Agent skill

OpenRig Upgrade Procedure

by mvschwarz in mvschwarz/openrig

Walks an agent through upgrading the OpenRig CLI and daemon one observed step at a time, keeping live seats alive and reconciling managed plugin files.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedDevOps & Cloud

Install OpenRig Upgrade Procedure

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-upgrade -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mvschwarz/openrig openrig-upgrade --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/_canonical/core/openrig-upgrade .claude/skills/openrig-upgrade && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
openrig-upgrade
GitHub stars
5.9k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~2.9k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,384 words
Files
5 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
49
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Walks an agent through upgrading the OpenRig CLI and daemon one observed step at a time, keeping live seats alive and reconciling managed plugin files.

  • Works in 5 steps: Inspect. Derive current facts from the… → Decide. Choose one bounded mutation and… → Act once. Do not bundle the next… → …
  • Preparing an OpenRig CLI or daemon upgrade on a host with running agent seats
  • SKILL.md covers Safety model, When recovery crosses an…, The loop and Bounded helpers, plus 3 more sections
  • Runs JavaScript scripts from its folder; calls node

What it does

An OpenRig upgrade here is an agent-led sequence, not a single command; there is deliberately no end-to-end upgrade subcommand. For each step the agent inspects the live host, decides on one bounded change and states its expected effect, performs it once, observes the process, listener, database, plugin and seat surfaces it could have touched, then continues, adapts or stops. A failed expectation counts as information, not a reason for a blind retry.

The skill separates the planes involved: seats normally live in tmux and can outlast a daemon restart, while the daemon, database, wrappers and managed plugin projection are what changes. The rig down command tears seats down, so it is not part of an upgrade that must preserve continuity. Before acting you name the rigs and seats that matter, and when recovery crosses an instance boundary a single executor and queue store must be recorded. Helper scripts back up the SQLite database, inspect the upgrade, migrate telemetry state for 0.5.9 and refresh the managed plugin.

When your agent uses it

  • Preparing an OpenRig CLI or daemon upgrade on a host with running agent seats
  • Refreshing managed plugin and skill files without overwriting local edits
  • Recovering from a half-finished upgrade where some processes are still alive

Example prompts

  • “Plan the OpenRig upgrade for this host and tell me which seats must survive.”
  • “Back up the OpenRig database, then run the daemon upgrade one step at a time and verify each one.”
  • “Reconcile the managed OpenRig plugin files without touching my local changes.”

Requirements

  • An OpenRig installation with its CLI and daemon
  • tmux

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Inspect. Derive current facts from the live host.
  2. Decide. Choose one bounded mutation and state its expected effect.
  3. Act once. Do not bundle the next mutation with it.
  4. Observe. Check the process, listener, database, plugin, and seat surfaces
  5. Continue, adapt, or stop. A failed expectation is information for the

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1f69831. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 4 files in scripts/ (JavaScript), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • node

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

OpenRig Upgrade Procedure loads about 2.9k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 55 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,384 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~55
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mvschwarz/openrig at commit 1f69831, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mvschwarz). 1,384 words, ~2,898 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/openrig-upgrade/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 4 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
openrig-upgrade
description
Use when an agent is preparing or performing an OpenRig CLI/daemon upgrade and must preserve live seats, verify each mutation, or reconcile managed plugin and skill files without overwriting local work.
metadata.cli_surfaces_referenced
capture, daemon start, daemon status, daemon stop, plugin list, ps, restore-check, snapshot, version

Upgrade OpenRig

An upgrade is an observed agent workflow, not a transaction hidden behind one command. Hosts differ, process state drifts, local plugin files accumulate, and the useful response to a failed step depends on what is still alive.

The agent owns the sequence. Stop after every mutation and observe the actual effect before choosing the next step. There is deliberately no end-to-end upgrade subcommand.

Safety model

Keep these planes separate:

  • Seats normally live in tmux and can survive a daemon restart.
  • The daemon, database, wrappers, and managed plugin projection are the control plane being changed.
  • rig down tears down seats. It is not part of a continuity-preserving upgrade.

Before acting, name the rigs and seats whose continuity matters. On a production host, use the host's normal operator ceremony. On a recovery-friendly build VM, the orchestrator may adopt a tested runtime directly, but still observes each step and stops on unexplained drift.

When recovery crosses an instance boundary

Before either lane changes runtime state, record one host-qualified executor and explicitly select the queue store that owns the recovery ruling. State whether the original owner continues, waits, or transfers; an open obligation in another store is not exclusive custody of this ruling. If the original store is down, retain its owner's disposition in the surviving ruling and communicate it to that owner before a competing executor acts.

A refused claim means reconcile ownership with the ruling owner before any further runtime action; it does not authorize continuing under a separate older row. A return names the full executor address and deliberately selected store. Read the resulting row there, including source, destination, body, and the original owner's disposition, before resuming. Receipt creation alone does not establish that a waiting lane received or accepted the transfer.

