| name | comet-minor-update |
| description | Performs a minor or patch version bump of all @comet/* packages across a Comet project (root, api, admin, and any site packages — zero, one, or many) to the newest version within the current major from npm, then installs. Use when the user asks to update Comet, bump Comet packages, do a minor Comet update, or upgrade Comet to the latest patch/minor of the current major. |
Comet Minor/Patch Update Skill
A Comet project is not an npm workspace — the repo root, api/, admin/, and any site packages (zero, one, or many) each have their own package.json and package-lock.json. A minor or patch Comet update therefore means updating every occurrence of every @comet/* dependency across those files to the same new version, then running npm install in each directory so each lockfile picks up the new version.
This skill covers minor and patch updates within the current major only (e.g. 8.20.4 → 8.21.0). Major upgrades (e.g. 8.x → 9.x) are different — they typically ship breaking changes, codemods, and migration guides, and are out of scope here.
Invariants
Two rules hold across every @comet/* core package in the project, before and after the update:
- Pinned versions only. Every core
@comet/* entry must be an exact version (e.g. 8.21.0), never a range (^8.21.0, ~8.21.0, >=…). If you see a caret or tilde on a core package, the project is in a broken state — stop and tell the user.
- All core packages on the same version. Every core
@comet/* package in the project must be pinned to the same version across every package.json. There is no supported mix-and-match.
These rules apply only to the core set (packages released together from the Comet monorepo). Satellite packages like @comet/dev-process-manager are out of scope — see Step 1.
When to use
- "Do a minor comet update"
- "Update comet" / "bump comet" / "update all comet packages"
- "Upgrade to the latest patch of the current major"
- "Update
@comet/cms-api and friends to the newest 8.x"
If the user asks for a major bump (crossing major versions), stop and tell them this skill only covers minor/patch updates.
Workflow
- Find all
@comet/* dependencies and their current version
- Find the newest version in the current major on npm
- Update every
package.json
- Install
- Verify
- Report the result
Step 1 — Find all @comet dependencies
The repo root, api/, and admin/ always have a package.json. Site packages are variable: a project may have none (api/admin only), a single site at site/, or several sites — often under sites/, though the location is not guaranteed. Discover them by content rather than path — any package.json outside node_modules that depends on @comet/site-nextjs or @comet/site-react is a site package.
grep -rl --include='package.json' --exclude-dir=node_modules \
-E '"@comet/site-(nextjs|react)"' . | xargs -n1 dirname
Save the resulting list of site directories — Steps 3, 4, and 5 reuse it. A project with no site packages is valid — the grep returns nothing and the rest of the workflow only touches the root, api/, and admin/. Don't treat the empty result as an error.
Then collect every @comet/* entry across the root, api/, admin/, and each site directory's package.json:
grep -n '"@comet/' package.json api/package.json admin/package.json \
<site-dir>/package.json ...
Notes:
- Not every
@comet/* package follows the core release cadence. Packages that live outside the core monorepo (for example @comet/dev-process-manager) may use a different versioning scheme (often ^x.y.z). Only bump packages whose current version matches the core Comet version (the one shared by @comet/cms-api, @comet/admin, @comet/site-nextjs, etc.). Leave the others untouched.
- Use the invariants to tell core from satellite: core packages are all pinned to the same exact version, with no caret or tilde. Anything with a range or a different version is not core — verify before touching it.
- If you find core packages on different versions, or any core package using a range (
^, ~), the project violates the invariants. Stop and tell the user — don't paper over it by bumping.
Confirm the current major from the version string (e.g. 8.20.4 → major 8).
Step 2 — Find the newest version in the current major
Use npm view on any single core package to list versions, then filter to the current major and drop pre-releases (anything containing -canary, -beta, -rc, etc.):
npm view @comet/cms-api versions --json | \
python3 -c "import json,sys; v=json.load(sys.stdin); \
stable=[x for x in v if x.startswith('8.') and '-' not in x]; \
print(stable[-1])"
Substitute 8. with whatever the current major is. The last entry in the filtered list is the target version.
Sanity check: the target must be greater than or equal to the current version. If it is lower or equal, there is nothing to do — tell the user and stop.
Core @comet/* packages are always released together at the same version, so checking any single one is enough — no need to verify the target version for each package individually.
Step 3 — Update every package.json
Update every occurrence of the current version to the new version inside @comet/* entries across every package.json from Step 1 (the root, api/, admin/, and each site directory). Write the new version pinned (e.g. 8.21.0) — never add a caret or tilde, even if one was present before. Every core package must end up on the same target version (see Invariants).
