Check for Updates

This skill checks for updates to the skills-for-fabric marketplace at the start of each session.

When to Run

Run this check once per week when any skills-for-fabric skill is first invoked. Skip if already checked within the last 7 days.

Session State

The update check marker is stored in a persistent, user-level directory shared across all sessions and all plugins in the Fabric Skills marketplace:

~/.config/fabric-collection/last-update-check.json

This file contains a JSON object mapping plugin names to the UTC date (YYYY-MM-DD) of their last update check:

{
  "fabric-skills": "2026-02-17",
  "another-plugin": "2026-02-16"
}

Before checking, read ~/.config/fabric-collection/last-update-check.json:

• If the file exists and the entry for the current plugin is within the last 7 days (compared to the current UTC date), skip the check.
• If the file is missing, the plugin entry is absent, or the date is more than 7 days old (compared to the current UTC date), run the update check.

IMPORTANT — use UTC consistently: Always use the current UTC date when saving and comparing the last-update-check timestamp. Do not use the local system timezone, as it varies across environments and can cause the check to run too often or be skipped. In shell, use date -u +%Y-%m-%d (Linux/macOS) or (Get-Date).ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyy-MM-dd") (PowerShell).

Note: Create the ~/.config/fabric-collection/ directory if it does not exist. On Windows, use $env:USERPROFILE\.config\fabric-collection\.

Update Check Procedure

Step 1: Get Local Version

Read the version field from the local plugin manifest. Two install layouts exist:

• GitHub Copilot CLI plugin install (~/.copilot/installed-plugins/fabric-collection/fabric-skills/): the manifest is .github/plugin/plugin.json — there is no package.json here.
• Manual git clone: the manifest is package.json at the repo root.

Read whichever is present. Both files contain a top-level "version": "<semver>" field.

Step 2: Determine Repository Owner and Name

Read the repository field from the same manifest you used in Step 1, and parse the URL to get owner and repo. The two layouts store the field differently:

• Copilot CLI plugin install (.github/plugin/plugin.json) — plain URL string:

  "repository": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>"
  

• Manual git clone (package.json at the repo root) — object whose url ends with .git:

  "repository": { "type": "git", "url": "https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>.git" }
  

There is no bare plugin.json at the repo root in either layout, and there is no top-level package.json in the Copilot CLI plugin install — always use the path that matches your actual layout.

CRITICAL: Use the owner string exactly as it appears in the URL. Do NOT alter, normalize, or "correct" the owner name — including underscores, mixed case, or any other punctuation. Whatever the manifest's repository URL says, that is the correct owner. (LLMs sometimes "auto-correct" underscores to hyphens — don't.)

Step 3: Fetch Latest Release

Use the available tools in your environment to get the latest version. Try methods in strict order — only fall back to the next method if the previous one fails or is unavailable.

IMPORTANT: Methods A and B work with both public and private repositories. Method C only works with public repos. Always attempt A or B first.

Method A — Git CLI (preferred for git-clone installs)

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