The loop

For every step:

  1. Inspect. Derive current facts from the live host.
  2. Decide. Choose one bounded mutation and state its expected effect.
  3. Act once. Do not bundle the next mutation with it.
  4. Observe. Check the process, listener, database, plugin, and seat surfaces that the step could have changed.
  5. Continue, adapt, or stop. A failed expectation is information for the agent, not permission for a blind retry.

Bounded helpers

Let SKILL_DIR be the directory containing this SKILL.md. These scripts emit JSON and do not decide the upgrade sequence.

Inspect current facts
bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/inspect-upgrade.mjs"

This asks the installed rig for its version, daemon status, node inventory, and plugin inventory. A missing surface remains visible with a suggested next probe. ready: false means the agent must resolve or consciously bound the gap; it does not mean the script should mutate anything.

Back up SQLite

Take continuity snapshots first:

bash
rig snapshot <rig-id>
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/backup-sqlite.mjs" \
  --source "$OPENRIG_HOME/openrig.sqlite" \
  --destination "/safe/path/openrig-before-upgrade.sqlite"

The helper refuses to overwrite a destination, uses SQLite's backup operation, and verifies the backup with PRAGMA integrity_check. It does not stop the daemon or restore a database.

Plan or apply safe managed-plugin refreshes

Plugin trees may contain skills as well as hooks and metadata. Compare the last packaged ancestor, the target package, and the live installed tree:

bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/refresh-managed-plugin.mjs" \
  --ancestor /path/to/previous/package/plugin \
  --target /path/to/target/package/plugin \
  --live "$OPENRIG_HOME/plugins/<plugin>"

Review the sorted decisions. To apply only refresh-safe and add-safe files:

bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/refresh-managed-plugin.mjs" \
  --ancestor /path/to/previous/package/plugin \
  --target /path/to/target/package/plugin \
  --live "$OPENRIG_HOME/plugins/<plugin>" \
  --apply-safe

The helper never deletes a live file and never overwrites a local modification. Local deletions, live-only files, target removals, and ambiguous types are reported for the agent to resolve. Re-run the plan after any manual resolution.

Migrate a pre-0.5.9 instance layout

Version 0.5.9 puts context-usage telemetry in $OPENRIG_HOME/state/context-usage, provider telemetry in state/provider-usage, the addressable library under context/, and the default System World at context/system/system-world.yaml. Existing 0.5.8 homes cross that boundary through an Agent-Operated Migration: the target runtime reads canonical-first with legacy-fallback while all new writes use the canonical state roots. An explicitly configured custom context-library root stays stable throughout activation.

The helper supplies bounded, inspectable operations. The agent owns their sequence and the target-runtime activation between them. With an exact protected preimage path, first inspect and then prepare canonical directories, the default System World, and a config pin to the existing library. Preparation does not copy telemetry, rewrite live collector settings, or run lifecycle actions:

--help prints the phase grammar without inventorying the instance. With no phase flag the helper intentionally runs the read-only plan; unknown options fail nonzero before plan or mutation.

bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs" --help

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs" \
  --home "$OPENRIG_HOME"

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs" \
  --home "$OPENRIG_HOME" \
  --apply-state \
  --preimage "$OPENRIG_HOME/backups/layout-0.5.9-before"

Activate the exact target runtime using the ordinary upgrade workflow. Then wait until every bounded post-apply legacy tail is followed by newer paired new-root samples for that same seat. This proves temporal convergence without blanket process replacement; a later legacy write remains a hard stop. Capture the verification JSON; copied old sidecars are not evidence:

bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs" \
  --home "$OPENRIG_HOME" \
  --verify \
  --preimage "$OPENRIG_HOME/backups/layout-0.5.9-before" \
  > /safe/path/layout-0.5.9-verify.json

Only a successful receipt authorizes the separately invoked non-destructive finalizer. It copies an unconfigured legacy library into the canonical root without overwriting anything; a custom context-library root remains stable:

bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs" \
  --home "$OPENRIG_HOME" \
  --apply-library \
  --preimage "$OPENRIG_HOME/backups/layout-0.5.9-before" \
  --verification /safe/path/layout-0.5.9-verify.json

Stop on every reported issue: malformed or foreign telemetry, a reserved-path conflict, a library collision, config drift, resumed legacy writes, byte drift, or a missing fresh dual sample all require the named repair before continuing. Verification binds the exact accepted tail bytes to their paired-newer samples; the finalizer revalidates them immediately before switching config. The helper never removes the legacy telemetry or library. Their later retirement is a separate agent decision after stable runtime, writer, reader, and recovery proof. It does not stop/start the daemon, launch a seat, touch the database, or decide whether the upgrade proceeds.

To recover, restore the prior runtime as the agent-led workflow requires, then reverse only helper-owned config, System World, empty-directory, and copied library effects. Real state samples and both legacy recovery sources remain for inspection:

bash
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs" \
  --home "$OPENRIG_HOME" \
  --rollback "$OPENRIG_HOME/backups/layout-0.5.9-before"
Show full SKILL.md (475 more words)Show less

Agent-led continuity upgrade

This is a decision guide, not a command recipe. Adapt paths and checks to the host in front of you.

