Skill Updater

Local-modification-preserving clawhub skill updater. Saves changes as diff patch, applies to new versions, reports conflicts clearly. No forced overwrites.

Security Scan

The skill's code, runtime instructions, and required environment match its stated purpose (preserving local changes while running clawhub updates); there are no unexplained network calls, unrelated credentials, or risky install steps.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the requested binaries and env var: it needs python3, clawhub, diff and patch and the OPENCLAW_SKILLS_DIR to find and update clawhub-installed skills. The code reads .clawhub/origin.json to confirm clawhub-installed skills — this is consistent with the updater purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md and the CLI usage correspond to the behavior implemented in git_update.py. The instructions only reference the declared OPENCLAW_SKILLS_DIR and local operations (diff, patch, clawhub). There are no instructions to read unrelated system files or to transmit data outside of clawhub/standard tooling.

Install Mechanism

This is an instruction-only skill with an included Python script; there is no installer that downloads code from external URLs or modifies system locations. No high-risk install actions are present.

Credentials

The single required env var (OPENCLAW_SKILLS_DIR) is directly relevant. No credentials, tokens, or unrelated env vars are requested. The tool reads and writes files under each skill directory (creates .skill-updater/originals and mod.patch), which is proportionate to preserving modifications.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not marked always:true and does not attempt to modify other skills' configs or global agent settings. It writes per-skill metadata under .skill-updater within skill directories only, which is expected behavior for this utility.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent and implements what it claims. Before installing: (1) run the dry-run (python3 git_update.py) to preview changes and conflicts; (2) manually back up important skill modifications (the script also saves originals and creates .skill-updater/mod.patch under each skill); (3) review mod.patch and .skill-updater/originals before applying updates because those snapshots can contain sensitive data from skill files; and (4) ensure your clawhub CLI is the expected trusted binary, since the updater invokes clawhub inspect/update to fetch new versions.

Local-modification-preserving clawhub skill updater.

What It Does

You modified a clawhub-installed skill → clawhub released a new version → Skill-Updater updates while preserving your local changes.

How It Works

Step 1: Save modifications
  → Scans skill directory, generates unified diff patch
  → Backs up originals to .skill-updater/originals/

Step 2: clawhub update
  → clawhub update downloads new version files

Step 3: Try to merge
  → patch --dry-run attempts to apply changes to new version
  → Success: written with your changes preserved ✅
  → Fail: show diff, user decides manually

File Structure

skill-dir/
├── .skill-updater/
│   ├── mod.patch       # unified diff of your changes
│   └── originals/       # snapshot of original files at install time
└── [skill files]

CLI

# Dry-run: preview which skills have updates and conflicts
python3 git_update.py

# Apply updates
python3 git_update.py --apply

# Update specific skill
python3 git_update.py --apply --skill <slug>

# Show saved modifications
python3 git_update.py --show-patch

# Discard modifications (accept new version, drop your changes)
python3 git_update.py --discard --skill <slug>

Conflict Handling

Situation	Result
Patch applies cleanly	New version + your changes preserved ✅
Same area modified by both	Show diff, user decides
No local modifications	Direct clawhub update ✅
Choose to discard	Delete patch, accept new version

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• clawhub CLI
• diff (coreutils)
• patch (coreutils)

Before Installing

1. Dry-run first — Always run python3 git_update.py without --apply first to preview
2. Backup — For important skills, manually back up your modifications before using --discard