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skillx update

Synopsis

Terminal window
skillx update [names...] [options]

Update installed skills to their latest versions. Uses SHA-256 content comparison for precise change detection.

Arguments

ArgumentRequiredDescription
namesNoSkill name(s) to update. If omitted, checks all installed skills

Options

FlagDefaultDescription
--agent <name>Only update for a specific agent
--dry-runShow what would be updated without applying changes
--skip-scanSkip security scan for updated content
--yesAuto-confirm (skip the update prompt)

Update Process

1. Fetch Latest

For each installed skill, skillx fetches the latest content from the original source. Local sources are skipped during update checks.

2. Compare

Each file is compared using SHA-256 hashes. Only skills with actual content changes are flagged for update.

3. Summary

A summary table is displayed:

Updates Available
Name Installed Available Changes
pdf-processing v1.2 v1.3 2 files changed
formatter v2.1 v2.2 1 file changed
Update 2 skill(s)? [Y/n]

4. Scan

Unless --skip-scan is specified, updated content is scanned through the security gate before applying.

5. Apply

Updated files are written to all agent injection paths. Progress is saved after each successful skill update, so a mid-update failure does not lose already-applied updates.

6. Sync

Updated source strings (including new version refs) are synced back to skillx.toml.

Dry Run

Use --dry-run to see what would be updated without making any changes:

Terminal window
skillx update --dry-run

This fetches and compares all skills but does not apply changes, modify installed.json, or update skillx.toml.

Examples

Update all installed skills

Terminal window
skillx update

Update specific skills

Terminal window
skillx update pdf-processing formatter

Check what would be updated

Terminal window
skillx update --dry-run

Update without prompts

Terminal window
skillx update --yes

Update only for a specific agent

Terminal window
skillx update --agent claude-code