claude-engineering-plugin/plugins/compound-engineering/skills/ce-update/SKILL.md

name, description, disable-model-invocation, ce_platforms

name	description	disable-model-invocation	ce_platforms
ce-update	Check if the compound-engineering plugin is up to date and recommend the update command if not. Use when the user says "update compound engineering", "check compound engineering version", "ce update", "is compound engineering up to date", "update ce plugin", or reports issues that might stem from a stale compound-engineering plugin version. This skill only works in Claude Code — it relies on the plugin harness cache layout.	true	claude

Check Plugin Version

Verify the installed compound-engineering plugin version matches the upstream plugin.json on main, and recommend the update command if it doesn't. Claude Code only.

Pre-resolved context

Only the Skill directory determines whether this session is Claude Code — if empty or unresolved, the skill requires Claude Code. The other sections may contain error sentinels even in valid Claude Code sessions; the decision logic below handles those cases.

${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} is a Claude Code-documented substitution that resolves at skill-load time. For a marketplace-cached install it looks like ~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/compound-engineering/<version>/skills/ce-update, so the currently-loaded version is the basename two dirname levels up.

The upstream version comes from plugins/compound-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.json on main rather than the latest GitHub release tag, because the marketplace installs plugin contents from main HEAD. Comparing against release tags false-positives whenever main is ahead of the last tag (the normal state between releases).

Skill directory: !echo "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"

Latest upstream version: !version=$(gh api repos/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin/contents/plugins/compound-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.json --jq '.content | @base64d | fromjson | .version' 2>/dev/null) && [ -n "$version" ] && echo "$version" || echo '__CE_UPDATE_VERSION_FAILED__'

Currently loaded version: !case "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}" in */plugins/cache/*/compound-engineering/*/skills/ce-update) basename "$(dirname "$(dirname "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}")")" ;; *) echo '__CE_UPDATE_NOT_MARKETPLACE__' ;; esac

Marketplace name: !case "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}" in */plugins/cache/*/compound-engineering/*/skills/ce-update) basename "$(dirname "$(dirname "$(dirname "$(dirname "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}")")")")" ;; *) echo '__CE_UPDATE_NOT_MARKETPLACE__' ;; esac

Decision logic

1. Platform gate

If Skill directory is empty or unresolved: tell the user this skill requires Claude Code and stop. No further action.

2. Handle failure cases

If Latest upstream version contains __CE_UPDATE_VERSION_FAILED__: tell the user the upstream version could not be fetched (gh may be unavailable or rate-limited) and stop.

If Currently loaded version contains __CE_UPDATE_NOT_MARKETPLACE__: this session loaded the skill from outside the standard marketplace cache (typical when using claude --plugin-dir for local development, or for a non-standard install). Tell the user (substituting the actual path):

"Skill is loaded from {skill-directory} — not the standard marketplace cache at ~/.claude/plugins/cache/. This is normal when using claude --plugin-dir for local development. No action for this session. Your marketplace install (if any) is unaffected — run /ce-update in a regular Claude Code session (no --plugin-dir) to check that cache."

Then stop.

3. Compare versions

Up to date — {currently loaded} == {latest upstream}:

"compound-engineering v{version} is installed and up to date."

Out of date — {currently loaded} != {latest upstream}:

"compound-engineering is on v{currently loaded} but v{latest upstream} is available.

Update with:

claude plugin update compound-engineering@{marketplace-name}

Then restart Claude Code to apply."

The claude plugin update command ships with Claude Code itself and updates installed plugins to their latest version; it replaces earlier manual cache sweep / marketplace-refresh workarounds. The marketplace name is derived from the skill path rather than hardcoded because this plugin is distributed under multiple marketplace names (for example, compound-engineering-plugin for public installs per the README, or other names for internal/team marketplaces).