Uw Refresh

Refreshing Analysis (Incremental Update)

Keep the unwind docs and rebuild-graph.json fresh across a long migration without re-unwinding everything. The deterministic scan fingerprints every file; a refresh re-analyzes only the layers whose source actually changed and flags previously-documented items whose source changed structurally as stale.

Requires: a prior full run (so docs/unwind/.cache/meta.json baseline + layer docs + coverage/ exist). Produces: updated layer docs, refreshed coverage/, and a regenerated rebuild-graph.json with coverage: "stale" / rebuildStatus: "needs-recheck" on changed contracts.

> Graceful fallback: if @unwind/core/Node/pnpm is unavailable, skip the > deterministic steps and fall back to the legacy unwind:uw-analyze > Refresh Mode (re-run specialists with previous docs as context).

The Process

Step 1: Detect changes (deterministic)

Run change detection against the baseline. Order matters — this must run before re-scanning, so the baseline still reflects the last analyzed state.

# Locate the installed Unwind plugin, then load the core helper.
# $0/BASH_SOURCE are unreliable under `bash -c`, so glob the install cache.
UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}}"
[ -f "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/_resolve-plugin-root.sh" ] || \
  UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT="$(ls -dt "$HOME"/.claude/plugins/cache/*/unwind/*/ 2>/dev/null | head -1)"
source "${UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT%/}/skills/scripts/_resolve-plugin-root.sh"
ensure_unwind_core || { echo "core unavailable — using legacy refresh"; }
node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/detect-changes.mjs" "$(pwd)"

This writes docs/unwind/.cache/changes.json:

• structural / added / removed — files whose contract surface moved
• cosmetic — body/comment-only edits (docs stay valid; no re-analysis)
• affectedLayers — the only layers that need re-analysis
• staleItems — documented item ids whose source changed structurally
• newItems — item ids in newly-added files (become gaps after verify)

If structural, added, and removed are all empty → nothing to do; the docs and graph remain valid. Stop here.

Step 2: Refresh the baseline scan

Re-run the scan to refresh scan-manifest.json + the meta.json baseline so item ids match the current code:

node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/scan.mjs" "$(pwd)"
node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/seed-layers.mjs" "$(pwd)"

Step 3: Re-analyze ONLY the affected layers

For each layer in changes.affectedLayers, dispatch the matching unwind:analyzing-* specialist (see unwind:uw-analyze for dispatch mechanics), seeded with docs/unwind/.cache/seeds/{layer}.json and the existing layer docs as context. Instruct it to:

• document any new items (in changes.newItems),
• re-confirm any stale items (in changes.staleItems) — the signature moved,
• remove docs for items in changes.removed files that no longer exist.

Do not touch layers absent from affectedLayers.

Step 4: Verify + complete + regenerate the graph

node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/verify-coverage.mjs" "$(pwd)"
# (loop verify -> unwind:uw-complete until affected layers are 100%)
node "$UNWIND_PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/scripts/build-graph.mjs" "$(pwd)"

build-graph reads changes.json and marks still-documented-but-changed nodes coverage: "stale"; any done/verified contract whose source changed structurally flips to rebuildStatus: "needs-recheck" (human-set progress in rebuild-progress.json is otherwise preserved).

Step 5: Report

Summarize: layers re-analyzed, items added/removed, stale items resolved, and the new coverage %. Point to docs/unwind/rebuild-graph.json for the dashboard.

Why incremental

A full unwind re-runs every specialist over every file. A refresh skips the deterministic re-scan's cosmetic churn and only pays for LLM analysis on layers that actually changed — turning the unwind spec into a living document that tracks the codebase across months of migration work.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: nearform
• Source: nearform/unwind
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.