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update-skills-master

Pull the latest skills-master directory from a remote GitHub repository and replace the local skills-master directory. Uses Git sparse checkout to fetch only the skills-master folder without cloning the entire repository. Invoke when user wants to update, sync, or pull the latest skills from the master repository.

personAuthor: jakexiaohubgithub
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Update Skills Master

This skill provides automated synchronization of the skills-master directory from a remote GitHub repository to the local workspace. It uses Git sparse checkout to efficiently fetch only the skills-master directory without cloning the entire repository.

Overview

The skill enables:

  • Sparse checkout - Fetch only the skills-master directory from GitHub
  • Automatic backup - Create backup before replacing local directory
  • Safe rollback - Restore from backup if update fails
  • Flexible configuration - Support custom repositories, branches, and target directories
  • Universal compatibility - Works in any skills environment (CodeBuddy, standalone projects, etc.)
  • Smart path detection - Automatically locates skills-master relative to this skill's location

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when the user requests:

Explicit Triggers:

  • "更新 skills-master"
  • "拉取最新的 skills-master"
  • "同步远程 skills-master"
  • "从 GitHub 更新技能库"
  • "Update skills-master from remote"
  • "Pull latest skills-master"
  • "Sync skills-master with GitHub"

Implicit Triggers:

  • User wants to get the latest skill templates
  • User mentions outdated skills
  • User wants to sync their local skills with the central repository

Do NOT use this skill for:

  • Committing local changes to skills-master
  • Creating or editing individual skills
  • Installing specific skills (use skills-master skill instead)

Usage

Basic Usage (Update from Default Repository)

The simplest way to update skills-master:

python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py

This will:

  1. Backup the existing skills-master directory
  2. Clone the latest skills-master from https://github.com/lone-yu-cmd/AI-Coding-Paradigm.git (master branch)
  3. Replace the local skills-master directory (auto-detected in skills parent directory)
  4. Clean up temporary files

Advanced Usage

Update from Custom Repository

python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --repo https://github.com/username/repository.git

Update from Different Branch

python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --branch main

Update to Custom Target Directory

python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --target ./my-custom-skills-master

Skip Backup (Not Recommended)

python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --no-backup

Full Custom Configuration

python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --repo https://github.com/username/repo.git \
  --branch develop \
  --sparse-path skills-master \
  --target ./skills-master

Parameters

| Parameter | Required | Default | Description | |-----------|----------|---------|-------------| | --repo | No | https://github.com/lone-yu-cmd/AI-Coding-Paradigm.git | GitHub repository URL | | --branch | No | master | Branch to clone from | | --sparse-path | No | skills-master | Path within repository to checkout | | --target | No | Auto-detect | Local target directory (auto-detects skills-master in skills parent) | | --no-backup | No | False | Skip creating backup |

Workflow

The skill follows these steps:

1. Validate Git Installation
   ├─ Check if Git is installed
   └─ Show Git version
   
2. Auto-detect Target Directory
   ├─ Find this skill's location (skills/update-skills-master/)
   ├─ Navigate to parent directory (skills/)
   └─ Locate skills-master sibling directory
   
3. Configuration
   ├─ Display configuration summary
   └─ Get user confirmation (if interactive)
   
4. Backup (if not skipped)
   ├─ Check if local skills-master exists
   └─ Create timestamped backup directory
   
5. Clone with Sparse Checkout
   ├─ Create temporary directory (in skills parent directory)
   ├─ Initialize Git repository
   ├─ Add remote repository
   ├─ Enable sparse checkout
   ├─ Configure sparse checkout path
   └─ Pull specified branch
   
6. Replace Local Directory
   ├─ Remove old skills-master directory
   └─ Copy new directory from clone
   
7. Cleanup
   ├─ Remove temporary directory
   └─ Report success/failure
   
8. Error Handling (if failure)
   ├─ Restore from backup
   └─ Report error details

Execution Instructions

When the user requests to update skills-master, follow these steps:

Step 1: Confirm User Intent

Before executing, confirm with the user:

📋 Ready to update skills-master

**Configuration**:
- Repository: [repo URL]
- Branch: [branch name]
- Local Target: [target directory]
- Backup: [Yes/No]

This will:
1. Backup your existing skills-master (if enabled)
2. Pull the latest skills-master from GitHub
3. Replace your local skills-master directory

**⚠️ Warning**: Any local changes to skills-master will be overwritten.

Do you want to proceed? (yes/no)

Step 2: Validate Prerequisites

Check that:

  • Git is installed on the system
  • Internet connection is available
  • User has write permissions to the target directory

If Git is not installed, inform the user:

❌ Git is not installed

To use this skill, please install Git first:
- macOS: `brew install git` or download from https://git-scm.com/
- Linux: `sudo apt-get install git` or `sudo yum install git`
- Windows: Download from https://git-scm.com/downloads

After installing Git, please try again.

