update-skills

About

Skills are distributed as git branches (skill/*). When you install a skill, you merge its branch into your repo. This skill checks upstream for newer commits on those skill branches and helps you update.

Run /update-skills in Claude Code.

How it works

Preflight: checks for clean working tree and upstream remote.

Detection: fetches upstream, lists all upstream/skill/* branches, determines which ones you've previously merged (via merge-base), and checks if any have new commits.

Selection: presents a list of skills with available updates. You pick which to update.

Update: merges each selected skill branch, resolves conflicts if any, then validates with build + test.

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Goal

Help users update their installed skill branches from upstream without losing local customizations.

Operating principles

• Never proceed with a dirty working tree.
• Only offer updates for skills the user has already merged (installed).
• Use git-native operations. Do not manually rewrite files except conflict markers.
• Keep token usage low: rely on git commands, only open files with actual conflicts.

Step 0: Preflight

Run:

• git status --porcelain

If output is non-empty:

• Tell the user to commit or stash first, then stop.

Check remotes:

• git remote -v

If upstream is missing:

• Ask the user for the upstream repo URL (default: https://github.com/sbusso/claudeclaw.git).
• git remote add upstream <url>

Fetch:

• git fetch upstream --prune

Step 1: Detect installed skills with available updates

List all upstream skill branches:

• git branch -r --list 'upstream/skill/*'

For each upstream/skill/<name>:

1. Check if the user has merged this skill branch before:
   • git merge-base --is-ancestor upstream/skill/<name>~1 HEAD — if this succeeds (exit 0) for any ancestor commit of the skill branch, the user has merged it at some point. A simpler check: git log --oneline --merges --grep="skill/<name>" HEAD to see if there's a merge commit referencing this branch.
   • Alternative: MERGE_BASE=$(git merge-base HEAD upstream/skill/<name>) — if the merge base is NOT the initial commit and the merge base includes commits unique to the skill branch, it has been merged.
   • Simplest reliable check: compare git merge-base HEAD upstream/skill/<name> with git merge-base HEAD upstream/main. If the skill merge-base is strictly ahead of (or different from) the main merge-base, the user has merged this skill.
2. Check if there are new commits on the skill branch not yet in HEAD:
   • git log --oneline HEAD..upstream/skill/<name>
   • If this produces output, there are updates available.

Build three lists:

• Updates available: skills that are merged AND have new commits
• Up to date: skills that are merged and have no new commits
• Not installed: skills that have never been merged

Step 2: Present results

If no skills have updates available:

• Tell the user all installed skills are up to date. List them.
• If there are uninstalled skills, mention them briefly (e.g., "3 other skills available in upstream that you haven't installed").
• Stop here.

If updates are available:

• Show the list of skills with updates, including the number of new commits for each:

  skill/<name>: 3 new commits
  skill/<other>: 1 new commit
  

• Also show skills that are up to date (for context).
• Use AskUserQuestion with multiSelect: true to let the user pick which skills to update.
  • One option per skill with updates, labeled with the skill name and commit count.
  • Add an option: "Skip — don't update any skills now"
• If user selects Skip, stop here.

Step 3: Apply updates

For each selected skill (process one at a time):

1. Tell the user which skill is being updated.
2. Run: git merge upstream/skill/<name> --no-edit
3. If the merge is clean, move to the next skill.
4. If conflicts occur:
   • Run git status to identify conflicted files.
   • For each conflicted file:
     • Open the file.
     • Resolve only conflict markers.
     • Preserve intentional local customizations.
     • git add <file>
   • Complete the merge: git commit --no-edit

If a merge fails badly (e.g., cannot resolve conflicts):

• git merge --abort
• Tell the user this skill could not be auto-updated and they should resolve it manually.
• Continue with the remaining skills.

Step 4: Validation

After all selected skills are merged:

• npm run build
• npm test (do not fail the flow if tests are not configured)

If build fails:

• Show the error.
• Only fix issues clearly caused by the merge (missing imports, type mismatches).
• Do not refactor unrelated code.
• If unclear, ask the user.

Step 5: Summary

Show:

• Skills updated (list)
• Skills skipped or failed (if any)
• New HEAD: git rev-parse --short HEAD
• Any conflicts that were resolved (list files)

If the service is running, remind the user to restart it to pick up changes.