| name | ce-update |
| description | Check if the compound-engineering plugin is up to date and recommend the
update command if not. Use when the user says "update compound engineering",
"check compound engineering version", "ce update", "is compound engineering
up to date", "update ce plugin", or reports issues that might stem from a
stale compound-engineering plugin version. This skill only works in Claude
Code — it relies on the plugin harness cache layout.
|
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| ce_platforms | ["claude"] |
| allowed-tools | Bash(bash *upstream-version.sh), Bash(bash *currently-loaded-version.sh), Bash(bash *marketplace-name.sh) |
Check Plugin Version
Verify the installed compound-engineering plugin version matches the upstream
plugin.json on main, and recommend the update command if it doesn't.
Claude Code only.
The upstream version comes from plugins/compound-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
on main rather than the latest GitHub release tag, because the marketplace
installs plugin contents from main HEAD. Comparing against release tags
false-positives whenever main is ahead of the last tag (the normal state
between releases).
Step 1: Probe versions
Run these three scripts in parallel via the Bash tool. Each prints a single
line of output; capture the values for the decision logic below. Use
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} so the path resolves correctly in both claude --plugin-dir
local-development sessions and standard marketplace-cached installs.
bash "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/upstream-version.sh"
bash "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/currently-loaded-version.sh"
bash "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/marketplace-name.sh"
If ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} is unset or unresolved (the commands above fail with
No such file or directory), the harness does not expose the skill directory —
this is not a standard Claude Code session. Treat it the same as the
__CE_UPDATE_NOT_MARKETPLACE__ case in Step 2: explain and stop.
scripts/upstream-version.sh reads plugin.json on main via gh api. It
prints the version string, or the sentinel __CE_UPDATE_VERSION_FAILED__ if
gh is unavailable or rate-limited.
scripts/currently-loaded-version.sh and scripts/marketplace-name.sh parse
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} against the marketplace-cache layout
~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/compound-engineering/<version>/skills/ce-update.
They print the version segment / marketplace segment, or the sentinel
__CE_UPDATE_NOT_MARKETPLACE__ if the path doesn't match (typical for
claude --plugin-dir local development).
Step 2: Apply decision logic
Handle failure cases
If scripts/upstream-version.sh printed __CE_UPDATE_VERSION_FAILED__: tell
the user the upstream version could not be fetched (gh may be unavailable or
rate-limited) and stop.
If scripts/currently-loaded-version.sh printed
__CE_UPDATE_NOT_MARKETPLACE__: the skill is loaded from outside the
standard marketplace cache. Two cases collapse to the same handling: a
claude --plugin-dir local-development session, or a non-Claude-Code
platform (this skill is Claude Code-only because it relies on the plugin
harness cache layout). Tell the user:
"Skill is loaded from outside the marketplace cache at
~/.claude/plugins/cache/. This is normal when using
claude --plugin-dir for local development. No action for this session.
Your marketplace install (if any) is unaffected — run /ce-update in a
regular Claude Code session (no --plugin-dir) to check that cache."
Then stop.
Compare versions
Up to date — currently_loaded == upstream:
"compound-engineering v{version} is installed and up to date."
Out of date — currently_loaded != upstream:
"compound-engineering is on v{currently_loaded} but v{upstream} is available.
Update with:
claude plugin update compound-engineering@{marketplace_name}
Then restart Claude Code to apply."
The claude plugin update command ships with Claude Code itself and updates
installed plugins to their latest version; it replaces earlier manual cache
sweep / marketplace-refresh workarounds. The marketplace name is derived from
the skill path rather than hardcoded because this plugin is distributed under
multiple marketplace names (for example, compound-engineering-plugin for
public installs per the README, or other names for internal/team marketplaces).
