update-nanoclaw - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: update-nanoclaw description: Efficiently bring upstream NanoClaw updates into a customized install, with preview, selective cherry-pick, and low token usage.

About

Your NanoClaw fork drifts from upstream as you customize it. This skill pulls upstream changes into your install without losing your modifications.

Run /update-nanoclaw in Claude Code.

How it works

Preflight: checks for clean working tree (git status --porcelain). If upstream remote is missing, asks you for the URL (defaults to https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git) and adds it. Detects the upstream branch name (main or master).

Backup: creates a timestamped backup branch and tag (backup/pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp>, pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp>) before touching anything. Safe to run multiple times.

Preview: runs git log and git diff against the merge base to show upstream changes since your last sync. Groups changed files into categories:

Skills (.claude/skills/): unlikely to conflict unless you edited an upstream skill
Host source (src/): may conflict if you modified the same files
Container (container/): triggers container rebuild
Build/config (package.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, tsconfig*.json): lockfile changes trigger dep install

Update paths (you pick one):

merge (default): git merge upstream/<branch>. Resolves all conflicts in one pass.
cherry-pick: git cherry-pick <hashes>. Pull in only the commits you want.
rebase: git rebase upstream/<branch>. Linear history, but conflicts resolve per-commit.
abort: just view the changelog, change nothing.

Conflict preview: before merging, runs a dry-run (git merge --no-commit --no-ff) to show which files would conflict. You can still abort at this point.

Conflict resolution: opens only conflicted files, resolves the conflict markers, keeps your local customizations intact.

Validation: runs pnpm run build and pnpm test. If container files changed, also runs the container typecheck and ./container/build.sh.

Breaking changes check: after validation, reads CHANGELOG.md for any [BREAKING] entries introduced by the update. If found, shows each breaking change and offers to run the recommended skill to migrate.

Rollback

The backup tag is printed at the end of each run:

git reset --hard pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp>

Backup branch backup/pre-update-<hash>-<timestamp> also exists.

Token usage

Only opens files with actual conflicts. Uses git log, git diff, and git status for everything else. Does not scan or refactor unrelated code.

Goal

Help a user with a customized NanoClaw install safely incorporate upstream changes without a fresh reinstall and without blowing tokens.

Operating principles

Never proceed with a dirty working tree.
Always create a rollback point (backup branch + tag) before touching anything.
Prefer git-native operations (fetch, merge, cherry-pick). Do not manually rewrite files except conflict markers.
Default to MERGE (one-pass conflict resolution). Offer REBASE as an explicit option.
Keep token usage low: rely on git status, git log, git diff, and open only conflicted files.

Step 0a: Refresh this skill first

The update process itself evolves, so run its newest version before doing anything else:

Ensure the upstream remote exists (default https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git) and fetch: git fetch upstream --prune. Detect the upstream branch (main or master).
Refresh this skill from upstream: git checkout upstream/<branch> -- .claude/skills/update-nanoclaw/
Re-read .claude/skills/update-nanoclaw/SKILL.md. If it changed, follow the updated version from the top instead of this one.

This is the only working-tree change expected before the preflight check; the full update commits it along with everything else.

Step 0: Preflight (stop early if unsafe)

Run:

git status --porcelain If output is non-empty:
Tell the user to commit or stash first, then stop.
Exception: changes limited to .claude/skills/update-nanoclaw/ are the Step 0a self-refresh — ignore those and proceed.

Confirm remotes:

git remote -v If upstream is missing:
Ask the user for the upstream repo URL (default: https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git).
Add it: git remote add upstream <user-provided-url>
Then: git fetch upstream --prune

Determine the upstream branch name:

git branch -r | grep upstream/
If upstream/main exists, use main.
If only upstream/master exists, use master.
Otherwise, ask the user which branch to use.
Store this as UPSTREAM_BRANCH for all subsequent commands. Every command below that references upstream/main should use upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH instead.

Fetch:

git fetch upstream --prune

Step 1: Create a safety net

Capture current state:

HASH=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)

Create backup branch and tag (using timestamp to avoid collisions on retry):

git branch backup/pre-update-$HASH-$TIMESTAMP
git tag pre-update-$HASH-$TIMESTAMP

Save the tag name for later reference in the summary and rollback instructions.

