How to Update Claude Code Skills — Keep Skills Current

Skills improve over time. Creators fix bugs, add features, and update instructions based on feedback. Here's how to keep your skills current.

Marketplace skills (Agensi)

When a creator ships an update on Agensi, buyers get it free. You'll see an update notification in your purchase history. Download the new zip and replace the old files:

rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/skill-name/
unzip skill-name-v2.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

Start a new Claude Code session to pick up the changes.

GitHub skills

If you cloned a skill from GitHub, pull the latest:

cd ~/.claude/skills/skill-name/
git pull

That's it. The next Claude Code session uses the updated version.

Manual skills

If you created a skill yourself or pasted it from a community share, you update it by editing the SKILL.md file directly. Use any text editor.

After editing, start a new Claude Code session. Claude Code reads skills at startup — changes mid-session aren't picked up.

Version management

SKILL.md doesn't have a built-in versioning system. If you want to track versions:

• Keep the old version in a backup folder before updating
• Add a version comment at the top of the SKILL.md body: *Version 2.1 — April 2026*
• For GitHub skills, check the commit history to see what changed

When to update

Update skills when:

• The creator announces bug fixes or improvements
• You notice the skill's output quality declining (might be due to model updates)
• You changed your project's stack and the skill needs to match (e.g., switched from Jest to Vitest)
• The skill references outdated practices or deprecated APIs

Don't update for the sake of updating. If a skill works well, leave it alone.

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Find skills with active creators on Agensi.