skill-update

name	skill-update
description	Repeatable process for keeping skills up-to-date with upstream sources and versions. Use when checking for stale skills, updating a skill for a new upstream version, auditing source freshness, or bootstrapping version tracking for a plugin.
license	MIT

Skill Update

Structured workflow for keeping skills current with upstream sources. Execute all phases in order.

Quick Reference

Command	Purpose
mise sources:check	Compare current vs latest for all plugins
mise sources:stale	List only stale sources
mise sources:validate	Validate sources.toml schema in all plugins
mise sources:report	Full freshness report with priorities
mise sources:init <plugin>	Bootstrap sources.toml for a plugin

sources.toml Schema

Each plugin's skills/sources.toml tracks upstream dependencies. See templates/sources.toml for the complete annotated template.

Field	Values	Required	Description
skill	string	yes	Skill directory name
name	string	yes	Human-readable source identifier
url	string	yes	Primary source URL
releases_url	string	no	Release tracking URL
check_method	see table below	yes	How to query latest version
github_repo	owner/repo	conditional	Required for github-releases
hex_package	string	conditional	Required for hex-pm
crate_name	string	conditional	Required for crates-io
current_version	string	yes	Currently documented version
version_constraint	pre-1.0 | semver | rolling | stable	yes	Version stability model
last_checked	YYYY-MM-DD	yes	Date of last check
update_priority	high | medium | low	yes	Update urgency
breaking_changes_likely	bool	no	Minor bumps may break (default: false)
notes	string	no	Free-form context

Check Method API Endpoints

check_method	Endpoint	Auth	Rate Limit
github-releases	https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/latest	Optional GITHUB_TOKEN	60/hr unauth, 5000/hr auth
hex-pm	https://hex.pm/api/packages/{package}	None	100/min
crates-io	https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/{crate}	User-Agent header required	1/sec
manual	N/A	N/A	N/A — check releases_url manually

See references/version-check-methods.md for Nushell parsing examples.

---

Phase 1: Discovery

Run mise sources:check to produce a staleness table:

plugin        | skill       | source          | current | latest  | stale | priority
claude-code   | container   | apple-container | 0.10.0  | 0.11.0  | yes   | high
elixir        | tidewave    | tidewave        | 0.5.6   | 0.5.6   | no    | medium

If sources.toml does not exist for a plugin, run mise sources:init <plugin> first.

Anti-fabrication: Do not report version numbers without executing mise sources:check or querying the upstream API directly. Mark unknown versions as "requires-check".

---

Phase 2: Triage

Classify each stale source before updating:

Condition	Classification	Action
pre-1.0 + breaking_changes_likely = true + major bump	Critical	Full migration checklist
semver + major version bump	Breaking	Breaking changes review required
semver + minor/patch bump	Standard	Light-touch update
rolling or stable	Docs	Documentation refresh only

Priority order: high → medium → low. Within same priority: breaking changes first.

---

Phase 3: Research

For each update target, collect before writing any changes:

1. Fetch release notes from releases_url
2. Identify: breaking changes, new features, deprecations, bug fixes
3. Compare against skill's currently documented features
4. Determine if a versioned template is needed (a templates/<version>/ snapshot of that version's commands)

Anti-fabrication requirements:

• Read actual release notes before claiming any feature exists in a new version
• Use WebFetch or equivalent to retrieve changelog content
• Mark any feature as "requires verification" if release notes are unavailable
• Never assume a command or flag exists — verify against official docs or release notes

---

Phase 4: Update

Apply changes following the type-specific checklist in references/update-checklist.md.

Skill Type Lookup

Skill type	Examples	Checklist section
CLI tool	container, bees, beads	CLI Tools
Library package	tidewave, wasmex, phoenix	Library Packages
Language/runtime	rust, zig	Language/Runtime
Documentation-based	git, accessibility, twelve-factor	Documentation-Based

Versioned Templates

When a CLI tool has breaking command changes across versions, create a versioned template:

skills/<skill-name>/
└── templates/
    └── <new-version>/
        └── commands.md     # Commands snapshot for this version

Reference the old version template in the migration section of SKILL.md.

---

Phase 5: Bookkeeping

Complete in this order after every update:

1. Update sources.toml: set current_version and last_checked
2. Update sources.md: add release entry with date and summary
3. Bump plugin version in <plugin>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
4. Bump matching version in .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
5. Run mise update-all-skills
6. Run mise test

Use patch bumps (e.g., 0.5.6 → 0.5.7) unless the skill itself has breaking changes.

---

Phase 6: Validation

Check	Command	Pass Criteria
Schema	mise test	All plugins pass
SKILL.md length	wc -l SKILL.md	Under 500 lines
Sources valid	mise sources:validate	No schema errors
Commit format	—	Conventional commit, no attribution

Commit format: chore(<plugin>): update <skill> to <version>

Example: chore(claude-code): update container to 0.11.0

Create PR with minimal format (title + bullet list, no attribution, no boilerplate sections).

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Agent Team Pattern

For batch updates across multiple plugins, spawn agents per plugin:

Orchestrator (sonnet)
├── Plugin checker (haiku) — runs mise sources:check for one plugin
├── Plugin checker (haiku) — runs mise sources:check for another plugin
└── ...

For each stale source:
├── Standard update (haiku)    — minor/patch semver, docs-based
└── Breaking update (sonnet)   — major semver, pre-1.0 breaking, CLI tools

Promote model if an agent fails the same task twice: haiku → sonnet → opus.

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Bootstrapping a New Plugin

When a plugin has no sources.toml:

1. Run mise sources:init <plugin> to generate a skeleton
2. Fill in all [[sources]] entries for each skill
3. Set current_version by reading the skill's current SKILL.md
4. Set last_checked to today's date
5. Run mise sources:validate to confirm schema
6. Commit: chore(<plugin>): add sources.toml for version tracking