update-nanoclaw

name	update-nanoclaw
description	Efficiently bring upstream NanoClaw updates into a customized install, with preview, selective cherry-pick, and low token usage.

About

Your NanoClaw fork drifts from upstream as you customize it. This skill pulls upstream changes into your install without losing your modifications.

Run /update-nanoclaw in Claude Code.

How it works

Preflight: checks for clean working tree (git status --porcelain). If upstream remote is missing, asks you for the URL (defaults to https://github.com/qwibitai/nanoclaw.git) and adds it. Detects the upstream branch name (main or master).

Backup: creates a timestamped backup branch and tag (backup/pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp>, pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp>) before touching anything. Safe to run multiple times.

Preview: runs git log and git diff against the merge base to show upstream changes since your last sync. Groups changed files into categories:

• Skills (.claude/skills/): unlikely to conflict unless you edited an upstream skill
• Source (src/): may conflict if you modified the same files
• Build/config (package.json, tsconfig*.json, container/): review needed

Update paths (you pick one):

• merge (default): git merge upstream/<branch>. Resolves all conflicts in one pass.
• cherry-pick: git cherry-pick <hashes>. Pull in only the commits you want.
• rebase: git rebase upstream/<branch>. Linear history, but conflicts resolve per-commit.
• abort: just view the changelog, change nothing.

Conflict preview: before merging, runs a dry-run (git merge --no-commit --no-ff) to show which files would conflict. You can still abort at this point.

Conflict resolution: opens only conflicted files, resolves the conflict markers, keeps your local customizations intact.

Validation: runs pnpm run build and pnpm test.

Breaking changes check: after validation, reads CHANGELOG.md for any [BREAKING] entries introduced by the update. If found, shows each breaking change and offers to run the recommended skill to migrate.

Rollback

The backup tag is printed at the end of each run:

git reset --hard pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp>

Backup branch backup/pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp> also exists.

Token usage

Only opens files with actual conflicts. Uses git log, git diff, and git status for everything else. Does not scan or refactor unrelated code.

---

Goal

Help a user with a customized NanoClaw install safely incorporate upstream changes without a fresh reinstall and without blowing tokens.

Operating principles

• Never proceed with a dirty working tree.
• Always create a rollback point (backup branch + tag) before touching anything.
• Prefer git-native operations (fetch, merge, cherry-pick). Do not manually rewrite files except conflict markers.
• Default to MERGE (one-pass conflict resolution). Offer REBASE as an explicit option.
• Keep token usage low: rely on git status, git log, git diff, and open only conflicted files.

Step 0: Preflight (stop early if unsafe)

Run:

• git status --porcelain If output is non-empty:
• Tell the user to commit or stash first, then stop.

Confirm remotes:

• git remote -v If upstream is missing:
• Ask the user for the upstream repo URL (default: https://github.com/qwibitai/nanoclaw.git).
• Add it: git remote add upstream <user-provided-url>
• Then: git fetch upstream --prune

Determine the upstream branch name:

• git branch -r | grep upstream/
• If upstream/main exists, use main.
• If only upstream/master exists, use master.
• Otherwise, ask the user which branch to use.
• Store this as UPSTREAM_BRANCH for all subsequent commands. Every command below that references upstream/main should use upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH instead.

Fetch:

• git fetch upstream --prune

Step 1: Create a safety net

Capture current state:

• HASH=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
• TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)

Create backup branch and tag (using timestamp to avoid collisions on retry):

• git branch backup/pre-update-$HASH-$TIMESTAMP
• git tag pre-update-$HASH-$TIMESTAMP

Save the tag name for later reference in the summary and rollback instructions.

Step 2: Preview what upstream changed (no edits yet)

Compute common base:

• BASE=$(git merge-base HEAD upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH)

Show upstream commits since BASE:

• git log --oneline $BASE..upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH

Show local commits since BASE (custom drift):

• git log --oneline $BASE..HEAD

Show file-level impact from upstream:

• git diff --name-only $BASE..upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH

Bucket the upstream changed files:

• Skills (.claude/skills/): unlikely to conflict unless the user edited an upstream skill
• Source (src/): may conflict if user modified the same files
• Build/config (package.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, tsconfig*.json, container/, launchd/): review needed
• Other: docs, tests, misc

Large drift check: If the upstream commit count and age suggest the user has a lot of catching up to do, mention that /migrate-nanoclaw might be a better fit — it extracts customizations and reapplies them on clean upstream instead of merging. Offer it as an option but don't push.

Present these buckets to the user and ask them to choose one path using AskUserQuestion:

• A) Full update: merge all upstream changes
• B) Selective update: cherry-pick specific upstream commits
• C) Abort: they only wanted the preview
• D) Rebase mode: advanced, linear history (warn: resolves conflicts per-commit)

If Abort: stop here.

Step 3: Conflict preview (before committing anything)

If Full update or Rebase:

• Dry-run merge to preview conflicts. Run these as a single chained command so the abort always executes:

  git merge --no-commit --no-ff upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH; git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U; git merge --abort
  

• If conflicts were listed: show them and ask user if they want to proceed.
• If no conflicts: tell user it is clean and proceed.

