| name | upgrade |
| description | Upgrade ADR Kit project artifacts and legacy layouts. Use after a plugin update, for stale wrappers, guide refresh, or migration. |
| argument-hint | [no arguments] |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Write","Edit","Bash","Task"] |
adr-kit upgrade
This is the upgrade mode of /adr-kit:setup (spec R19: one entry point,
four modes). Invoked directly or via /adr-kit:setup upgrade, the procedure
is identical -- this file owns it.
$ARGUMENTS should be empty. Stop for confirmation before any breaking
migration or backup-backed rewrite.
You bring a project's installed adr-kit artifacts in line with the installed plugin version. Two jobs, run in order:
- Artifact refresh (any version, the common case). Plugin-level hooks refresh automatically when the plugin updates, but artifacts copied into the project freeze at install time: the git pre-commit wrapper, the project-scoped guardian entry in
.claude/settings.json, and .claude/adr-kit-guide.md. Step 0 detects and refreshes them.
- Legacy footprint migration (v0.11 to v0.12, one-time). Steps 1-4 below. Skip them when the project is already on the v0.12 footprint.
If the project has no ADRs yet, point the user to /adr-kit:init instead.
After resolving ADR_KIT in Step 0 and before refreshing artifacts, run
format discovery:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-migrate" --plan docs/adr/
Report every migration notice. Do not apply any migration during upgrade.
Supported legacy records receive a deterministic dry-run command; external,
hybrid, or ambiguous formats receive /adr-kit:migrate <path> guidance.
Continue the artifact upgrade regardless of whether notices exist.
Step 0 — Artifact freshness check and refresh
Resolve the plugin path and run the detector:
ADR_KIT=$(ls -d ~/.claude/plugins/cache/rvdbreemen-adr-kit/adr-kit/*/ | sort -V | tail -1)
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-guardian" artifacts --format json
The report lists each copied artifact with its embedded version stamp and a stale flag (the guardian SessionStart nudge uses the same detection, so this is the same signal that brought most users here). For each stale artifact:
git-pre-commit-wrapper (.githooks/pre-commit or .git/hooks/pre-commit): overwrite it with the current $ADR_KIT/templates/githooks/pre-commit (same target path it already occupies). Show a unified diff first when the installed wrapper differs from any shipped template version (the user may have local edits); ask replace | keep | merge by hand only in that case, otherwise replace silently. Preserve the executable bit.
settings-guardian-entry (.claude/settings.json): replace the guardian hook entry with the current $ADR_KIT/templates/cc-settings/guardian-hook-entry.json content using JSON-structural editing (never clobber sibling hooks; same posture as /adr-kit:install-hooks).
.claude/adr-kit-guide.md: if its version line (first line, <!-- adr-kit-guide vX.Y.Z -->) lags the plugin, refresh it from $ADR_KIT/templates/adr-kit-guide.md (diff-and-ask when the project copy has local edits, like Step 2 below).
When the report shows no stale artifacts AND the project is already on the v0.12 footprint, exit with everything up to date; nothing to do.
Artifacts the plugin cannot refresh from here (report them, do not edit): GitHub Action pins (uses: ...adr-judge@vX in workflows; suggest a Dependabot/Renovate rule or a manual bump) and a pre-commit framework rev: (suggest pre-commit autoupdate).
Step 1 — Detect the installed footprint
Inspect the current state:
CLAUDE.md exists? Read it. Look for a v0.11-style ## ADR Kit Rules section (free-form heading, no markers) OR a v0.12 <!-- ADR-KIT STUB START --> block (markers).
docs/adr/ exists? Count ADR-*.md files. Scan for any existing ## Enforcement blocks and tally them.
.githooks/pre-commit exists?
.claude/adr-kit-guide.md exists? If yes, check the version line (first line of the plugin template is <!-- adr-kit-guide vX.Y.Z -->).
Report the detected state to the user in a 4–6 line summary before changing anything.