Before editing, do a quick check that the old version string doesn't appear elsewhere in those files (i.e. on non-@comet packages pinned to the same version by coincidence):
grep -n '<OLD_VERSION>' package.json api/package.json admin/package.json \
<site-dir>/package.json ...
If every match is a @comet/* line, you can safely edit each file. If there are non-@comet matches, edit the @comet lines individually.
Do not touch packages like @comet/dev-process-manager that don't share the core version — see Step 1.
Step 4 — Install
Install in the root first, then in each sub-package. In a sandboxed environment you may not be able to run the sub-installs in parallel (& can fail) — run them sequentially if parallel fails.
npm install
npm --prefix api install
npm --prefix admin install
npm --prefix <site-dir> install
What a successful run looks like:
- npm prints
changed N packages or up to date (both are fine — "up to date" means the lockfile was already correct for the new version range).
- No
ERESOLVE, EBADENGINE, 404, or EACCES errors.
- Harmless warnings you can ignore:
npm warn tar TAR_ENTRY_ERROR ENOENT … during extractionnpm fund / npm audit summaries- Deprecation warnings on transitive deps
After each install, verify the lockfile actually moved:
grep '"@comet/cms-api":' api/package-lock.json | head -3
The direct-dependency line should show the new version.
If install fails
If any install fails because of the sandbox (no network access to the npm registry, read-only filesystem on node_modules, EPERM/EACCES on a lockfile, etc.): stop and ask the user to run the installs themselves. Do not try to work around it by retrying with different flags or disabling the sandbox — this is an environment problem, not a dependency problem. The package.json files are already edited, so the user just needs to run the npm install commands from Step 4.
If any install fails with a real error (peer-dependency conflict, missing version, registry auth, etc.): stop immediately and tell the user. Do not attempt --force, --legacy-peer-deps, manual lockfile edits, or destructive resets — the user needs to diagnose the failure, often because it indicates a broader incompatibility (e.g. a peer dep that also needs bumping, or a transitive regression).
In either case, report: which directory failed, the exact error lines, and the state of the package.json files (they have already been edited — mention this so the user knows).
Step 5 — Verify
Run lint and tests in each sub-package that defines them, and report the results. Do not start the dev server — that's the user's job (see Step 6 for why).
For each of api/, admin/, and every site directory discovered in Step 1, check the package.json scripts block and run whatever is defined:
npm --prefix <dir> run lint --if-present
npm --prefix <dir> test --if-present
--if-present makes npm exit 0 silently when the script is missing, so you can run the full set without first checking which scripts exist.
If a project has a top-level lint/test script in the root package.json, run that too.
What to do with the output:
- All green: mention it briefly in the report.
- Failures: report the failing command, the directory, and the first few error lines. Do not attempt to fix lint/test failures — they may indicate a real regression in the new Comet version, or pre-existing issues unrelated to the bump. The user decides.
- Type errors specifically: these often come from stale generated files (
block-meta.json, GraphQL schema) that only refresh when the app boots. Flag this possibility in the report so the user knows to start the dev server before assuming the bump broke types.
Step 6 — Report the result
Tell the user:
- The old version → the new version
- Which
package.json files were touched
- That each lockfile was updated and install succeeded
- The verify results (lint/tests green, or which ones failed and where)
- Anything suspicious you noticed (e.g. "the api/ install emitted a peer-dep warning about X — probably benign but worth a look")
- Remind the user to start the app once (
npm run dev). A minor Comet release can ship changes to generated artifacts like block-meta.json or the GraphQL schema, which are only regenerated when the app boots. Without this step, stale generated files can cause confusing type errors or runtime mismatches.
Common pitfalls
| Pitfall | How to avoid |
|---|
| Picking a canary/beta as "newest" | Filter out any version containing - in Step 2. |
Bumping @comet/dev-process-manager (or similar) by accident | Only bump packages pinned to the shared core version — see Step 1. |
Forgetting the root package.json | The repo root has its own package.json with @comet/cli. Always include it in the grep. |
| Assuming "up to date" means the install did nothing | It means the lockfile already satisfies the new range. Verify with grep against the lockfile. |
| Running installs in parallel in a sandbox | If & backgrounding fails, just run the installs sequentially. Takes a bit longer, works reliably. |
| Crossing a major version | This skill is minor/patch only. Stop and warn the user. |
