aide_upgrade
Compare project AIDE methodology artifacts against canonical versions and apply updates by category. Walk through drifted categories one at a time to update pointer stubs, docs, commands, agents, skills, MCP config, IDE settings, and more.
Instructions
Compare the AIDE methodology artifacts in this project against the canonical versions and return structured JSON results grouped by category. Use this when the user asks to update AIDE, sync AIDE, refresh AIDE, check for AIDE updates, or bring AIDE up to date. This is NOT for editing user .aide specs — it inspects methodology infrastructure only.
The tool uses a two-call pattern for progressive disclosure:
First call (no category param): Returns a lightweight summary — every category with file names, statuses, and counts, but NO file content. Use this to understand what has drifted and present a summary to the user. Ask which categories they want to apply.
Second call (with category param): The tool writes all differs/missing files directly to disk itself and returns a manifest — file results with filePath, status ("updated", "created", or "unchanged"), and name, but NO canonicalContent. The agent never sees file content and never uses the Write tool for methodology files.
Repeat the second call for each category the user confirms.
As the calling agent, you must:
Call without
categoryfirst to get the summaryPresent each drifted category (differs/missing) and ask the user which to apply
For each confirmed category, call again with
category=X— the tool writes the files and returns a manifest. Report what was updated/created to the user.For the
mcpcategory, the manifest still includesprescriptiondata — merge the entry into the existing MCP config yourself (read → merge → write). Ifmalformed, tell the user — do not overwrite.For
ide, the manifest may includeinstructionsfor VS Code extension install — execute that command for the user. Zed config is written directly by the tool.For
brain,category=brainnever writes; the manifest entry carries aninstructionsfield directing the agent to invoke/aide:brain config, which is the single canonical home for brain.aide creation.
IMPORTANT — one-at-a-time wizard pattern using AskUserQuestion: Do NOT present all categories at once. Walk the user through ONE category at a time using AskUserQuestion with Yes/Skip options. Stop after each question and wait for confirmation before calling with that category.
Categories: pointer-stub, methodology-docs, version-metadata, commands, agents, skills, mcp, ide, readme, brain.
Upgrade surface (user code and user .aide specs are never touched):
AIDE pointer stub in the agent config file
Canonical methodology docs under .aide/docs/
versions.json metadata under .aide/docs/
Slash commands for all pipeline phases
Pipeline agent files, skill templates
MCP server entry in the project's MCP config
IDE file association config (Zed settings, VS Code extension)
Supports Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Copilot. Auto-detects the framework or accepts an override.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| path | No | Custom project root path (defaults to server working directory) | |
| category | No | Write all differs/missing files for this category to disk and return a manifest. Omit on the first call to get a metadata-only summary of all categories. | |
| framework | No | Force a specific framework instead of auto-detecting. Auto-detection checks for framework-specific files/directories and defaults to Claude Code. |