Auto Updater

Auto-Updater Skill

Keep your Clawdbot and skills up to date automatically with daily update checks.

What It Does

This skill sets up a daily cron job that:

1. Updates Clawdbot itself (via clawdbot doctor or package manager) 2. Updates all installed skills (via clawdhub update --all) 3. Messages you with a summary of what was updated

Setup

Quick Start

Ask Clawdbot to set up the auto-updater:

Set up daily auto-updates for yourself and all your skills.

Or manually add the cron job:

clawdbot cron add \
  --name "Daily Auto-Update" \
  --cron "0 4 * * *" \
  --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
  --session isolated \
  --wake now \
  --deliver \
  --message "Run daily auto-updates: check for Clawdbot updates and update all skills. Report what was updated."

Configuration Options

How Updates Work

Clawdbot Updates

For npm/pnpm/bun installs:

npm update -g clawdbot@latest
# or: pnpm update -g clawdbot@latest
# or: bun update -g clawdbot@latest

For source installs (git checkout):

clawdbot update

Always run clawdbot doctor after updating to apply migrations.

Skill Updates

clawdhub update --all

This checks all installed skills against the registry and updates any with new versions available.

Update Summary Format

After updates complete, you'll receive a message like:

🔄 Daily Auto-Update Complete

**Clawdbot**: Updated to v2026.1.10 (was v2026.1.9)

**Skills Updated (3)**:
- prd: 2.0.3 → 2.0.4
- browser: 1.2.0 → 1.2.1  
- nano-banana-pro: 3.1.0 → 3.1.2

**Skills Already Current (5)**:
gemini, sag, things-mac, himalaya, peekaboo

No issues encountered.

Manual Commands

Check for updates without applying:

clawdhub update --all --dry-run

View current skill versions:

clawdhub list

Check Clawdbot version:

clawdbot --version

Troubleshooting

Updates Not Running

1. Verify cron is enabled: check cron.enabled in config 2. Confirm Gateway is running continuously 3. Check cron job exists: clawdbot cron list

Update Failures

If an update fails, the summary will include the error. Common fixes:

• Permission errors: Ensure the Gateway user can write to skill directories
• Network errors: Check internet connectivity
• Package conflicts: Run clawdbot doctor to diagnose

Disabling Auto-Updates

Remove the cron job:

clawdbot cron remove "Daily Auto-Update"

Or disable temporarily in config:

{
  "cron": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Resources

• Clawdbot Updating Guide
• ClawdHub CLI
• Cron Jobs

Agent Implementation Guide

When asked to set up auto-updates, follow this procedure.

Step 1: Detect Installation Type

# Check if installed via npm globally
npm list -g clawdbot 2>/dev/null && echo "npm-global"

# Check if installed via source (git)
[ -d ~/.clawdbot/.git ] || [ -f /opt/clawdbot/.git/config ] && echo "source-install"

# Check pnpm
pnpm list -g clawdbot 2>/dev/null && echo "pnpm-global"

# Check bun
bun pm ls -g 2>/dev/null | grep clawdbot && echo "bun-global"

Step 2: Create the Update Script (Optional)

For complex setups, create a helper script at ~/.clawdbot/scripts/auto-update.sh:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

LOG_FILE="${HOME}/.clawdbot/logs/auto-update.log"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$LOG_FILE")"

log() {
  echo "[$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $1" >> "$LOG_FILE"
}

log "Starting auto-update..."

# Capture starting versions
CLAWDBOT_VERSION_BEFORE=$(clawdbot --version 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")

# Update Clawdbot
log "Updating Clawdbot..."
if command -v npm &> /dev/null && npm list -g clawdbot &> /dev/null; then
  npm update -g clawdbot@latest 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
elif command -v pnpm &> /dev/null && pnpm list -g clawdbot &> /dev/null; then
  pnpm update -g clawdbot@latest 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
elif command -v bun &> /dev/null; then
  bun update -g clawdbot@latest 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
else
  log "Running clawdbot update (source install)"
  clawdbot update 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE" || true
fi

# Run doctor for migrations
log "Running doctor..."
clawdbot doctor --yes 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE" || true

# Capture new version
CLAWDBOT_VERSION_AFTER=$(clawdbot --version 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")

# Update skills
log "Updating skills via ClawdHub..."
SKILL_OUTPUT=$(clawdhub update --all 2>&1) || true
echo "$SKILL_OUTPUT" >> "$LOG_FILE"

log "Auto-update complete."

