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In your folder: brain/playbooks/update.md

Rendered from release 0.24.0, the version the download installs. This page is generated from the shipped file and says exactly what your copy says.

Playbook: Update

Runs on /update, when the boot check finds a newer version, or when the principal asks to update. The mechanics live in brain/integrations/updates.md; this playbook is the interaction.

Check

  1. Read the local VERSION; fetch the latest published VERSION (brain/integrations/updates.md). If the host can't fetch / there's no network, say so and give the manual path (README) — don't guess.
  2. Already current → say so and stop.
  3. Newer available → report the new version and the CHANGELOG.md highlights, and confirm before applying. (For /update check, stop here — report only.)

Apply (only on an explicit OK)

Follow brain/integrations/updates.md → "Applying an update": download the latest release, replace the shipped files (brain/, AGENTS.md, CHIEFOFSTAFF.md, CLAUDE.md, VERSION, CHANGELOG.md, README.md, .claude/commands/) in this folder. Never touch memory/ or .claude/settings.local.json — the principal's data and local settings carry over untouched. This is an irreversible file operation on the install folder, so confirm first.

After

  1. Confirm VERSION bumped; report the what's-new highlights.
  2. Don't migrate memory in this session — it's now stale (still on the pre-upgrade brain). Any memory migration (the CHANGELOG.md migration notes, orphaned-override reconciliation, an optional /lint convergence) runs automatically at the first fresh session, driven by the new brain — see brain/integrations/updates.md → "Applying memory migrations". If the span has migration notes, tell the principal a one-liner that their next fresh session will apply them; their memory is untouched until then.
  3. Enter stale-session mode (see CHIEFOFSTAFF.mdSESSION FRESHNESS): the swap changed the files on disk, but this session is still running the brain it loaded at boot, so from now on prefix every reply with the stale-session banner until the principal opens a new chat, and this session is now frozen from writing memory. Tell them plainly that the new version — and the migration — take effect only in a fresh session; this one keeps working, on the old version.
  4. Don't write the ledger here — the freeze forbids it, and this session's brain is the old one. The first fresh session's migration pass records the upgrade (and any migration) in memory/ledger.md when it advances onboarded_against (brain/integrations/updates.md → "Applying memory migrations").