gh skill update
gh skill update [<skill>...] [flags]
Checks installed skills for available updates by comparing the local
tree SHA (from SKILL.md frontmatter) against the remote repository.
Scans all known agent host directories (Copilot, Claude, Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Antigravity) in both project and user scope automatically.
Without arguments, checks all installed skills. With skill names, checks only those specific skills.
Pinned skills (installed with --pin) are skipped with a notice.
Use --unpin to clear the pinned version and include those skills
in the update.
Skills without GitHub metadata (e.g. installed manually or by another tool) are prompted for their source repository in interactive mode. The update re-downloads the skill with metadata injected, so future updates work automatically.
With --force, re-downloads skills even when the remote version matches
the local tree SHA. This overwrites locally modified skill files with
their original content, but does not remove extra files added locally.
In interactive mode, shows which skills have updates and asks for
confirmation before proceeding. With --all, updates without prompting.
With --dry-run, reports available updates without modifying any files.
Options
-
--all - Update all skills without prompting
-
--dir <string> - Scan a custom directory for installed skills
-
--dry-run - Report available updates without modifying files
-
--force - Re-download even if already up to date
-
--unpin - Clear pinned version and include pinned skills in update
Examples
# Check and update all skills interactively
$ gh skill update
# Update specific skills
$ gh skill update mcp-cli git-commit
# Update all without prompting
$ gh skill update --all
# Re-download all skills (restore locally modified files)
$ gh skill update --force --all
# Check for updates without applying (read-only)
$ gh skill update --dry-run
# Unpin skills and update them to latest
$ gh skill update --unpin