update-packages

name	update-packages
description	LOAD THIS SKILL when: updating npm packages, user mentions 'update packages', 'update-packages', 'outdated', 'dependency updates'. Covers autonomous npm package updates with breaking change handling, Bun updates, Playwright Docker sync, and package group coordination.

Update Packages

Step 0: Update Skills + Create Branch (MANDATORY)

Before touching any packages, update skills and create a dedicated branch.

# Update all skills from skills-lock.json (reads sources + skill names from lock)
bun run .agents/skills/update-packages/references/skills-update-local.ts

# Dry run to see what would be executed
bun run .agents/skills/update-packages/references/skills-update-local.ts --dry-run

# Create a fresh branch
git checkout -b chore/update-packages-$(date +%y%m%d-%H%M)

Rules:

• Always update skills first — they may contain updated instructions for this workflow
• Never reuse an existing update-packages branch
• All package update commits go to this branch

Package Groups (Update Together)

These packages must always be updated as a group — mismatched versions cause type errors or runtime failures:

Group	Packages
tanstack-router	@tanstack/react-router, @tanstack/router-devtools, @tanstack/router-plugin, @tanstack/start
tanstack-query	@tanstack/react-query, @tanstack/react-query-devtools, @tanstack/query-core
trpc	@trpc/server, @trpc/client, @trpc/react-query, @trpc/tanstack-react-query
effect	effect, @effect/schema, @effect/platform, @effect/language-service
drizzle	drizzle-orm, drizzle-kit, drizzle-zod
pino	pino, pino-pretty, @types/pino
playwright	@playwright/test, playwright (+ Docker image sync — see Special Cases)

Update Strategy

Per Package Group Flow

For each group, execute steps 1–4 before moving to the next:

Step 1 — Identify versions (old → new)

• Run bun upgrade interactively, note minor/major bumps
• For catalog packages: npm view <package> version

Step 2 — Update + Analyze release notes IN PARALLEL

Track A: Apply Update	Track B: Analyze Release Notes (background)
Apply version bumps via bun upgrade or catalog edit	npm view <pkg> repository.url → gh release view <tag> --repo <owner/repo>
bun install if catalog	Major: breaking changes, migration guides, removed APIs
	Minor: new APIs, deprecations, opt-in improvements
	Search codebase for usages of changed/deprecated/new APIs

Each package group shares one background subagent. Standalone packages get one subagent each.

Step 3 — Check + Fix

• Run bun run check
• If it fails: use release notes from Step 2 for context-aware fixes

Step 4 — Commit the group

Release Notes Report

After all groups are updated, output a unified summary:

| Package | Type | Old → New | Changes | Impact |
|---------|------|-----------|---------|--------|

Rules:

• Each subagent MUST search the codebase for usages of changed/deprecated/new APIs
• For breaking changes: list affected files with line numbers + migration snippets
• For new features: suggest where they could be adopted (diffs only, don't apply)
• Skip patch-only updates in the report

Special Cases

Bun Runtime Updates

1. Update packageManager in root package.json: "bun@X.Y.Z"
2. Update ARG BUN_VERSION=X.Y.Z in all Dockerfiles
3. Update BUN_VERSION in CI pipeline files
4. bun run check → commit: chore: update bun to vX.Y.Z

Playwright Updates

1. Docker image version must match npm package version exactly
2. Update all references to mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:vX.Y.Z-noble across Dockerfiles, CI, and Helm values
3. bun run test:e2e → commit: chore: update playwright to vX.Y.Z

Catalog Packages

Packages in Bun's catalog need manual version checks: npm view <package> version. Update entries in package.json manually.

Testing Requirements

Update Type	Required Tests
UI/component packages	bun run check + visual review
TRPC / TanStack Router	bun run check + bun run test
Drizzle ORM	bun run check + bun run test
Effect packages	bun run check + bun run test
Playwright	bun run check + bun run test:e2e
Bun runtime	bun run check + bun run test + bun run test:e2e
All others	bun run check

Guardrails

• DO NOT update packages with workspace:* — these are internal monorepo packages
• DO NOT skip @typescript/native-preview updates — affects TypeScript LSP performance
• DO NOT use bun outdated — misses catalog packages; use bun upgrade interactively
• If packages fail to install: bun clean:packages && bun install

Definition of Done

• bun upgrade shows all packages at latest versions
• All checks pass (bun run check)
• All relevant tests pass