Plastic Update

Update Plastic

When to Use

• User says "update plastic", "sync plastic", or "upgrade plastic"
• Statusline shows "Plastic update available"
• After a version-bump notification

What it does

update is a single deterministic command. It reads ~/.plastic/VERSION, derives the channel from the version string (-alpha/-beta/none -> stable), queries npm dist-tags, and advances to the next version on the current channel. "Already up to date" is a clean no-op. You do not compute the target yourself, the script does.

Channel rule

If Plastic is installed, derive ` from ~/.plastic/VERSION: a version containing -alpha means @alpha, -beta means @beta, otherwise @latest. If not installed (first install), default to @latest. The user can always override with --alpha / --beta / --latest`.

Flags

| Flag | Behaviour | |------|-----------| | (none) | Advance to the next version on the current channel | | --latest | Switch to / advance the stable channel (toward stability, frictionless) | | --beta | Switch to / advance the beta channel | | --alpha | Switch to / advance the alpha channel (bleeding edge, confirmed if moving down in stability) |

Switching toward a more stable channel is frictionless; switching toward bleeding edge is confirmed. To roll back to a previously-installed version, use plastic-rollback.

Prerequisites

Plastic must be installed (~/.plastic/VERSION present). If not, run plastic-install first (or npx -y @zalom/plastic@latest install --claude directly).

Procedure

Step 1: Run the update

npx -y @zalom/plastic@ update --claude
# channel switch: append --beta / --latest / --alpha
# other agents: append --codex / --hermes / --all

bunx -y @zalom/plastic@ update --claude works as a fallback if npx is unavailable. The command prints the transition (vX -> vY) or "already up to date", runs a post-update doctor summary, and records the move in the append-only ~/.plastic/versions.json ledger.

Step 2: Relay any pending config question(s) the update printed

If update's own output (Step 1) printed a "Config question(s) introduced by this update" block, relay each question to the user exactly as printed (question, options, and the write-config command for each option). Do not invent or hardcode a specific question here: it comes from the CLI's fresh output (config_asks.yml, read by code that just synced from the new version), never from this skill file, which is always one release behind and cannot know what a future release will ask.

Once the user picks an option, run the printed write-config command for that option, for example:

ruby ~/.plastic/scripts/write-config advisor.claude.default plastic-faux-advisor

If they say "not now" / want to keep the default, run the printed dismissal command instead, for example:

ruby ~/.plastic/scripts/write-config config_asks_dismissed --push advisor-default

If update printed nothing under that heading, skip this step silently - there is nothing pending. A question already answered or dismissed is never re-asked (both the CLI print and the doctor check verify this before showing anything), and a pending question missed here still shows up as a config_asks warn on the next /plastic-doctor run, so nothing is silently lost.

Step 3: Relay the result, announce convention changes

Relay what update printed, do not recompute the version transition or the doctor summary:

Plastic update ()
Command:  npx -y @zalom/plastic@ update --claude 
Version:   -> 
Doctor:   

Then read ~/.plastic/PLASTIC.md and announce convention changes that affect the current session, and recommend /clear for a clean session with all new conventions loaded.

Step 4: Health check only on a relayed failure

If the relayed doctor summary shows a failure, invoke plastic-doctor for the full report and offer to fix. If it already reads clean, do not re-run doctor.

Step 5: Commit + clear update cache

cd ~/.plastic && git add PLASTIC.md scripts/ AGENTS.md VERSION versions.json deprecations.yml config_asks.yml 2>/dev/null && git commit -m "chore: update Plastic to $(cat ~/.plastic/VERSION)" --allow-empty
rm -f ~/.plastic/.cache/update-check.json

Source & license

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

• Author: zalom
• Source: zalom/plastic
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/zalom/plastic

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