| name | skill-updater |
| description | Scan all installed Claude Code skills, check if they originate from open-source GitHub repos, and detect available updates. Use this skill when the user mentions updating skills, checking skill versions, auditing installed skills, skill freshness, or wants to know which skills are from GitHub and whether newer versions exist. Also trigger when the user says 'check my skills', 'update skills', 'skill status', or anything about skill maintenance. |
Skill Updater
Scan installed Claude Code skills, identify their GitHub origins, and check for available updates using gh CLI.
How It Works
Skills can come from two places:
- GitHub repos — tracked in
skills-lock.json with source, sourceType, and computedHash
- Local/custom — created by the user, no upstream source
This skill scans both project-level (<project>/.claude/skills/) and global (~/.claude/skills/) skill directories, cross-references with skills-lock.json, and uses gh CLI to check if upstream repos have newer versions.
Usage
Run the scanner script:
python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/scan_skills.py [options]
Options
| Flag | Description |
|---|
--project-dir PATH | Project root (default: current working directory) |
--global-dir PATH | Global skills dir (default: ~/.claude/skills) |
--lock-file PATH | Path to skills-lock.json (default: <project-dir>/skills-lock.json) |
--check-updates | Actually query GitHub for updates (slower, requires gh CLI) |
--json | Output as JSON instead of table |
--outdated-only | Only show skills that have updates available |
Examples
Quick overview — list all skills and their sources:
python3 scripts/scan_skills.py --project-dir /Users/crawford/workspace
Check for updates — compare local hashes against GitHub:
python3 scripts/scan_skills.py --project-dir /Users/crawford/workspace --check-updates
Show only outdated — filter to skills needing updates:
python3 scripts/scan_skills.py --project-dir /Users/crawford/workspace --check-updates --outdated-only
JSON output — for programmatic use:
python3 scripts/scan_skills.py --project-dir /Users/crawford/workspace --check-updates --json
Workflow
- Run the script to get a status overview
- Review which skills have updates available
- For skills you want to update, the script prints the
claude skill install command
- For local skills, it checks if a matching GitHub repo exists (by searching skill name)
Interpreting Results
| Status | Meaning |
|---|
up-to-date | Local hash matches upstream — no action needed |
update-available | Upstream has changed since last install |
local | Not from GitHub, user-created skill |
unknown | In lock file but couldn't check upstream |
not-tracked | On disk but not in skills-lock.json |
Requirements
gh CLI installed and authenticated (gh auth status)- Python 3.8+
skills-lock.json in the project root (created by claude skill install)