Step 1a — Materialize the automatic-grilling default
For a project that has docs/adr/, inspect the effective settings before the
upgrade no-op check:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-settings" --adr-dir docs/adr --format json
When grill.auto_start has source default or is absent, write the new
default explicitly:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-settings" --adr-dir docs/adr --set grill.auto_start=true
This makes the latest install's default visible in the project's tracked
configuration. If the project already sets grill.auto_start: false, preserve
that explicit opt-out and report it; never overwrite a user's choice. The
runtime environment opt-out ADR_KIT_AUTO_GRILL_DISABLE=1 remains temporary and
must not be written to project configuration.
If all of the following are true, the project is already on v0.12:
- CLAUDE.md has the marker-bracketed stub
.claude/adr-kit-guide.md matches the plugin's current version
.githooks/pre-commit is the adr-kit hook
- All Accepted ADRs either have
## Enforcement blocks or have been explicitly skipped
If so, exit with already on v0.12; nothing to do.
Step 2 — Refresh CLAUDE.md stub + guide file
Resolve the plugin path:
ADR_KIT=$(ls -d ~/.claude/plugins/cache/rvdbreemen-adr-kit/adr-kit/*/ | sort -V | tail -1)
Three migration paths for CLAUDE.md:
-
v0.11 inline ## ADR Kit Rules section present. Replace the entire section (heading through the next ## heading, or EOF) with the v0.12 stub:
<!-- ADR-KIT STUB START -->
<!-- DO NOT regenerate manually. Updated by `/adr-kit:init`, `/adr-kit:upgrade`, `/adr-kit:setup`. -->
## ADR Kit
This project uses [adr-kit](https://github.com/rvdbreemen/adr-kit). All architectural decisions live as ADRs in `docs/adr/`. Full guide: @.claude/adr-kit-guide.md
Authoring: `/adr-kit:adr` (or the `adr-generator` subagent).
Pre-commit verification: `bin/adr-judge` runs declarative `Enforcement` rules at commit time. ADRs with `llm_judge: true` are reviewed in-session via `/adr-kit:judge`.
<!-- ADR-KIT STUB END -->
Surrounding content (everything outside the section) stays byte-exact. Verify by diff after the edit.
-
v0.12 stub already present. Replace just the contents between the markers with the current stub text. Idempotent.
-
No ADR-kit footprint. Append the v0.12 stub at the end of CLAUDE.md, with one blank line of separation.
For .claude/adr-kit-guide.md:
- If absent: create it from
$ADR_KIT/templates/adr-kit-guide.md.
- If present and byte-identical to the plugin template: no-op.
- If present and differs: read both, show a unified diff (3 context lines), ask the user
keep project version | replace with plugin version | merge by hand. Apply.
Step 3 — Install the pre-commit hook (default-on)
Delegate to /adr-kit:install-hooks (or do its work inline if delegation is awkward). Same logic as that skill — detect existing hook, prepend / replace / abort, set core.hooksPath. Do not prompt for installation itself; the hook is default-on as of v0.12. If the user wants to opt out, they can disable per-commit with ADR_KIT_HOOK_DISABLE=1 or remove via /adr-kit:install-hooks --uninstall.
Step 4 — Enforcement-block backfill (the only slow step)
For every Status: Accepted ADR in docs/adr/ that does NOT already have a ## Enforcement section, propose one. Walk them one at a time (not batched) — each proposal needs the ADR's full Decision/Context to make a judgement, and the user's input is per-ADR.
For each ADR:
- Read the ADR. Summarise its Decision in one line.
- Decide which of three categories it falls into:
- Declarative. The rule is mechanically expressible. Examples: "no String class in hot paths" →
forbid_pattern: \\bString\\b ... in src/**; "use addOTWGcmdtoqueue() for OTGW commands" → require_pattern: addOTWGcmdtoqueue\\(.
- LLM-judgeable. The rule is too nuanced for regex but a model can read the diff and decide. Set
llm_judge: true.
