| 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
- Host source (
src/): may conflict if you modified the same files
- Container (
container/): triggers container rebuild
- Build/config (
package.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, tsconfig*.json): lockfile changes trigger dep install
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. If container files changed, also runs the container typecheck and ./container/build.sh.
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-$TIMESTAMPgit tag pre-update-$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
- Host source (
src/): may conflict if user modified the same files
- Container (
container/): triggers container rebuild (+ typecheck if agent-runner/src/ changed)
- Build/config (
package.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, tsconfig*.json): lockfile changes trigger dep install
- Other: docs, tests, setup scripts, 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:
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/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH
If conflicts:
- Resolve conflict markers only, then:
git add <file>git rebase --continue
If it gets messy (more than 3 rounds of conflicts):git rebase --abort- Recommend merge instead.
Step 4.5: Install dependencies (if lockfiles changed)
Check if the merge changed any lockfiles or package manifests:
git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD --name-only | grep -E '^(pnpm-lock\.yaml|package\.json)$'
git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD --name-only | grep -E '^container/agent-runner/(bun\.lock|package\.json)$'
- If matched AND
command -v bun succeeds: cd container/agent-runner && bun install
- If bun is not installed on the host, skip — container deps will be installed during
./container/build.sh
Skip this step if neither lockfile changed.
Step 5: Validation
Check which areas changed to determine what to validate:
CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD)
Host build (always):
pnpm run buildpnpm test (do not fail the flow if tests are not configured)
Container typecheck (only if container/agent-runner/src/ files are in CHANGED_FILES AND bun types are available):
- Check:
pnpm exec tsc -p container/agent-runner/tsconfig.json --noEmit
- If this fails because bun types are missing (
Cannot find type definition file for 'bun'), skip with a note — type errors will surface at container runtime instead
Container image rebuild (only if any container/ files are in CHANGED_FILES):
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 and channel/provider updates
7a: Skill branches
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.
7b: Channel and provider updates
Detect installed channels by reading src/channels/index.ts and collecting all import './<name>.js'; lines (excluding cli). For providers, check src/providers/index.ts the same way.
If any channels/providers are installed AND upstream/channels or upstream/providers branches exist:
- List the installed channels/providers.
- Use AskUserQuestion to ask: "Would you like to update your installed channels/providers? Re-running
/add-<name> is safe — it only updates code files, credentials and wiring are untouched."
- One option per installed channel/provider (e.g., "Update Slack (/add-slack)")
- "Skip — I'll update them later"
- Set
multiSelect: true
- For each selected option, invoke the corresponding
/add-<channel> or /add-<provider> skill.
If no channels/providers are installed, skip silently.
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
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. Detect platform with
uname -s:
- macOS (Darwin):
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.nanoclaw
- Linux: detect the service name with
systemctl --user list-units --type=service | grep nanoclaw | awk '{print $1}', then systemctl --user restart <detected-name>
- Manual (no service found): restart
pnpm run dev
Diagnostics
- Use the Read tool to read
.claude/skills/update-nanoclaw/diagnostics.md.
- Follow every step in that file before finishing.
