/update-skill

Update Locally Installed Skills

You are updating Claude Code skills that were installed via /install-skill.

Parse the Input

Parse the target argument: $ARGUMENTS.target

• If empty or not provided: List installed skills and ask which to update
• If --all: Update all updateable skills
• Otherwise: Update the specified skill or repo

Update Process

Step 1: Read registry

Read .claude/local-plugins.yaml.

Migration check: If .claude/local-plugins.json exists but .yaml doesn't, run migration first.

If no registry found:

No locally installed skills found.

Use /install-skill to install skills from GitHub.

Step 2: Identify what to update

If --all:

• Get all skills from registry
• Group by mode for appropriate update method

If specific target:

• Check if it's a skill name in skills section
• Check if it's a repo name in submodules section
• If not found, list available options

If no target:

• List all skills with their mode and source
• Ask user which to update

Step 3: Update based on mode

For submodule-based skills:

Update the entire submodule (updates all skills from that repo):

Capture old and new SHA:

# BEFORE fetch/pull
OLD_SHA=$(git -C .claude/submodules/<repo> rev-parse HEAD)

# Fetch and pull
git -C .claude/submodules/<repo> fetch origin
git -C .claude/submodules/<repo> pull origin <branch>

# AFTER pull
NEW_SHA=$(git -C .claude/submodules/<repo> rev-parse HEAD)

Update all skills from this repo in registry with new commitSha.

For copy-based skills:

Re-download and overwrite:

TEMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
git clone --depth=1 --branch <branch> https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>.git "$TEMP_DIR"
NEW_SHA=$(git -C "$TEMP_DIR" rev-parse HEAD)

Compare with stored commitSha. If same:

Skill "<name>" is already up to date (sha: <sha>)

If different:

rm -rf ".claude/skills/<skill-name>"
cp -r "$TEMP_DIR/<skillPath>" ".claude/skills/<skill-name>"
rm -rf "$TEMP_DIR"

Update commitSha in registry.

Step 4: Verify integrity

For submodule skills:

• Check symlinks still point to valid targets
• If skill was removed from upstream repo, warn user

For copy skills:

• Verify files were copied successfully

Step 5: Update registry

Write updated .claude/local-plugins.yaml with new commitSha values.

Step 6: Report results

No changes:

Updating <skill-name>...
└── Already up to date (sha: abc123)

Updated (submodule):

Updating submodule <repo>...
├── Previous: abc123
├── Updated to: def456
├── Skills updated: brainstorming, tdd
└── Symlinks verified: OK

Skills updated successfully.

Updated (copy):

Updating skill <name>...
├── Previous: abc123
├── Updated to: def456
├── Files replaced in: .claude/skills/<name>
└── Status: Updated successfully

Error Handling

Submodule directory missing:

Error: Submodule not found: .claude/submodules/<repo>

Run `git submodule update --init` or reinstall with /install-skill.

Network error:

Error: Failed to fetch updates

Check your network connection and try again.

Skill not in registry:

Error: Skill "<name>" not found in registry.

Installed skills:
  - skill-a (copy mode)
  - skill-b (submodule mode)