Step 4A: Full update (MERGE, default)

Run:

• git merge upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH --no-edit

If conflicts occur:

• Run git status and identify conflicted files.
• For each conflicted file:
  • Open the file.
  • Resolve only conflict markers.
  • Preserve intentional local customizations.
  • Incorporate upstream fixes/improvements.
  • Do not refactor surrounding code.
  • git add <file>
• When all resolved:
  • If merge did not auto-commit: git commit --no-edit

Step 4B: Selective update (CHERRY-PICK)

If user chose Selective:

• Recompute BASE if needed: BASE=$(git merge-base HEAD upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH)
• Show commit list again: git log --oneline $BASE..upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH
• Ask user which commit hashes they want.
• Apply: git cherry-pick <hash1> <hash2> ...

If conflicts during cherry-pick:

• Resolve only conflict markers, then:
  • git add <file>
  • git cherry-pick --continue If user wants to stop:
  • git cherry-pick --abort

Step 4C: Rebase (only if user explicitly chose option D)

Run:

• git rebase upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH

If conflicts:

• Resolve conflict markers only, then:
  • git add <file>
  • git rebase --continue If it gets messy (more than 3 rounds of conflicts):
  • git rebase --abort
  • Recommend merge instead.

Step 5: Validation

Run:

• pnpm run build
• pnpm 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 from merged code).
• Do not refactor unrelated code.
• If unclear, ask the user before making changes.

Step 6: Breaking changes check

After validation succeeds, check if the update introduced any breaking changes.

Determine which CHANGELOG entries are new by diffing against the backup tag:

• git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD -- CHANGELOG.md

Parse the diff output for lines that contain [BREAKING] anywhere in the line. Each such line is one breaking change entry. The format is:

[BREAKING] <description>. Run `/<skill-name>` to <action>.

If no [BREAKING] lines are found:

• Skip this step silently. Proceed to Step 7 (skill updates check).

If one or more [BREAKING] lines are found:

• Display a warning header to the user: "This update includes breaking changes that may require action:"
• For each breaking change, display the full description.
• Collect all skill names referenced in the breaking change entries (the /<skill-name> part).
• Use AskUserQuestion to ask the user which migration skills they want to run now. Options:
  • One option per referenced skill (e.g., "Run /add-whatsapp to re-add WhatsApp channel")
  • "Skip — I'll handle these manually"
• Set multiSelect: true so the user can pick multiple skills if there are several breaking changes.
• For each skill the user selects, invoke it using the Skill tool.
• After all selected skills complete (or if user chose Skip), proceed to Step 7 (skill updates check).

Step 7: Check for skill updates

After the summary, check if skills are distributed as branches in this repo:

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

If any upstream/skill/* branches exist:

• Use AskUserQuestion to ask: "Upstream has skill branches. Would you like to check for skill updates?"
  • Option 1: "Yes, check for updates" (description: "Runs /update-skills to check for and apply skill branch updates")
  • Option 2: "No, skip" (description: "You can run /update-skills later any time")
• If user selects yes, invoke /update-skills using the Skill tool.
• After the skill completes (or if user selected no), proceed to Step 8.

Step 8: Summary + rollback instructions

Show:

• Backup tag: the tag name created in Step 1
• New HEAD: git rev-parse --short HEAD
• Upstream HEAD: git rev-parse --short upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH
• Conflicts resolved (list files, if any)
• Breaking changes applied (list skills run, if any)
• Remaining local diff vs upstream: git diff --name-only upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH..HEAD

Patch existing systemd unit if it predates EnvironmentFile=- (only applies on Linux installs that ran /setup before April 2026):

1. Detect the unit file: ls /etc/systemd/system/nanoclaw-v2-*.service ~/.config/systemd/user/nanoclaw-v2-*.service 2>/dev/null. Use the one that exists.
2. Check it for the line: grep -q "^EnvironmentFile=" <unit-path>. If absent AND the install has a .env file at <projectRoot>/.env, add the line:

   sudo sed -i "/^Environment=PATH/a EnvironmentFile=-<projectRoot>/.env" <unit-path>
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   

   Without this, the host process can't read NANOCLAW_ADMIN_TOKEN and admin-server / usage-reporter run silent. Skip on macOS/launchd (plist uses inline EnvironmentVariables block; not affected).
3. Tell the user the line was added (if it was) so they can verify.

Tell the user:

• To rollback: git reset --hard <backup-tag-from-step-1>
• Backup branch also exists: backup/pre-update-<HASH>-<TIMESTAMP>
• Restart the service to apply changes:
  • If using launchd: launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.nanoclaw.plist && launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.nanoclaw.plist
  • If using systemd: sudo systemctl restart nanoclaw-v2-*.service
  • If running manually: restart pnpm run dev

Diagnostics

1. Use the Read tool to read .claude/skills/update-nanoclaw/diagnostics.md.
2. Follow every step in that file before finishing.