Step 2: Preview what upstream changed (no edits yet)

Compute common base:

BASE=$(git merge-base HEAD upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH)

Show upstream commits since BASE:

git log --oneline $BASE..upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH

Show local commits since BASE (custom drift):

git log --oneline $BASE..HEAD

Show file-level impact from upstream:

git diff --name-only $BASE..upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH

Bucket the upstream changed files:

Skills (.claude/skills/): unlikely to conflict unless the user edited an upstream skill
Host source (src/): may conflict if user modified the same files
Container (container/): triggers container rebuild (+ typecheck if agent-runner/src/ changed)
Build/config (package.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, tsconfig*.json): lockfile changes trigger dep install
Version pins (versions.json): a changed onecli-gateway / onecli-cli value requires upgrading the OneCLI gateway/CLI to match — see Step 5.5
Other: docs, tests, setup scripts, misc

Large drift check: If the upstream commit count and age suggest the user has a lot of catching up to do, mention that /migrate-nanoclaw might be a better fit — it extracts customizations and reapplies them on clean upstream instead of merging. Offer it as an option but don't push.

Present these buckets to the user and ask them to choose one path using AskUserQuestion:

A) Full update: merge all upstream changes
B) Selective update: cherry-pick specific upstream commits
C) Abort: they only wanted the preview
D) Rebase mode: advanced, linear history (warn: resolves conflicts per-commit)

If Abort: stop here.

Step 3: Conflict preview (before committing anything)

If Full update or Rebase:

Dry-run merge to preview conflicts. Run these as a single chained command so the abort always executes:

git merge --no-commit --no-ff upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH; git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U; git merge --abort

If conflicts were listed: show them and ask user if they want to proceed.
If no conflicts: tell user it is clean and proceed.

Step 4A: Full update (MERGE, default)

Run:

git merge upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH --no-edit

If conflicts occur:

Run git status and identify conflicted files.
For each conflicted file:
- Open the file.
- Resolve only conflict markers.
- Preserve intentional local customizations.
- Incorporate upstream fixes/improvements.
- Do not refactor surrounding code.
- git add <file>
When all resolved:
- If merge did not auto-commit: git commit --no-edit

Step 4B: Selective update (CHERRY-PICK)

If user chose Selective:

Recompute BASE if needed: BASE=$(git merge-base HEAD upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH)
Show commit list again: git log --oneline $BASE..upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH
Ask user which commit hashes they want.
Apply: git cherry-pick <hash1> <hash2> ...

If conflicts during cherry-pick:

Resolve only conflict markers, then:
- git add <file>
- git cherry-pick --continue If user wants to stop:
- git cherry-pick --abort

Step 4C: Rebase (only if user explicitly chose option D)

Run:

git rebase upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH

If conflicts:

Resolve conflict markers only, then:
- git add <file>
- git rebase --continue If it gets messy (more than 3 rounds of conflicts):
- git rebase --abort
- Recommend merge instead.

Step 4.5: Install dependencies (if lockfiles changed)

Check if the merge changed any lockfiles or package manifests:

git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD --name-only | grep -E '^(pnpm-lock\.yaml|package\.json)$'
- If matched: pnpm install
git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD --name-only | grep -E '^container/agent-runner/(bun\.lock|package\.json)$'
- If matched AND command -v bun succeeds: cd container/agent-runner && bun install
- If bun is not installed on the host, skip — container deps will be installed during ./container/build.sh

Skip this step if neither lockfile changed.

Step 5: Validation

Check which areas changed to determine what to validate:

CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD)

Host build (always):

pnpm run build
pnpm test (do not fail the flow if tests are not configured)

Container typecheck (only if container/agent-runner/src/ files are in CHANGED_FILES AND bun types are available):

Check: pnpm exec tsc -p container/agent-runner/tsconfig.json --noEmit
If this fails because bun types are missing (Cannot find type definition file for 'bun'), skip with a note — type errors will surface at container runtime instead

Container image rebuild (only if any container/ files are in CHANGED_FILES):

./container/build.sh

If build fails:

Show the error.
Only fix issues clearly caused by the merge (missing imports, type mismatches from merged code).
Do not refactor unrelated code.
If unclear, ask the user before making changes.

Step 5.5: OneCLI upgrade (if pins moved)

The OneCLI gateway and CLI are external components pinned in versions.json; when a pin moves, the running version must be upgraded to match or the new code may fail against it.

If git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD -- versions.json shows the onecli-gateway or onecli-cli value changed, follow docs/onecli-upgrades.md before the service restart (Step 8). Otherwise skip.

