Updates an existing docs/.scrolls/ project-memory system (STARTER.md, SPEC.md, HANDOFF.md, GAP_ANALYSIS.md, GAP_CONTEXT.md, PLAN.md, WISDOM.md, and any project-specific scrolls beyond that core set) to reflect what actually happened in the current session, following each file's own update rule instead of appending blindly. Also backfills SCROLLS.md/CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md if the project predates them (idempotent — safe every run, never overwrites existing CLAUDE.md content). Use this whenever the user runs /scrolls-update, or asks to update the scrolls, refresh HANDOFF.md, write session handoff notes, record what was just done, close out or wrap up a session, log a new gap or trap, or update project memory / STARTER.md's docs. This is the counterpart to /scrolls-setup (which creates the system once) — use this one for every session afterward. Supports -p/--path for a custom docs location, -t/--reporoot to look under the git repository's top level regardless of which subdirectory you're in, -l/--local to look expl
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name
scrolls-update
description
Updates an existing docs/.scrolls/ project-memory system (STARTER.md, SPEC.md, HANDOFF.md, GAP_ANALYSIS.md, GAP_CONTEXT.md, PLAN.md, WISDOM.md, and any project-specific scrolls beyond that core set) to reflect what actually happened in the current session, following each file's own update rule instead of appending blindly. Also backfills SCROLLS.md/CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md if the project predates them (idempotent — safe every run, never overwrites existing CLAUDE.md content). Use this whenever the user runs /scrolls-update, or asks to update the scrolls, refresh HANDOFF.md, write session handoff notes, record what was just done, close out or wrap up a session, log a new gap or trap, or update project memory / STARTER.md's docs. This is the counterpart to /scrolls-setup (which creates the system once) — use this one for every session afterward. Supports -p/--path for a custom docs location, -t/--reporoot to look under the git repository's top level regardless of which subdirectory you're in, -l/--local to look explicitly in the current directory, and -r/--recurse to search recursively for the scrolls folder if it isn't at the obvious exact location. Defaults to the current directory, but warns first if that differs from the repo root so a subdirectory invocation doesn't silently miss the real scrolls. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (bash or PowerShell). If no scrolls folder is found, say so and point at /scrolls-setup instead of inventing files here.
license
MIT
compatibility
bash (macOS/Linux/WSL) or PowerShell 7+ (pwsh) or PowerShell (older versions: powershell.exe); Python 3.9+ (stdlib only, no dependencies)
docs/.scrolls/ only stays useful if it reflects reality. This skill applies the update rules STARTER.md already defines for each file — it does not invent new conventions. The point isn't to touch every file every time; it's to touch exactly the files that something actually happened to, using the update discipline that file's own convention calls for (overwrite vs. append vs. add/remove in lockstep).
It also idempotently backfills SCROLLS.md, CLAUDE.md, and AGENTS.md for a project set up before those existed — this is the command people run every session, so it's the one that closes that gap automatically, not just the one-time /scrolls-setup. See step 2.
Cross-platform
The one bundled script (step 4) ships in two forms: session_diff.sh (bash — macOS, Linux, or Windows with Git Bash/WSL) and session_diff.ps1 (PowerShell 7+ — Windows, or macOS/Linux with pwsh installed). Everything else in this skill — the flags, BASE_DIR resolution, locating the scrolls folder — is plain prose you follow directly; it only ever invokes git, which behaves identically regardless of which shell is running it, so none of that needs a shell-specific variant. Pick the script by what's actually available: try bash --version; if that succeeds, use the .sh script; otherwise use the .ps1 script via pwsh (preferred — install from https://aka.ms/powershell if missing) or, only if pwsh genuinely isn't available, the built-in Windows PowerShell powershell.exe (untested against that older version; pwsh is what this was written and verified against).
Options
Read the invocation text for these, in any order — there's no real argv parser here, so pull them out of the plain text yourself:
-p <path> / --path=<path> / --path <path> — a custom docs folder to look in, relative to the current working directory unless given as an absolute path.
-t / --reporoot — look under the git repository's top level ($(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)) regardless of which subdirectory you actually invoked this from. Fails with a clear message if the current directory isn't inside a git repository.
-l / --local — look explicitly in the current working directory. This is what happens by default anyway when none of -p/-t/-l are given — the flag exists to say so on purpose, e.g. to skip the mismatch check below.
-r / --recurse — if the scrolls folder isn't at the obvious exact location (BASE_DIR/docs/.scrolls or BASE_DIR/docs/scrolls), search recursively under BASE_DIR for one instead of giving up. Off by default — matches the usual meaning of -r on tools like grep/cp/rm.
