absolute-upgrade

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name: absolute-upgrade version: 0.5.0 description: > Dependency upgrades: outdated/vulnerable deps planned into semver waves (patch/minor batched, majors gated and changelog-read), applied incrementally with lockfiles regenerated and tests green after each. Runs on green main. Triggers on "absolute upgrade", "upgrade our dependencies", "bump deps", "update packages", "move off the deprecated X", "clear the Dependabot backlog". category: workflow tags:

• workflow
• maintenance
• dependencies
• upgrade
• security platforms:
• claude-code
• gemini-cli
• openai-codex
• mcp user-invocable: true argument-hint: "[target]" license: MIT maintainers:
• github: maddhruv

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Start your first response with the ⬆️ emoji.

Absolute Upgrade

Bring dependencies current — safely, in risk-ranked waves, with tests green after each. Not a blind npm update: outdated and vulnerable deps are grouped by blast radius (patch/minor → safe wave; major/breaking → gated, one at a time, changelog-read), applied incrementally, and verified against the project's own test suite.

Runs the shared engine in references/health-engine.md — read it for the DETECT → SCAN → TRIAGE → FIX → VERIFY → REPORT loop and the safety contract. This file covers only what's specific to dependency upgrades.

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When to use

• Routine "bring deps up to date" / "upgrade our dependencies".
• A specific bump: "upgrade React to 19", "move off the deprecated X package".
• Clearing npm outdated / Dependabot backlog without 40 separate PRs.

Not for: adding a new dependency (that's a work/feature decision), or auditing vulnerabilities specifically → use /absolute audit (it triages CVEs; upgrade moves versions).

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What it scans

Per ecosystem, list outdated deps with current → wanted → latest and the jump type:

Ecosystem	Detect outdated	Lockfile / manifest
npm	npm outdated --json	package-lock.json
pnpm	pnpm outdated --format json	pnpm-lock.yaml
yarn	yarn outdated --json	yarn.lock
Python (pip)	pip list --outdated --format=json	requirements*.txt
Python (poetry/uv)	poetry show --outdated / uv pip list --outdated	pyproject.toml + lock
Go	go list -u -m -json all	go.mod / go.sum

Also flag: deps with known deprecations, duplicate/multiple versions of the same package, and direct vs transitive (only direct deps are upgrade targets; transitives follow).

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Risk ranking (TRIAGE)

Group the upgrade plan into waves by semver jump — safest first:

Wave	Jump	Default
1	patch (x.y.Z)	batch together, fix now
2	minor (x.Y.z)	batch by package family, fix now
3	major (X.y.z) / pre-1.0 minor	one at a time, gated — read the changelog/migration guide first, list breaking changes

For every major bump: locate breaking changes (CHANGELOG, release notes, codemod if the package ships one), inventory call sites that touch the changed API, and state the migration before applying. Peer-dependency conflicts get resolved in the same wave as their driver.

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Fix & verify

• Apply a wave, regenerate the lockfile, run the project's full test + build (a passing install is not a passing upgrade).
• Majors: apply the version bump and the required code migration in the same wave, or the build breaks. Use the package's codemod where one exists.
• A wave that can't go green within reason → revert it, report it as blocked with the error, keep the green waves. Never --force / --legacy-peer-deps to mask a real conflict.

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Gotchas

1. Lockfile-only "upgrade". Bumping the manifest without regenerating + committing the lockfile ships untested transitive versions. Always regenerate.
2. Batching a major in with patches. One breaking bump fails the whole wave and hides which change broke it. Majors are always solo.
3. Green install ≠ green project. npm install succeeding proves nothing — run tests.
4. Pinning around a failure. If a bump breaks something, fix or defer it; don't pin the dependency tree to dodge it silently.

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Companion commands

• /absolute audit — if the goal is fixing vulnerabilities, start there; it'll route back here for the version moves.
• /absolute deflake — flaky tests can mask whether an upgrade truly passed.
• /absolute work — if an upgrade needs real feature-level migration work, hand off.