Upgrades dependencies across package managers with breaking-change research and rollback-safe verification. Use for dependency maintenance; not general code modernization.
Upgrades dependencies across package managers with breaking-change research and rollback-safe verification. Use for dependency maintenance; not general code modernization.
Dependency Upgrader
Goal: Upgrade dependencies in small, attributable batches. Preserve manifests, lockfiles, runtime support, and product behavior; do not treat a newer version as valuable without compatibility, security, or maintenance evidence.
Execution contract: Treat the ordered checkbox workflow below as this skill's Definition of Done. Work through every item in order, and mark it complete only when its action and required evidence are complete. N/A, skipped, unavailable, or delegated items remain incomplete.
Before returning, apply this skill's verdict, decision, and approval rules to every incomplete item and prepend Checklist: X/Y complete Incomplete: None | section/item — reason; outcome impact; exact next action; list every incomplete item.
Tool Routing
Need
Preferred tool
Use it when
Fallback
Package-manager detection
Manifests, lockfiles, workspace files, runtime files, and repository instructions
Always before choosing commands or update scope
Build and CI configuration
Outdated and vulnerable packages
Native package-manager outdated and audit commands
The manager and registry are available
Official registry, vendor advisory, and lockfile inspection
Breaking changes and support
Official release notes, migration guides, changelogs, advisories, and runtime support tables
Every consequential minor, major, replacement, or security update
Primary-source repository releases; otherwise mark UNVERIFIED
Usage and blast radius
Language server or host-native code intelligence
An updated API, type, plugin, build tool, or runtime may affect consumers
Targeted import, symbol, configuration, and script search
Safe version changes
Native package-manager commands
Updating manifests and generated lock state
Do not hand-edit lockfiles or emulate package resolution
CI and script inspection with explicit unverified status
Diff and rollback
Git status, diff, and isolated commits or worktree
Protecting user changes and reverting only the failed batch
Stop if the batch cannot be isolated safely
Never publish packages, rotate credentials, deploy, or weaken audit and verification gates. Do not run lifecycle scripts from an untrusted package source without the environment's normal safeguards.
Evidence Rules
Manifests and lockfiles define what is installed; registry "latest" does not override project runtime or compatibility constraints.
A vulnerability finding requires the affected version, advisory, reachability or exposure context, and a credible remediation.
A breaking-change claim requires release or migration evidence matching the exact version transition.
Keep generated lockfile changes only when produced by the selected native package manager and expected repository version.
Upgrade success requires repository verification, not only a successful install or restore.
Checklist
1. Discover Scope and Protect the Workspace
Detect all package managers, workspaces, manifests, lockfiles, central version files, registries, runtime pins, tool manifests, and generated dependency files.
Classify each deliverable as an application, library, plugin, CLI, container, or build tool so version ranges, lockfiles, peer constraints, and supported-runtime promises are interpreted correctly.
Read repository instructions and determine supported package-manager versions, update commands, lockfile policy, and CI expectations.
Inspect Git state and isolate the work so existing user changes cannot be overwritten or mistaken for upgrade output.
Start a run-owned resource ledger with every created absolute path, worktree, process ID, cache, report, and temporary artifact; never register pre-existing resources as cleanup targets.
Resolve the requested scope: security-only, routine patch or minor maintenance, selected packages, majors, runtime migration, or complete refresh.
Capture install or restore, build, lint, type, test, smoke, and security-audit baseline before editing.
Record pre-existing failures, advisories, deprecations, peer conflicts, and unsupported runtime combinations.
2. Research and Plan Batches
Use native outdated and audit commands to inventory direct and relevant transitive updates without changing files.
Separate removals, security fixes, routine updates, major changes, build-tool changes, and runtime or ecosystem migrations.
Check official release notes and migration guides for API changes, configuration changes, defaults, peer constraints, runtime support, and removed behavior.
Resolve environment markers, extras, optional/dev groups, peer dependencies, target frameworks, and platform-specific packages; a graph that resolves only on the current machine is not sufficient when the project promises a wider matrix.
Check official advisories for affected ranges, exploit conditions, fixed versions, workarounds, and whether the dependency is reachable in this project.
Search actual imports, symbols, plugins, scripts, configuration, generated code, and runtime loading for every consequential dependency.