# Output summary for agent to parse
echo "---UPDATE_SUMMARY_START---"
echo "clawdbot_before: $CLAWDBOT_VERSION_BEFORE"
echo "clawdbot_after: $CLAWDBOT_VERSION_AFTER"
echo "skill_output: $SKILL_OUTPUT"
echo "---UPDATE_SUMMARY_END---"

Step 3: Add Cron Job

The recommended approach is to use Clawdbot's built-in cron with an isolated session:

clawdbot cron add \
  --name "Daily Auto-Update" \
  --cron "0 4 * * *" \
  --tz "America/Los_Angeles" \
  --session isolated \
  --wake now \
  --deliver \
  --message "Run the daily auto-update routine:

1. Check and update Clawdbot:
   - For npm installs: npm update -g clawdbot@latest
   - For source installs: clawdbot update
   - Then run: clawdbot doctor --yes

2. Update all skills:
   - Run: clawdhub update --all

3. Report back with:
   - Clawdbot version before/after
   - List of skills that were updated (name + old version → new version)
   - Any errors encountered

Format the summary clearly for the user."

Step 4: Verify Setup

# Confirm cron job was added
clawdbot cron list

# Test the update commands work
clawdbot --version
clawdhub list

Customization Prompts

Users may want to customize:

Different time:

--cron "0 6 * * *"  # 6 AM instead of 4 AM

Different timezone:

--tz "Europe/London"

Specific provider delivery:

--provider telegram --to "@username"

Weekly instead of daily:

--cron "0 4 * * 0"  # Sundays at 4 AM

Error Handling

If updates fail, the agent should:

1. Log the error clearly 2. Still report partial success (if skills updated but Clawdbot didn't, or vice versa) 3. Suggest manual intervention if needed

Common errors to handle:

• EACCES: Permission denied → suggest sudo or fixing permissions
• Network timeouts → retry once, then report
• Git conflicts (source installs) → suggest clawdbot update --force

Update Summary Examples

Reference examples for formatting the update report message.

Full Update (Everything Changed)

🔄 Daily Auto-Update Complete

**Clawdbot**
Updated: v2026.1.9 → v2026.1.10

Key changes in this release:
- CLI: add clawdbot update command
- Gateway: add OpenAI-compatible HTTP endpoint
- Sandbox: improved tool-policy errors

**Skills Updated (3)**
1. prd: 2.0.3 → 2.0.4
2. browser: 1.2.0 → 1.2.1
3. nano-banana-pro: 3.1.0 → 3.1.2

**Skills Already Current (5)**
gemini, sag, things-mac, himalaya, peekaboo

✅ All updates completed successfully.

No Updates Available

🔄 Daily Auto-Update Check

**Clawdbot**: v2026.1.10 (already latest)

**Skills**: All 8 installed skills are current.

Nothing to update today.

Partial Update (Skills Only)

🔄 Daily Auto-Update Complete

**Clawdbot**: v2026.1.10 (no update available)

**Skills Updated (2)**
1. himalaya: 1.0.0 → 1.0.1
   - Fixed IMAP connection timeout handling
2. 1password: 2.1.0 → 2.2.0
   - Added support for SSH keys

**Skills Already Current (6)**
prd, gemini, browser, sag, things-mac, peekaboo

✅ Skill updates completed.

Update With Errors

🔄 Daily Auto-Update Complete (with issues)

**Clawdbot**: v2026.1.9 → v2026.1.10 ✅

**Skills Updated (1)**
1. prd: 2.0.3 → 2.0.4 ✅

**Skills Failed (1)**
1. ❌ nano-banana-pro: Update failed
   Error: Network timeout while downloading v3.1.2
   Recommendation: Run `clawdhub update nano-banana-pro` manually

**Skills Already Current (6)**
gemini, sag, things-mac, himalaya, peekaboo, browser

⚠️ Completed with 1 error. See above for details.

First Run / Setup Confirmation

🔄 Auto-Updater Configured

Daily updates will run at 4:00 AM (America/Los_Angeles).

**What will be updated:**
- Clawdbot core
- All installed skills via ClawdHub

**Current status:**
- Clawdbot: v2026.1.10
- Installed skills: 8

You'll receive a summary here after each update run.

To modify: `clawdbot cron edit "Daily Auto-Update"`
To disable: `clawdbot cron remove "Daily Auto-Update"`

Formatting Guidelines

1. Use emojis sparingly - just the 🔄 header and ✅/❌ for status 2. Lead with the most important info - what changed 3. Group similar items - updated skills together, current skills together 4. Include version numbers - always show before → after 5. Be concise - users want a quick scan, not a wall of text 6. Surface errors prominently - don't bury failures