Step 3: Execute the Update Script

Run the script from the skill's scripts directory:

# Navigate to the skill's scripts directory
cd skills/update-skills-master/scripts

# Execute the update script (it will auto-detect the target directory)
python3 update_skills_master.py [options]

Note: The script automatically detects the skills-master directory by:

  1. Finding its own location (skills/update-skills-master/scripts/)
  2. Going up to the skills parent directory
  3. Locating the skills-master sibling directory

This works in any project structure where skills are organized as:

project/
├── skills/
│   ├── update-skills-master/  ← This skill
│   ├── skills-master/         ← Target to update
│   └── other-skills/

Or in CodeBuddy environments:

project/
├── .codebuddy/
│   └── skills/
│       ├── update-skills-master/  ← This skill
│       └── skills-master/         ← Target to update

Step 4: Monitor Progress

The script provides progress updates:

  • ✅ Success indicators
  • 🔄 In-progress operations
  • ❌ Error messages
  • 💡 Helpful information

Watch for any errors and be prepared to explain them to the user.

Step 5: Report Results

After execution completes, report to the user:

On Success:

✅ Skills Master updated successfully!

**Summary**:
- Repository: [repo URL]
- Branch: [branch]
- Local Directory: [target path]
- Backup Location: [backup path] (if created)

**Next Steps**:
1. Verify the updated skills-master directory
2. You can safely delete the backup after verification
3. Use `skills-master` skill to install specific skills

Would you like to install or update specific skills now?

On Failure:

❌ Skills Master update failed

**Error**: [error message]

**What happened**:
[Explain the error in user-friendly terms]

**Recovery**:
- Your original skills-master has been restored from backup
- No changes were made to your local directory

**Troubleshooting**:
[Suggest solutions based on the error type]

Would you like to try again with different settings?

Error Handling

Common Errors and Solutions

Git Not Installed

**Error**: Git is not installed

**Solution**: Install Git from https://git-scm.com/downloads

Network Connection Failed

**Error**: Failed to connect to GitHub

**Solution**: 
1. Check your internet connection
2. Verify the repository URL is correct
3. Check if GitHub is accessible from your network

Permission Denied

**Error**: Permission denied when writing to target directory

**Solution**:
1. Check if you have write permissions to the target directory
2. Try running with appropriate permissions
3. Specify a different target directory with --target

Branch Not Found

**Error**: Branch 'xxx' does not exist in the repository

**Solution**:
1. Verify the branch name is correct
2. Check available branches on GitHub
3. Try with the default 'master' branch

Sparse Path Not Found

**Error**: Path 'skills-master' not found in repository

**Solution**:
1. Verify the repository contains a 'skills-master' directory
2. Check the --sparse-path parameter
3. Ensure you're using the correct repository URL

Best Practices

1. Always Keep Backup Enabled

❌ Don't: Use --no-backup unless absolutely necessary
✅ Do: Let the script create automatic backups

2. Verify After Update

❌ Don't: Assume the update succeeded without checking
✅ Do: Verify the updated directory structure and contents

3. Clean Up Backups

❌ Don't: Accumulate many backup directories
✅ Do: Delete old backups after verifying the update

4. Use Version Control

❌ Don't: Modify files inside skills-master directly
✅ Do: If you need customizations, copy skills to your project and modify there

5. Document Custom Repositories

❌ Don't: Use custom repositories without documenting the source
✅ Do: Document which repository and branch you're syncing from

Technical Details

Git Sparse Checkout

This skill uses Git's sparse checkout feature to fetch only specific directories from a repository:

  1. Initialize a new Git repository locally
  2. Add remote pointing to the GitHub repository
  3. Enable sparse checkout with git config core.sparseCheckout true
  4. Specify path in .git/info/sparse-checkout file
  5. Pull branch which fetches only the specified directory

Benefits:

  • ✅ Faster than cloning entire repository
  • ✅ Saves disk space
  • ✅ Reduces network bandwidth usage
  • ✅ Only downloads what's needed

Directory Structure

After updating, the local structure should be:

project-root/
├── skills/                     # Or .codebuddy/skills/
│   ├── skills-master/         # ← Updated directory
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   ├── README.md
│   │   ├── assets/
│   │   │   └── skill-templates/
│   │   │       ├── auto-committer/
│   │   │       ├── code-explainer/
│   │   │       └── ...
│   │   └── scripts/
│   │       └── install.py
│   ├── skills-master.backup/  # ← Backup (if created)
│   └── update-skills-master/  # ← This skill
│       ├── SKILL.md
│       ├── README.md
│       └── scripts/
│           └── update_skills_master.py