There's no -u/--unhide option here — this skill locates whichever scrolls folder already exists rather than choosing between them (see step 1). -p, -t, and -l are three different ways to answer the same question ("where's the docs folder?") — pass at most one; if more than one is given, ask which was meant. -r is independent and combines freely with any of them (or with none).
Steps
1. Resolve BASE_DIR, then locate the scrolls, trying both names
Compute BASE_DIR:
-t/--reporoot given: BASE_DIR = $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel). If that fails (not inside a git repository), stop and tell the user — suggest --path instead.
-l/--local given: BASE_DIR = $(pwd).
Nothing given (the common case): BASE_DIR = $(pwd). But first, if the current directory is inside a git repository, run git rev-parse --show-toplevel and compare it to $(pwd). If they're the same, or this isn't a git repo, proceed with cwd as usual. If they differ, mention it before searching — running from here will only look under $(pwd)/docs, and a scrolls folder that lives at the repository root (<repo-root>) instead would be missed entirely (not just skipped — it'll look like the project was never set up). Ask if that's intended, defaulting to proceeding with cwd (this skill's documented default) if there's no strong preference.
Then let DOCS_BASE be the --path value if -p was given, else ${BASE_DIR}/docs. The scrolls folder under it may be named either .scrolls (hidden, the default from /scrolls-setup) or scrolls (after /scrolls-unhide, or --unhide at setup time) — check for DOCS_BASE/.scrolls first, then DOCS_BASE/scrolls. Whichever exists is SCROLLS_PATH for the rest of this skill.
If neither exists at that exact spot:
-r/--recurse was given: search recursively under BASE_DIR instead — a bounded number of levels deep, pruning the same heavy/vendor directories /scrolls-hide//scrolls-unhide prune (node_modules, .git, vendor, dist, build, .venv, venv, __pycache__, target, .next, .cache), for a directory named .scrolls or scrolls containing a STARTER.md. If exactly one turns up, that's SCROLLS_PATH. If more than one turns up (a monorepo with several independent scrolls setups under this BASE_DIR), list them and ask the user which one this session's update is actually about — don't guess, and don't update more than one, since a session's narrative belongs to a specific project, not every project it happens to be nested near.
-r wasn't given, or the recursive search above also found nothing: don't create one here. Tell the user this project (or this path) hasn't been set up yet and point them at /scrolls-setup — and if you resolved BASE_DIR to cwd (by default or -l) rather than the repo root, mention -t/--reporoot as something to try, and mention -r/--recurse if you haven't already used it, in case the scrolls live somewhere other than the exact expected spot.
If somehow both.scrolls and scrolls exist at the exact DOCS_BASE, stop and ask the user which one is current — that's an inconsistent state this skill shouldn't silently paper over.
2. Backfill SCROLLS.md, CLAUDE.md, and AGENTS.md if this project predates them
A project set up by a /scrolls-setup older than 2.0.0 may have no SCROLLS.md, no AGENTS.md, and a CLAUDE.md (if any) that embeds the scrolls path directly instead of pointing at SCROLLS.md. Since /scrolls-update is the command people actually run every session — not the one-time /scrolls-setup — this is the point where such a project catches up, automatically, every time.
This is a one-time-per-file, idempotent backfill: safe to run on every/scrolls-update invocation, since each of the three files below gets the same create-if-missing / insert-if-not-already-referencing / leave-alone-if-already-correct treatment /scrolls-setup step 4 uses — never overwrite or reorder anything already in any of these files. It only ever touches the one location for the SCROLLS_PATH this run resolved (even with -r) — matching step 1's "don't guess, don't touch more than one" rule above.
Compute where these three files belong, the same way /scrolls-hide//scrolls-unhide already do (CLAUDE.md is always an exact, direct sibling of the docs folder by construction):
PTR_DIR = dirname(DOCS_BASE) # e.g. "packages/api" for DOCS_BASE "packages/api/docs"
DOCS_NAME = basename(DOCS_BASE) # normally "docs"
SCROLLS_DIR_NAME = basename(SCROLLS_PATH) # ".scrolls" or "scrolls", whichever was found
SHORT_SCROLLS_PATH = "${DOCS_NAME}/${SCROLLS_DIR_NAME}" # e.g. "docs/.scrolls" — always correct relative to PTR_DIR
The three shared pointer templates live in exactly one place — /scrolls-setup's own assets/templates/ — and are read from there, not duplicated here, so a future change to their content never needs a synchronized edit in two skills:
SCROLLS.md: read <scrolls-setup-skill-dir>/assets/templates/SCROLLS_MD_BLOCK.md and substitute {{SCROLLS_PATH}} with SHORT_SCROLLS_PATH. If ${PTR_DIR}/SCROLLS.md doesn't exist, create it. If it exists but doesn't already reference SCROLLS_PATH/STARTER.md (in either short or full form), insert the block near the top, separated by blank lines — matching heading level to the file's own structure if it already opens with a top-level heading. If it already references it, leave it alone.
