---
name: Update Installed Skills
slug: update-installed-skills
category: AI Engineering
description: Update Installed Skills keeps installed agent skills current without breaking the workflow or silently overwriting local customizations. Use it when syncing or updating previously installed skills to their latest version, always with a dry-run before applying.
github: "https://github.com/MoizIbnYousaf/Ai-Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/update-installed-skills"
language: JavaScript
stars: 1124
forks: 131
install: "npx degit https://github.com/MoizIbnYousaf/Ai-Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/update-installed-skills ~/.claude/skills/update-installed-skills"
installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/update-installed-skills
source_path: skills/update-installed-skills/SKILL.md
collection_size: 18
category_size: 2451
collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/MoizIbnYousaf/Ai-Agent-Skills"
added: 2026-08-20T07:56:31.377Z
last_synced: 2026-08-20T07:56:31.377Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/update-installed-skills"
---

# Update Installed Skills

Update Installed Skills keeps installed agent skills current without breaking the workflow or silently overwriting local customizations. Use it when syncing or updating previously installed skills to their latest version, always with a dry-run before applying.

**Install:**

```bash
npx degit https://github.com/MoizIbnYousaf/Ai-Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/update-installed-skills ~/.claude/skills/update-installed-skills
```

## README

# Update Installed Skills

## Goal

Keep installed skills current without breaking the agent's workflow or silently overwriting local customizations.

## Guardrails

- Always use `--dry-run` before running a real update.
- Check what is currently installed before updating: `npx ai-agent-skills list --installed`.
- Never update all skills at once in production without reviewing the dry-run output.
- Use `--format json` to capture structured update results for logging.

## Workflow

1. List currently installed skills.

```bash
npx ai-agent-skills list --installed --format json --fields name
```

2. Check for available updates.

```bash
npx ai-agent-skills check
```

3. Dry-run the update.

```bash
npx ai-agent-skills sync <skill-name> --dry-run
```

4. Apply the update after reviewing.

```bash
npx ai-agent-skills sync <skill-name>
```

5. For bulk updates, review each skill's dry-run output.

```bash
npx ai-agent-skills sync --all --dry-run
```

## Gotchas

- Skills installed from GitHub will attempt a fresh clone during sync. If the upstream repo is gone, the update will fail gracefully.
- Manually edited SKILL.md files will be overwritten by sync. Back up customizations before syncing.
- The `check` command makes network requests to verify upstream sources. It may be slow or fail if sources are unreachable.