One-at-a-time dependency upgrade skill with changelog review
A Claude Code skill that upgrades a single dependency (or a short list, one by one), reads its release notes for breaking changes, updates affected call sites, and verifies with your typecheck, tests and build.
Skill in Engineering by AISkillHub Library
What it does
Bulk upgrades ("bump everything") are hard to review and harder to roll back. This skill makes Claude Code upgrade dependencies one package at a time, with evidence for every change.
**Workflow** 1. Lists outdated packages using the project's own package manager (npm, pnpm, Yarn, Composer, pip or uv, Cargo, Go modules) and confirms the target package and version with you. 2. Reads the package's release notes or changelog between your current and target version. It uses the changelog shipped in the installed package, the repository's releases page if web access is available, or asks you to paste them. 3. Extracts breaking changes and deprecations and searches your code for every affected API. 4. Updates the manifest and lockfile with the package manager (never by hand-editing the lockfile). 5. Updates call sites, then runs the project's typecheck, tests and build. 6. Writes a short upgrade note you can paste into the PR.
**What it will not do** - Upgrade more than one package per step, unless packages must move together (for example `react` and `react-dom`); it says so when that applies. - Use `--force`, `--legacy-peer-deps` or similar flags to silence resolver errors without asking. - Claim a breaking change does not affect you without showing the search it ran.
**Example output** "Upgraded `zod` 3.22.4 to 3.23.8. Release notes list no breaking changes in this range. Ran `npm run typecheck`, `npm test` (212 passed), `npm run build`. No code changes needed."
How to use it
1. Save the file below as `.claude/skills/dependency-upgrade/SKILL.md` in your repository. 2. Commit or stash your work first so the upgrade is an isolated change. 3. In Claude Code, run `/dependency-upgrade <package>` or `/dependency-upgrade <package>@<version>`. With no argument it lists outdated packages and asks which one to do. 4. Review the summary, then commit. Repeat for the next package. 5. If your project uses custom script names for checks, mention them in your `CLAUDE.md` (for example "typecheck: `npm run check`") so the skill runs the right commands.
Files
Save each file at the path shown, relative to your project root.