Universal Compatibility:

This skill works in multiple project structures:

  1. Standard skills directory:

    project/
└── skills/
    ├── update-skills-master/
    └── skills-master/

  2. CodeBuddy environment:

    project/
└── .codebuddy/
    └── skills/
        ├── update-skills-master/
        └── skills-master/

  3. Custom directory structure (with --target):

    project/
├── my-skills/
│   └── update-skills-master/
└── shared-skills-master/  ← Custom target

Integration with Other Skills

This skill works well with other skills in the ecosystem:

  • skills-master - After updating, use this to install specific skills
  • skill-creator - Create new skills that will be added to skills-master
  • add-in-skills-master - Contribute your skills to skills-master

Example Workflow

1. Update skills-master (this skill)
   ↓
2. List available skills (skills-master --list)
   ↓
3. Install needed skills (skills-master --name skill-name)
   ↓
4. Create custom skills (skill-creator)
   ↓
5. Contribute back (add-in-skills-master)

Troubleshooting

Issue: "Already up-to-date" but Files Are Different

Cause: Git may cache the remote state

Solution:

# Force a fresh clone by removing and re-running
rm -rf skills-master.backup.*
python3 scripts/update_skills_master.py

Issue: Update Fails Midway

Cause: Network interruption or permission issues

Solution:

  • Script automatically restores from backup
  • Check error message for specific cause
  • Ensure stable network connection
  • Verify write permissions

Issue: Cannot Find Script

Cause: Running from wrong directory

Solution:

# Navigate to the skill's scripts directory
cd skills/update-skills-master/scripts

# Or use full path from project root
python3 skills/update-skills-master/scripts/update_skills_master.py

Security Considerations

Repository Trust

⚠️ Important: Only update from trusted repositories

  • Default repository: https://github.com/lone-yu-cmd/AI-Coding-Paradigm.git
  • Verify repository ownership before using custom repos
  • Check repository contents on GitHub before pulling

Local Modifications

⚠️ Warning: This operation overwrites local changes

  • Any modifications to skills-master/ will be lost
  • Use backups to preserve important changes
  • Consider using version control for custom modifications

Examples

Example 1: Simple Update

User: "Update skills-master from GitHub"

Agent Action:

cd /path/to/project/skills/update-skills-master/scripts
python3 update_skills_master.py

Expected Output:

==============================================================
🚀 Skills Master Update Script
==============================================================
✅ Git is installed: git version 2.39.0
ℹ️  Auto-detected skills directory: /path/to/project/skills

📋 Configuration:
   Repository: https://github.com/lone-yu-cmd/AI-Coding-Paradigm.git
   Branch: master
   Remote Path: skills-master
   Local Target: /path/to/project/skills/skills-master
   Backup: Yes

📦 Backing up existing skills-master to: /path/to/project/skills/skills-master.backup
✅ Backup created successfully

🔄 Cloning skills-master from repository...
  1️⃣  Initializing Git repository...
  2️⃣  Adding remote repository...
  3️⃣  Enabling sparse checkout...
  4️⃣  Configured sparse checkout for: skills-master
  5️⃣  Pulling branch: master...
✅ Successfully cloned skills-master

🔄 Replacing local directory...
  ➖ Removing old directory...
  ➕ Copying new directory...
✅ Successfully replaced local directory

🧹 Cleaned up temporary directory

==============================================================
✅ Skills Master updated successfully!
==============================================================

💡 Backup location: /path/to/project/skills/skills-master.backup
   You can safely delete it after verifying the update.

Example 2: Update from Different Repository

User: "Update skills-master from my company's fork at https://github.com/company/skills.git"

Agent Action:

python3 .codebuddy/skills/update-skills-master/scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --repo https://github.com/company/skills.git \
  --branch main

Example 3: Update to Custom Directory

User: "Pull the latest skills to a folder called 'shared-skills'"

Agent Action:

python3 .codebuddy/skills/update-skills-master/scripts/update_skills_master.py \
  --target ./shared-skills

Summary

This skill provides a robust, safe, and efficient way to synchronize the local skills-master directory with a remote GitHub repository. Key features include:

  • ✅ Efficient: Uses sparse checkout to fetch only needed files
  • ✅ Safe: Creates automatic backups before replacing
  • ✅ Flexible: Supports custom repositories, branches, and targets
  • ✅ Reliable: Automatic rollback on failure
  • ✅ User-friendly: Clear progress indicators and error messages

Use this skill whenever you need to get the latest skill templates from the central repository while preserving your local work through automatic backups.