Identify unused, duplicate, abandoned, replaced, or platform-redundant dependencies as separate removal candidates; require runtime and dynamic-loading evidence, and explicit user approval when removal is outside the requested upgrade scope.
Order batches by prerequisite: package manager or runtime, build tooling, foundational libraries, framework, integrations, then leaf packages.
Keep routine batches small enough to attribute failure; batch framework families, analyzers, generated clients, or tightly constrained peers together only when their compatibility matrix requires it.
Stop for user direction when mutually exclusive version strategies, runtime support, licensing, registry policy, or migration scope changes product intent.
3. Apply Each Batch Safely
Use the native package manager to update manifests and lockfiles with the repository's expected version and flags.
Avoid broad re-resolution when the request is narrow unless the manager cannot preserve the lock graph safely; explain unavoidable churn.
Inspect install scripts, registry source, checksums, package provenance, and unexpected new transitive packages when security risk warrants it.
Update imports, APIs, types, configuration, build scripts, plugins, generated clients, and application code required by documented breaking changes.
Update user or operator documentation only when accepted behavior, prerequisites, configuration, or commands change.
Inspect the diff immediately for unrelated formatting, deleted constraints, registry drift, line-ending churn, generated artifacts, and accidental downgrades.
Inspect the resolved graph for newly duplicated major versions, unsatisfied or silently ignored peers, changed optional features, and transitive substitutions that alter runtime behavior.
Do not suppress warnings, disable audits, skip required checks, pin incompatible peers forcibly, or add compatibility hacks without evidence.
4. Verify and Keep or Revert
Run install or restore from a clean-enough state to prove lockfile reproducibility.
Run the relevant build, lint, type, unit, integration, smoke, packaging, migration, and application-start checks after each batch.
Classify affected runtime, target-framework, OS, architecture, and feature combinations as required or optional; retain a batch only with local or trusted CI evidence for every required cell, and return BLOCKED when required coverage has no credible fallback.
Exercise changed APIs, plugins, serializers, build outputs, and runtime paths that generic tests may not cover.
Compare bundle, startup, artifact, or performance metrics when the updated dependency can materially change them.
Re-run the security audit and distinguish fixed, remaining, newly introduced, unreachable, and no-fix advisories.
Keep the batch only when verification passes and expected behavior remains supported.
Revert the entire failed batch without touching user work, record the blocking package or migration, and continue only with independent safe batches.
Establish the retained dependency state as the baseline before applying the next batch.
Classify each planned batch as KEPT when applied and verified, REVERTED when applied then fully rolled back after failed verification, or SKIPPED when deliberately not applied because a required decision, compatibility strategy, or independent prerequisite is unresolved.
5. Finalize and Report
Run the full required repository verification on the combined retained state.
Confirm manifests, lockfiles, runtime pins, CI, containers, documentation, and generated metadata agree on the final versions.
Remove only run-owned ledger entries: verify absolute paths remain inside approved temporary roots, stop exact recorded process IDs, preserve dirty or pre-existing worktrees, and retain evidence artifacts intentionally reported.
List intentionally skipped packages with exact constraint, risk, advisory, or migration reason.
Report direct and important transitive changes, removals, code migrations, advisories, verification, lockfile churn, and residual maintenance risk.
Use UPDATED when every requested retained batch passes required verification; use PARTIAL when at least one independent batch is retained and another is reverted, skipped, or optional coverage remains; use NO_CHANGE when no batch is retained and the baseline is restored; use BLOCKED when no safe batch can proceed or required verification is unavailable.
Output Contract
# Dependency Upgrade**Verdict:** UPDATED | PARTIAL | NO_CHANGE | BLOCKED
## Scope and baseline
- Package managers, workspaces, and runtime constraints
- Requested update policy
- Pre-existing verification and advisories
## Batches
| Batch | Packages | Version changes | Decision | Verification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ... | ... | ... | KEPT / REVERTED / SKIPPED | ... |
## Security and compatibility
- Fixed, remaining, and introduced advisories
- Breaking changes and code migrations
- Runtime, peer, and registry constraints
## Final verification and residual risks
Commands, results, skipped packages, limitations, and follow-up decisions.
## Evidence artifacts
Run-owned paths and hashes for manifests, lockfiles, exact commands, final diff, rollback, and cleanup proof.