- Manual review only. No code surface (e.g., a process or governance ADR). Suggest the user add
<!-- adr-kit-judge: skip --> near the heading, or simply omit the Enforcement block (the judge skips ADRs without one).
- Print:
[ADR-NNN] <one-line title> → proposed category: <declarative | llm-judge | manual>; proposed block: and show the JSON.
- Ask the user:
accept | edit | skip this ADR | skip rest.
accept: Edit the ADR file, append the ## Enforcement section.
edit: Show the user the proposal, let them edit it inline; apply when satisfied.
skip this ADR: leave it alone.
skip rest: stop the backfill loop entirely.
Do NOT modify any other section of the ADR. Only append the new ## Enforcement section. Accepted ADRs are otherwise immutable.
Step 4b — LLM judge: opt-out migration (ask before writing)
llm_judge defaults to true as of TASK-74. ADRs written before that carry an explicit "llm_judge": false that is indistinguishable from a deliberate refusal, so the upgrade proposes turning them on — and the user gets the chance to decline.
Run the deterministic scan first. It writes nothing:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-migrate" docs/adr/ --enable-llm-judge --dry-run --format json
The result has three lists — enabled (what would be turned on), opted_out (rule-less blocks the scan proposes to mark as having no code surface), and unchanged — plus a summary carrying the two numbers that decide this step: judged_after (how many ADRs the LLM pass evaluates once the migration lands) and unbounded_after (how many of those declare no path_glob).
Then ask the user, once, with the whole picture in front of them. Show:
- the
summary totals first. The enabled list is only this run's delta; on an upgraded repository the dominant cost sits in ADRs that are already on. A dry-run reading "6 enabled, 0 unbounded" has been accepted on a set that ended at 64 unscoped of 68 judged, which at the measured 20–28 s per isolated call is ~25 minutes of blocking per commit;
- how many ADRs would be enabled, and for each one its id, its one-line Decision and its rule count;
- which ADRs carry
unbounded_scope: true — those have no path_glob to narrow with, so enabling them costs a model call on every commit, not only on commits that touch their area;
- which ADRs the scan proposes to mark as no-code-surface, and why.
Offer these answers:
- accept all (the default) — apply as proposed.
- opt out of specific ADRs — name them; each needs a reason, which is written into the ADR as
llm_judge_reason so no later upgrade re-proposes it.
- enable a rule-less ADR anyway — name it under
--force-enable; say plainly that this means one call per commit until the ADR declares a scope.
- skip entirely — change nothing; the next upgrade will ask again.
Apply the answer:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-migrate" docs/adr/ --enable-llm-judge \
--except ADR-006,ADR-011 --reason "reviewed manually in the release checklist" \
--force-enable ADR-014
Report exactly which ADRs were enabled and which were left off. State the cost shape in the same breath, and state it for the whole set: a commit makes one isolated call per scoped ADR whose path_glob the diff touches, plus one call for every unscoped ADR regardless of the diff. "A commit outside every scope makes none" holds only when unbounded_after is zero.
Re-running the command after this is a no-op and says so.
Step 4b² — Make the pass runnable, and decide where it runs
Enabling llm_judge on ADRs configures what SHOULD be judged; it does not make the judge able to run, and it does not decide where the cost lands. An upgrade that stops here can leave a project whose pass degrades silently on every commit, or one whose commits block for half an hour. Finish both halves:
1. The host client. Read the effective configuration:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-judge" --show-config
- Retired keys present (
judge.llm_cmd, judge.llm_model, judge.openrouter_model, judge.ollama_model, judge.openai_model) → config validation refuses each by name and says what replaced it (ADR-036). Have the user delete the keys from .adr-kit.json; no command edits a file that carries them.
- No recorded client → record it now rather than leaving it to the first degraded commit:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-judge" --set-backend host --host-client claude-code-cli
The host model is the only backend (ADR-036); operators can override one run with ADR_KIT_LLM_CMD / --llm-cmd.