  1. Inspect the current CLI, daemon, nodes, and plugins with the helper.
  2. Checkpoint active work and record the exact protected tmux/session census.
  3. Run rig snapshot <rig-id> for each protected rig.
  4. Create and verify the SQLite backup.
  5. Build or stage the target runtime separately. Prove its version and source identity before touching the live daemon.
  6. Run rig daemon stop. Verify both the listener and the identified daemon process are gone. If the command returns while either remains, stop: inspect identity and use the host's authorized recovery procedure. Do not blindly signal a PID.
  7. Start the target with rig daemon start or the host's known wrapper. Verify daemon status, process path, listener, version, and database integrity.
  8. Run the plugin refresh helper in plan mode. Apply safe writes only after the three roots and classifications make sense; resolve preserved paths one at a time when required.
  9. Verify protected seats with rig ps --nodes -A --json, representative rig capture, and rig restore-check where applicable. -A is required: without it the node read is your CURRENT rig only, and a daemon upgrade protects seats across every rig on the host — so the narrow form reports success while seats outside your rig went unchecked.
  10. Align wrappers only after deriving how that host owns them. Use its existing mechanism; this skill does not rewrite launchers.
  11. Record the observed result, remaining local preservation decisions, and the exact rollback runtime and backup.
  12. Read what changed in the new version, rig context get reference/whats-new.md, and tell your user anything in it that changes how they work.

Stop and hand back when

  • a protected tmux session is missing before the upgrade;
  • database integrity or backup verification fails;
  • the running process or listener does not match the expected runtime;
  • daemon stop reports success but the identified process or listener remains;
  • the target cannot start against the existing database;
  • plugin roots cannot be tied to a known ancestor and target;
  • a required plugin path is classified as locally modified or deleted and the correct ownership decision is unclear;
  • continuing would require rig down, destructive restore, credential changes, or broader authority than the operator has.

When stopping, report the last proven-good state, the first failed expectation, the exact evidence, and the smallest decision needed from the owner. Preserve live seats and the database unless recovery specifically requires otherwise.

Rollback is also agent-led

Prefer starting the previous known runtime against the still-valid database. Restore the database backup only when a migration or corruption finding requires it; a degraded projection alone is not proof that the database should be replaced. After rollback, repeat the same process, listener, database, plugin, and seat observations used during the forward path.

© mvschwarz, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 4 other files (scripts) in skills/_canonical/core/openrig-upgrade of mvschwarz/openrig.

  • SKILL.md
  • scripts/backup-sqlite.mjs
  • scripts/inspect-upgrade.mjs
  • scripts/migrate-telemetry-state-0.5.9.mjs
  • scripts/refresh-managed-plugin.mjs

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1f69831

Used in 1 other repository

We found 3 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in mvschwarz/openrig, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

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Works with

Questions about OpenRig Upgrade Procedure

What does OpenRig Upgrade Procedure do?

Walks an agent through upgrading the OpenRig CLI and daemon one observed step at a time, keeping live seats alive and reconciling managed plugin files. An OpenRig upgrade here is an agent-led sequence, not a single command; there is deliberately no end-to-end upgrade subcommand. For each step the agent inspects the live host, decides on one bounded change and states its expected effect, performs it once, observes the process, listener, database, plugin and seat surfaces it could have touched, then continues, adapts or stops.

When should I use OpenRig Upgrade Procedure?

OpenRig Upgrade Procedure fits situations like: preparing an OpenRig CLI or daemon upgrade on a host with running agent seats; refreshing managed plugin and skill files without overwriting local edits; recovering from a half-finished upgrade where some processes are still alive.

How do I install OpenRig Upgrade Procedure in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-upgrade -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/_canonical/core/openrig-upgrade in mvschwarz/openrig) into .claude/skills/openrig-upgrade in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install OpenRig Upgrade Procedure in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-upgrade -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/_canonical/core/openrig-upgrade in mvschwarz/openrig) into .agents/skills/openrig-upgrade in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use OpenRig Upgrade Procedure in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-upgrade -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/openrig-upgrade, .gemini/skills/openrig-upgrade, .github/skills/openrig-upgrade and .opencode/skills/openrig-upgrade in your project.

What does OpenRig Upgrade Procedure need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, OpenRig Upgrade Procedure needs JavaScript for the scripts in its folder and the command-line tools its instructions call (node). Our summary lists: An OpenRig installation with its CLI and daemon; tmux.

Does OpenRig Upgrade Procedure access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is OpenRig Upgrade Procedure safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does OpenRig Upgrade Procedure use?

OpenRig Upgrade Procedure is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does OpenRig Upgrade Procedure use?

About 2.9k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 12k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to OpenRig Upgrade Procedure?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with OpenRig Upgrade Procedure: Auto tmux Operator (tradecatlabs/vibe-coding-cn, 17k stars), Agent of Empires Session Manager (agent-of-empires/agent-of-empires, 3.3k stars), DB Ops Sop (OpenDCAI/DataMind, 423 stars) and Oh My Opencode (LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills, 2.2k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains OpenRig Upgrade Procedure?

mvschwarz (a GitHub user) maintains it in mvschwarz/openrig, which has 5,854 GitHub stars. The repository holds 49 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: mvschwarz/openrig on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.