracking Status

Pending Research (3 items):
  [claude-code-hooks] Enhanced hook system
    Discovered: 2026-01-20
    URL: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/commit/abc123

  [feature-dev-templates] New template system
    Discovered: 2026-01-29
    URL: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/commits/main

  [debugging-trace] Added trace visualization
    Discovered: 2026-01-27
    URL: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/commits/main

Researched (2 items):
  [claude-code-v2.1.0] Claude Code v2.1.0
    Impact: none - MCP improvements don't affect PopKit
    Research Date: 2026-01-26

  [code-review-confidence] code-review: Confidence scoring
    Impact: alignment - PopKit's 80+ threshold aligns well
    Research Date: 2026-01-28

Synthesized (1 item):
  [code-review-confidence] code-review: Confidence scoring
    Impact: alignment
    Related: Issue #213, PR #214
    Notes: Updated CLAUDE.md integration docs

Options

Flag	Description
--json	Machine-readable output
--repo	Filter by repository

research

Guided workflow to research a specific changelog item.

Usage

/popkit-core:upstream research <item-id>

Workflow

Fetch Details
- Load item from tracking state
- Display title, URL, discovery date
- Show related context (release notes, commit messages)
Research Prompts
- Open URLs in browser or fetch with WebFetch
- Prompt user for research summary
- Ask about PopKit impact assessment
Impact Assessment
- critical - Breaking changes, security issues
- high - New features for significant PopKit enhancement
- medium - Improvements worth considering
- low - Minor updates, unlikely to affect PopKit
- none - No impact on PopKit
- alignment - Confirms PopKit's approach is correct
Action Decision
- Ask if issue/PR should be created
- If yes, prompt for issue title and description
- Create GitHub issue with upstream-tracking label
Update Status
- Save research summary and impact to tracking state
- Update status to researched
- Link created issue if applicable

Example Flow

📖 Researching: Enhanced hook system

ID: claude-code-hooks
Repository: anthropics/claude-code
Discovered: 2026-01-20T00:00:00Z
URL: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/commit/abc123

Opening URL in browser... (or fetching with WebFetch)

Research Summary:
> (User input) Claude Code v2.0.5 added new hook types for
> pre-tool and post-tool events. This could enhance PopKit's
> measurement and debugging capabilities.

PopKit Impact Assessment:
1. critical - Breaking changes
2. high - Significant enhancement
3. medium - Worth considering
4. low - Minor update
5. none - No impact
6. alignment - Confirms approach

Choose impact (1-6): 2

Should we create a GitHub issue to track this? (y/n): y

Issue Title: Explore new hook types in Claude Code v2.0.5

Issue Created: #219
URL: https://github.com/jrc1883/popkit-claude/issues/219

✅ Research Complete
Status: pending_research → researched
Impact: high
Related: Issue #219

synthesize

Mark a researched item as synthesized and link to PopKit issues/PRs.

Usage

/popkit-core:upstream synthesize <item-id> \
  --issues #213,#214 \
  --prs #215 \
  --notes "Updated CLAUDE.md integration docs"

Process

Load item from tracking state
Verify status is researched (can't synthesize pending items)
Update item with:
- related_issues
- related_prs
- notes
- status = synthesized
Save tracking state

Output

✅ Item Synthesized

[code-review-confidence] code-review: Confidence scoring

Status: researched → synthesized
Related Issues: #213, #214
Related PRs: #215
Notes: Updated CLAUDE.md integration docs

Thank you for completing the research cycle!

Options

Flag	Description
--issues	Comma-separated issue numbers
--prs	Comma-separated PR numbers
--notes	Integration notes

stats

Show upstream tracking statistics and research velocity.

Output

📊 Upstream Tracking Statistics

Total Items Tracked: 15
├─ Pending Research: 3 (20%)
├─ Researched: 8 (53%)
├─ Synthesized: 4 (27%)

Impact Distribution:
├─ Critical: 0
├─ High: 2
├─ Medium: 5
├─ Low: 3
└─ None: 5

Research Velocity:
├─ Average research time: 2.5 days
├─ Items researched this week: 3
├─ Items synthesized this month: 7

Last Repository Check: 2 hours ago
Next Scheduled Check: In 22 hours (daily)

Options

Flag	Description
--json	Machine-readable JSON output
--repo	Filter by repository

Data Model

Storage: .claude/popkit/upstream-tracking.json

{
  "repositories": {
    "anthropics/claude-code": {
      "last_checked": "2026-01-31T10:30:00Z",
      "latest_release": "v2.1.0",
      "changelog_items": [
        {
          "id": "claude-code-v2.1.0",
          "type": "release",
          "title": "Claude Code v2.1.0",
          "url": "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases/tag/v2.1.0",
          "published_date": "2026-01-25T00:00:00Z",
          "discovered_date": "2026-01-31T10:30:00Z",
          "status": "researched",
          "research_summary": "Added new MCP features. No PopKit integration needed.",
          "research_date": "2026-01-26T00:00:00Z",
          "popkit_impact": "none",
          "related_issues": [],
          "related_prs": [],
          "notes": "MCP improvements don't affect PopKit's CLI-based approach"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "settings": {
    "check_frequency_hours": 24,
    "auto_check_in_morning_routine": true,
    "notification_threshold": "all"
  },
  "statistics": {
    "total_items_tracked": 15,
    "pending_research": 3,
    "researched": 8,
    "synthesized": 4,
    "avg_research_time_days": 2.5
  }
}

Integration with Morning Routine

Add to /popkit-dev:routine morning:

- id: check_upstream
  description: Check for Anthropic updates
  type: command
  command: /popkit-core:upstream check --brief
  optional: true
  settings_key: check_upstream_in_morning

User can disable with:

/popkit-dev:routine morning --no-upstream

Architecture

Component	Location	Purpose
Command Definition	commands/upstream.md	This file
Tracking Utility	hooks/utils/upstream_tracker.py	Core tracking logic
Data Storage	.claude/popkit/upstream-tracking.json	Persistent state
Morning Integration	commands/routine.md	Auto-check support

Related:

/popkit-dev:routine morning - Integrated auto-check
/popkit-core:stats - Similar statistics pattern
/popkit-dev:issue - Issue creation pattern

Examples

Daily Workflow

# Morning: Check for updates
/popkit-dev:routine morning
# Output includes: 🔍 Anthropic Updates: 3 items need research

# List pending items
/popkit-core:upstream list pending

# Research an item
/popkit-core:upstream research claude-code-hooks
# (Interactive guided workflow)

# After creating issue and implementing
/popkit-core:upstream synthesize claude-code-hooks \
  --issues #219 \
  --notes "Implemented new hook integration"

Weekly Review

# See overall statistics
/popkit-core:upstream stats

# Review all researched items
/popkit-core:upstream list researched

# Export for reporting (JSON)
/popkit-core:upstream stats --json > upstream-report.json

Future Enhancements

Phase 3: Automation

GitHub Actions daily check
Auto-discovery of new Anthropic plugins
LLM-powered impact assessment
Slack/email notifications for critical updates
Export to markdown reports

Success Criteria

All monitored repos tracked with last check timestamp
Changelog items categorized by status and impact
No duplicate research on same items
Clear linkage between Anthropic updates and PopKit changes
Morning routine shows upstream status
Research velocity metrics available