By name: update-ghostclaw description: Safely update GhostClaw to the latest version. Backs up, pulls, migrates, rebuilds, restarts, and verifies.
Update GhostClaw
Pulls the latest GhostClaw release, runs migrations, rebuilds, and restarts the service. Creates a backup tag before changing anything so the user can roll back.
Steps
1. Preflight
Memory warning: Before proceeding, tell the user:
"⚠️ Heads up: updating will reset your active session. If you want to preserve recent conversation context, back up your memory files first:
groups/main/memory/— identity, state, and loggroups/main/CLAUDE.md— personalised soulThe update won't delete these files, but a fresh session after restart won't have the previous conversation in context."
Check that the working tree is clean:
git status --porcelain
If there's any output, stop and tell the user: "You have uncommitted changes. Commit or stash them first, then run /update-ghostclaw again."
Get the current version:
node -e "console.log(require('./package.json').version)"
Save this as OLD_VERSION.
Check for updates:
git fetch origin
git log HEAD..origin/main --oneline
If no new commits, tell the user: "GhostClaw is already up to date (vOLD_VERSION)." and stop.
Otherwise, show the user the list of incoming commits and how many there are. Ask: "These updates are available. Apply them?"
2. Backup
Create a backup tag so the user can roll back:
git tag "backup/pre-update-$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)-$(date +%s)"
Tell the user the tag name. Remind them they can roll back with:
git reset --hard <tag-name> && npm run build && launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.ghostclaw
3. Pull
git merge origin/main
If there are merge conflicts, stop. Tell the user which files conflict and that they need to resolve manually. Do NOT force-resolve conflicts — this code runs bare metal with full system access.
4. Install dependencies and run migrations
npm install
This also runs the postinstall script which bootstraps agent-runner.
Get the new version:
node -e "console.log(require('./package.json').version)"
Save this as NEW_VERSION.
If NEW_VERSION differs from OLD_VERSION, run migrations:
npx tsx scripts/run-migrations.ts OLD_VERSION NEW_VERSION .
Report the migration results (how many ran, any failures).
If migrations fail, warn the user but continue — they may need to fix something manually.
4b. Check for template updates
If the upstream changed groups/main/CLAUDE.md.template or groups/global/CLAUDE.md.template, inform the user:
git diff HEAD~$(git log HEAD..origin/main --oneline | wc -l)..HEAD --name-only | grep 'CLAUDE.md.template'
If any templates changed, tell the user: "The CLAUDE.md template was updated upstream. Your personalised groups/main/CLAUDE.md is untouched — review the template changes if you want to incorporate any new sections."
5. Build and validate
npm run build
If the build fails, stop. Tell the user to check the error and fix it before restarting.
Run tests (non-blocking):
npm test
If tests fail, warn the user but don't block. They may have local customisations that diverge from upstream tests.
6. Hard reset sessions
Clear all stored sessions so agents start fresh after restart (stale sessions from the previous version can cause auth or execution errors):
node -e "
const Database = require('better-sqlite3');
const db = new Database('store/messages.db');
const result = db.prepare('DELETE FROM sessions').run();
console.log('Cleared ' + result.changes + ' session(s)');
"
Report how many sessions were cleared.
7. Restart service
Detect the platform and restart:
macOS (launchd):
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.ghostclaw
Linux (systemd):
systemctl --user restart ghostclaw
Fallback (nohup/other): Tell the user to restart manually.
To detect: check if launchctl list 2>/dev/null | grep com.ghostclaw finds something (macOS), otherwise check if systemctl --user is-active ghostclaw 2>/dev/null works (Linux).
8. Verify
Wait 3 seconds, then check the service is running:
macOS:
launchctl list | grep com.ghostclaw
Linux:
systemctl --user is-active ghostclaw
Report to the user:
- Old version → new version
- Number of commits applied
- Migration results (if any)
- Service status
- Backup tag for rollback
If the service isn't running, tell the user to check logs/ghostclaw.error.log.
Rolling back
If something goes wrong after an update:
git reset --hard <backup-tag>
npm install
npm run build
# Then restart the service (launchctl/systemctl)
The backup tag is printed during step 2 and again in the final summary.