/agent:update — Check for new versions

Detect whether new versions of Claude Code (@anthropic-ai/claude-code) or ClawCode (this repo) are available, and surface the safe update procedure for each. Designed for users running ClawCode as a long-running daemon, where Claude Code's in-process auto-updater is disabled (see lib/service-generator.ts — Environment=DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1) and updates have to be applied explicitly.

When to use

• User asks /agent:update, /update, "check for updates", "are there updates", etc.
• Heartbeat skill calls in silent-check mode (see templates/HEARTBEAT.md).
• Before applying any change to the running service — knowing the upstream version helps decide whether to bundle with an update.

Steps

1. Detect current versions. Run all three in parallel (independent reads):

   # Claude Code installed binary
   CC_INSTALLED=$(claude --version 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}')
   
   # ClawCode local repo HEAD
   PLUGIN_ROOT="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$(pwd)/ClawCode}"
   CW_LOCAL=$(git -C "$PLUGIN_ROOT" rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null)
   CW_LOCAL_TAG=$(git -C "$PLUGIN_ROOT" describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "no-tag")
   

2. Detect available versions. Network calls — be tolerant of failures (no network, npm flake, GitHub down):

   # Claude Code latest on npm
   CC_LATEST=$(npm view @anthropic-ai/claude-code version 2>/dev/null)
   
   # ClawCode latest tag and HEAD on upstream
   git -C "$PLUGIN_ROOT" fetch upstream --tags 2>/dev/null
   CW_UPSTREAM_HEAD=$(git -C "$PLUGIN_ROOT" rev-parse --short upstream/main 2>/dev/null)
   CW_UPSTREAM_TAG=$(git -C "$PLUGIN_ROOT" describe --tags --abbrev=0 upstream/main 2>/dev/null || echo "no-tag")
   

   If any value is empty, treat that side as "unknown" rather than failing the whole check.

3. Compare and decide. Two boolean signals: CC_UPDATE_AVAILABLE and CW_UPDATE_AVAILABLE.

   • Claude Code: CC_UPDATE_AVAILABLE=1 if CC_INSTALLED and CC_LATEST are both set and not equal.
   • ClawCode: CW_UPDATE_AVAILABLE=1 if CW_LOCAL_TAG and CW_UPSTREAM_TAG are both set, neither is no-tag, and they differ (i.e. upstream has cut a newer release tag). Plain commits on upstream/main (docs, chore, ci) do NOT trigger an update notification; otherwise routine upstream activity would teach users to ignore the pings.

4. Surface the result. Always show a status block. If updates are available, append the safe procedure for each.

   📦 *Update check*
   
   Claude Code:    <CC_INSTALLED> → <CC_LATEST>   <✅ current | ⬆️ update available | ⚠️ unknown>
   ClawCode:       <CW_LOCAL_TAG>+<CW_LOCAL> → <CW_UPSTREAM_TAG>+<CW_UPSTREAM_HEAD>   <✅ current | ⬆️ update available | ⚠️ unknown>
   

   When at least one update is available, append:

   To apply (in a root shell on the host running the service):
   
     npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code            # if Claude Code update
     git -C <plugin-root> pull upstream main             # if ClawCode update
     systemctl --user restart clawcode-<slug>.service    # always — picks up both
   

   Substitute <plugin-root> and <slug> from the actual service install (read from ~/.config/systemd/user/clawcode-*.service if present, otherwise leave the placeholders).

5. On a messaging channel: trim the output for mobile. Use the channel-appropriate reply tool (e.g. mcp__plugin_telegram_telegram__reply). Don't include long bash blocks — instead one short line per actionable update, and offer "want the full commands?" as a follow-up.

Permission notes

• The claude user typically cannot run npm install -g (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/ is root-owned). The skill detects + reports — it does not execute the install. The user (or their root-capable operator) runs the printed commands themselves.
• git pull works as long as the user owns the plugin repo directory. ClawCode updates can be applied without elevation.
• systemctl --user restart requires no root for user-mode services, but kills the running session. Warn before suggesting it during an active conversation.

Silent-check mode (called by heartbeat)

When invoked from the heartbeat skill, the goal is not to spam the user every 30 minutes. Use a memory-backed dedupe so each new version is announced exactly once:

NOTIFIED_FILE="$AGENT_ROOT/memory/.notified-versions.json"
# Read the last-notified version for each component.
LAST_CC=$(jq -r '.["claude-code"] // ""' "$NOTIFIED_FILE" 2>/dev/null)
LAST_CW=$(jq -r '.clawcode // ""' "$NOTIFIED_FILE" 2>/dev/null)

# Only notify when the available version differs from BOTH the installed AND the last-notified.
if [[ -n "$CC_LATEST" && "$CC_LATEST" != "$CC_INSTALLED" && "$CC_LATEST" != "$LAST_CC" ]]; then
  # ping user, then record the new last-notified
  jq --arg v "$CC_LATEST" '.["claude-code"] = $v' "$NOTIFIED_FILE" > "$NOTIFIED_FILE.tmp" \
    && mv "$NOTIFIED_FILE.tmp" "$NOTIFIED_FILE"
fi
# Same shape for ClawCode, keyed by tag (CW_UPSTREAM_TAG), so each release is
# announced once, and pure-chore upstream commits never trigger a notification.

Initialize the file as {} if it doesn't exist. The dedupe survives restarts because it's in memory/, not /tmp.

Also gate on a coarser per-day check via memory/.last-update-check — heartbeat fires every 30 min but the network round-trip to npm + GitHub doesn't need to happen that often. Skip the network calls entirely if the marker's mtime is < 24h old; just compare against the cached state.

Notes

• This skill never applies updates. It only detects, reports, and tells the user the safe command. That's deliberate — a daemonized agent that auto-applies updates to its own runtime is exactly what we just disabled.
• If the plugin repo isn't a git checkout (rare — installed via plugin manager only), skip the ClawCode side gracefully and just check Claude Code.
• Channel-specific formatting: WhatsApp uses *bold*; Telegram supports **bold** or HTML; CLI is plain markdown.