2. The cadence. Take unbounded_after from Step 4b's summary and put the multiplication in front of the user: unbounded_after × ~20 s is what every commit will block, sequentially, because the pass makes one isolated call per ADR. Two honest configurations exist:
unbounded_after is small (a handful): per-commit judging is affordable; leave judge.llm_enabled on.
unbounded_after is large: per-commit judging is not viable, and no faster model fixes a per-ADR multiplier. Offer judge.llm_enabled: false (the declarative pass keeps blocking, at milliseconds) with the guardian llm tier as the semantic cadence — guardian.llm_stale_days in docs/adr/.adr-kit.json (default 14; 7 for a weekly pass) makes the SessionStart nudge raise it when due, cost-gated by guardian.llm_autorun: false.
Record the choice in the wrap-up so the next reader of .adr-kit.json sees a decision, not an accident.
Step 4c — The signer: propose, never assume
Every lifecycle command writes a Status History entry naming who decided, and it
refuses to sign on the user's behalf. That refusal is right, and it should not be
the user's first experience of the tool.
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr" signer --suggest --adr-dir docs/adr
Read-only: it finds candidates and writes nothing. It looks at the signed-in
GitHub account (gh api user, when the CLI is available) and at
git config user.name, ranks them, and shows each with its source — a proposal
the user cannot trace is one they cannot judge, and this value lands in an
immutable history.
- Candidates found — show them and ask which to adopt, or let the user type a
different name. Then write it:
python3 "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr" signer --set "User: <chosen>".
- Already configured — say so and move on. Do not overwrite it.
- Nothing found — the GitHub CLI is absent or signed out and git names nobody
usable. Ask for the name outright rather than guessing.
Bot and CI identities are deliberately not offered. github-actions[bot],
runner, a bare user: those are configured values that name a machine, and
R8 asks for evidence of which human accepted a decision.
The value is machine-local by design (docs/adr/.adr-kit.local.json, gitignored)
because writing one person's name into the tracked config would sign every
teammate's acceptances. Each machine, container and CI runner needs its own.
Step 5 — Final lint
"$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-lint" docs/adr/
Report the result. Then optionally run a no-op judge to confirm hook plumbing:
echo "" | "$ADR_KIT/bin/adr-judge" --diff - --adr-dir docs/adr/
Should exit 0 with OK — 0 violations, 0 advisory.
Wrap-up
Print the final summary:
adr-kit upgrade complete:
- CLAUDE.md: <unchanged | refreshed | migrated from v0.11>
- guide: .claude/adr-kit-guide.md (created | refreshed | unchanged)
- hook: <installed | already present>
- backfill: <N> ADRs got declarative rules, <M> got llm_judge:true, <K> skipped, <Q> already had Enforcement
- lint: <P> PASS, <A> ADVISORY, <F> FAIL
- formats: <N> deterministic migration notices, <M> guided notices; 0 auto-migrated
- judge: backend <name | none>, <judged_after> ADRs judged, <unbounded_after> unscoped;
cadence <per-commit | guardian llm tier every <D>d | declarative-only>
Suggest a commit:
git add CLAUDE.md .claude/adr-kit-guide.md .githooks/pre-commit docs/adr/
git commit -m "chore(adr-kit): upgrade to v0.12"
Do not run the commit yourself.
Constraints
- Per-ADR backfill is opt-in. Never silently rewrite ADR contents. Each proposal is shown, the user accepts/edits/skips.
- Surrounding CLAUDE.md content stays byte-exact. Only the marked stub block (or v0.11
## ADR Kit Rules section being replaced) may change.
- Re-runnable. A second invocation should detect "already on v0.12" and exit cleanly.
- No new ADRs. This skill never invokes
adr-generator. New ADRs come from /adr-kit:init (first-time bootstrap) or /adr-kit:adr (on-demand authoring).
- Default-on hook. Don't prompt for hook installation as if it were optional. The opt-out path is
--uninstall, not pre-install consent.