update-agent-skills

Installation
SKILL.md

Update Agent Skills

Goal

Refresh installed agent skills with the standard skills CLI workflow.

Use the normal update command first. If the skills were installed with project scope and the CLI does not detect upstream changes, reinstall each tracked project skill explicitly from its recorded source.

For project-scoped installs, treat a no-change npx skills update result as a mandatory fallback trigger. Do not wait for separate proof that a specific skill is stale. Prefer the bundled reinstall script over manual command discovery. It already knows how to read skills-lock.json, filter to installed project skills, batch by repository, and pass non-interactive flags.

Detect the Installation Scope

  1. Check whether the target skills are project-scoped or global.

    • Project-scoped installs usually have a local skills-lock.json and one or more agent skill directories such as .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, or .augment/skills/.
    • Global installs are typically tracked outside the project, for example in ~/.agents/.skill-lock.json or $XDG_STATE_HOME/skills/.skill-lock.json.
  2. Check which skills are actually managed by the skills CLI.

    • Use skills-lock.json or the relevant global lock file as the source of truth.
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Installs
8
First Seen
Mar 20, 2026