COG Update Skill

Purpose

Help the user update their COG framework files (skills, documentation, scripts) from the official upstream repository without risking their personal content (braindumps, profiles, notes).

When to Invoke

• User asks to "update COG", "check for updates", or "get latest COG version"
• User mentions wanting new skills or features from upstream
• User asks about their COG version

Process Flow

1. Check Current Version

Read

COG-VERSION

from the vault root. If it doesn't exist, inform the user they may be on an older version that predates version tracking.

2. Ensure Upstream Remote

# Add the upstream remote if not already present
git remote get-url cog-upstream 2>/dev/null || \
  git remote add cog-upstream https://github.com/huytieu/COG-second-brain.git

# Fetch latest
git fetch cog-upstream main --quiet

3. Compare Versions

# Local version
cat COG-VERSION

# Upstream version
git show cog-upstream/main:COG-VERSION

If versions match, tell the user they're up to date.

4. Show What Changed

For each framework file, compare local vs upstream:

git diff HEAD..cog-upstream/main -- <file>

Framework files (safe to update — never contain user content):

• Core docs:

  README.md

  ,

  SETUP.md

  ,

  AGENTS.md

  ,

  GEMINI.md

  ,

  CHANGELOG.md

  ,

  CONTRIBUTING.md

• Skills:

  .claude/skills/*/SKILL.md

• Powers:

  .kiro/powers/*/POWER.md

• Gemini:

  .gemini/commands/*.toml

  ,

  .gemini/skills/*.md

• Config:

  .claude-plugin/plugin.json

  ,

  marketplace-entry.json

  ,

  .gitignore

• Scripts:

  cog-update.sh

• Version:

  COG-VERSION

5. Detect Customizations

Before updating, check if the user has customized any framework files:

# Compare user's file against the version they originally got
git diff cog-upstream/main -- <file>

If a file has local customizations, warn the user and offer options:

• Keep yours: Skip this file
• Use upstream: Overwrite with the new version
• Backup + update: Save current as

  <file>.backup-YYYYMMDD

  then update

6. Apply Updates

For files the user approves:

# Surgical file replacement — no merge, no rebase, zero conflict risk
git checkout cog-upstream/main -- <file>

7. Verify & Summarize

After updating:

• Show the new version number
• List all files that were updated
• List any files the user chose to skip
• Suggest committing the update:

  git add -A && git commit -m "Update COG framework to v<new-version>"
  

Alternative: Shell Script

For users who prefer a non-AI update, mention the update script:

./cog-update.sh           # Interactive
./cog-update.sh --check   # Just check for updates
./cog-update.sh --dry-run # Preview changes
./cog-update.sh --force   # Update everything

Important Notes

• Content folders are NEVER touched:

  00-inbox/

  ,

  01-daily/

  ,

  02-personal/

  ,

  03-professional/

  ,

  04-projects/

  ,

  05-knowledge/

  ,

  06-templates/

  contain user data and are always ignored
• The .gitignore is designed so content folders are excluded from upstream tracking (only

  .gitkeep

  files are tracked)
• The update script updates itself —

  cog-update.sh

  is in the framework file list
• No merge conflicts possible — this uses

  git checkout

  for surgical file replacement, not

  git merge

  or

  git rebase