Step 6: Breaking changes check

After validation succeeds, check if the update introduced any breaking changes.

Determine which CHANGELOG entries are new by diffing against the backup tag:

git diff <backup-tag-from-step-1>..HEAD -- CHANGELOG.md

Parse the diff output for lines that contain [BREAKING] anywhere in the line. Each such line is one breaking change entry. The format is:

[BREAKING] <description>. Run `/<skill-name>` to <action>.

If no [BREAKING] lines are found:

Skip this step silently. Proceed to Step 7 (skill updates check).

If one or more [BREAKING] lines are found:

Display a warning header to the user: "This update includes breaking changes that may require action:"
For each breaking change, display the full description.
Collect all skill names referenced in the breaking change entries (the /<skill-name> part).
Use AskUserQuestion to ask the user which migration skills they want to run now. Options:
- One option per referenced skill (e.g., "Run /add-whatsapp to re-add WhatsApp channel")
- "Skip — I'll handle these manually"
Set multiSelect: true so the user can pick multiple skills if there are several breaking changes.
For each skill the user selects, invoke it using the Skill tool.
After all selected skills complete (or if user chose Skip), proceed to Step 7 (skill updates check).

Step 7: Skill updates (part of updating NanoClaw)

Updating your installed skills is part of updating NanoClaw, not an optional extra. Channel and provider code ships on long-lived branches (channels, providers) that the host merge above doesn't touch — so stopping here leaves that code on whatever version you installed, which is how an important upstream fix gets silently left behind. The default is to continue into /update-skills, which re-applies your installed channels/providers to pull their latest code.

Detect whether anything is installed: read src/channels/index.ts and src/providers/index.ts, collecting import './<name>.js'; lines (excluding cli).

If nothing is installed: skip silently and proceed to Step 7.9.
If one or more are installed: continue into skill updates.

Hand-off — default in, minimal opt-out. Use AskUserQuestion (single-select). Name the installed skills in the question so the choice is concrete:

Question: "Skill updates are part of this NanoClaw update — your installed channels/providers () ride separate branches the host update didn't touch. Continue into /update-skills to bring them up to date?"
Option 1 (Recommended): "Continue into skill updates" — description: "Runs /update-skills, which re-applies your installed channels/providers to pull their latest upstream code. You pick which ones there."
Option 2: "Skip — I'll run /update-skills myself later" — description: "Your installed skill code stays as-is and may be behind upstream."

Keep it to these two options — the per-skill selection lives inside /update-skills, not here.

On "Continue": invoke /update-skills using the Skill tool. (If the re-apply touches container code, /update-skills rebuilds the agent image itself — see its Step 4 — so nothing container-related is owed back here.)
On "Skip": note that /update-skills can be run anytime, then proceed.

Proceed to Step 7.9.

Step 7.9: Stamp the upgrade marker (required)

After validation has succeeded, record that this install reached the new version through the supported path. Without this, the startup tripwire stops the host on its next start.

pnpm exec tsx scripts/upgrade-state.ts set "" update-nanoclaw
- The empty version argument stamps the current package.json version.

If validation did NOT succeed, do not stamp — leave the tripwire to catch the broken state.

Proceed to Step 8.

Step 8: Summary + rollback instructions

Show:

Backup tag: the tag name created in Step 1
New HEAD: git rev-parse --short HEAD
Upstream HEAD: git rev-parse --short upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH
Conflicts resolved (list files, if any)
Breaking changes applied (list skills run, if any)
Remaining local diff vs upstream: git diff --name-only upstream/$UPSTREAM_BRANCH..HEAD

Tell the user:

To rollback: git reset --hard <backup-tag-from-step-1>
Backup branch also exists: backup/pre-update-<HASH>-<TIMESTAMP>
Restart the service to apply changes. The unit/label names are per-install — derive them with setup/lib/install-slug.sh. Run from your NanoClaw project root:
- macOS (Darwin): source setup/lib/install-slug.sh && launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/$(launchd_label)
- Linux: source setup/lib/install-slug.sh && systemctl --user restart $(systemd_unit) (or, if you want to confirm the unit name first: systemctl --user list-units --type=service | grep "$(. setup/lib/install-slug.sh && systemd_unit)")
- Manual (no service found): restart pnpm run dev

Diagnostics

Use the Read tool to read .claude/skills/update-nanoclaw/diagnostics.md.
Follow every step in that file before finishing.