CLAUDE.md: read <scrolls-setup-skill-dir>/assets/templates/CLAUDE_MD_BLOCK.md verbatim — a fixed two-line pointer, no substitution needed. If ${PTR_DIR}/CLAUDE.md doesn't exist, create it containing exactly that block. If it exists but doesn't already reference SCROLLS.md, insert the block near the top of the file (before other instructions, since "read this first" only works if it's read first), separated by blank lines from surrounding content — even if the file already points straight at SCROLLS_PATH/STARTER.md itself, from before this file split existed. That's a real, common case (a project set up by a pre-1.2.0 version of /scrolls-setup), and it's exactly the case this backfill exists to catch: insert the stub anyway, so CLAUDE.md ends up pointing at SCROLLS.md regardless of what it already said. This is additive only — never remove or rewrite what was already there, even if that leaves both an old direct reference and the new stub in the same file. If it already references SCROLLS.md, leave it alone.
AGENTS.md: read <scrolls-setup-skill-dir>/assets/templates/AGENTS_MD_BLOCK.md verbatim. Same three-way handling, referencing CLAUDE.md.
Mention in step 7's report whether any of the three were created or updated this way, alongside the scroll files themselves.
3. Read STARTER.md as the authoritative map
Don't assume the minimal six-file set from /scrolls-setup is still the whole story — STARTER.md says explicitly that projects grow additional scrolls over time (architecture decisions, security reviews, subsystem deep-dives), each listed with its own read/update rule. Read the current STARTER.md in full and use its numbered list and "When to update" section as the source of truth for what files exist and how each one wants to be updated. If a file's update convention differs from the generic rules below (e.g. an append-only dated log that must never be edited in place, like this repo's own SECURITY_ANALYSIS.md), follow that file's specific convention over the generic one.
4. Establish what actually happened this session
Conversation context is the primary source — you were there. But don't rely on it alone, especially if context has been compacted, the session was resumed, or you're being asked to update scrolls for work that happened before this conversation started. Run the bundled script to cross-check against git — pick whichever of the two ships in <skill-dir>/scripts/ matches the current environment (see "Cross-platform" below):
It shows uncommitted changes, commits since docs/.scrolls/ was last touched, and a stat summary of what files changed — enough to catch things conversation memory missed, without dumping full diffs into context. Pull specific git diff/git log -p slices yourself if you need more detail on a particular change.
5. Update each file that needs it, following its own rule
The core six's generic rules (from STARTER.md):
HANDOFF.md — overwrite, don't append. It's a snapshot: current state, what just happened, known issues/open threads. If nothing meaningfully changed this session, it's fine to leave it as-is rather than padding it with a no-op entry.
SPEC.md — append a section only for features that actually shipped (working, not just started). Describe what it does for a user, not how it's implemented.
GAP_ANALYSIS.md + GAP_CONTEXT.md — keep these two in lockstep. Closed a gap → delete its GAP_ANALYSIS.md line (don't mark it done, remove it) and its GAP_CONTEXT.md entry. Found a new gap → add a terse line to GAP_ANALYSIS.md and the reasoning (deliberate cut / oversight / blocker) to GAP_CONTEXT.md.
PLAN.md — flip [ ]→[x] for completed tickets, re-prioritize if new requests changed the order, add new tickets for newly surfaced work.
WISDOM.md — add an entry under the right section (Constraints / Traps / Ditches / Wisdom) only when something genuinely new was learned — a bug that bit you, a pattern worth reusing, a hard constraint discovered. Don't force an entry if the session didn't teach anything new.
For any project-specific scrolls beyond this core set, use the convention STARTER.md documents for that specific file — don't default to the generic rules above for a file that says it works differently.
6. Don't fabricate or over-claim
If it's unclear whether something shipped versus just started, treat it as unshipped — note it in HANDOFF.md's "known issues / open threads" or PLAN.md, not as a finished SPEC.md entry. When genuinely ambiguous (e.g. whether a gap was actually closed or just worked around), ask rather than guessing — these files are load-bearing for every future session.
7. Report what changed
List which scrolls files were touched and a one-line reason for each. If a file was deliberately left alone despite session activity (e.g. nothing shipped, so SPEC.md didn't need a new entry), it's fine to just not mention it — no need to enumerate every file that wasn't touched. Include SCROLLS.md/CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md only if step 2 actually created or updated one of them — silent when all three were already correct, same as any other untouched file.
Development
See meta/MAINTAINERS.md for layout, running the tests/ regression
suite, and versioning notes. Neither is read as part of carrying out a
user's /scrolls-update request — don't act on meta/MAINTAINERS.md or
tests/ while answering one.
