Slash Command

/brew-update

From boochtek

Update Homebrew and all installed packages, with a summary of changes

Invocation

How this command is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both

Slash command

/boochtek:brew-update

Model invocable

No pre-commands

Context Preview

The summary Claude sees in its command listing — used to decide when to auto-load this command

Update Homebrew and all installed packages. Provide a summary of what was updated.

## Steps

1. **Check for concurrent brew processes.** Before anything else, check for stale lock files:
   
   - If `.incomplete` files exist, check whether a `brew upgrade` process is actually running (`pgrep -f 'brew upgrade'`).
   - If a process IS running: **abort** and tell the user another upgrade is in progress.
   - If NO process is running: the locks are stale. Clean them up with `find ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/ -name "*.incomplete" -delete` and continue.

2. Run `brew update` to update Ho...

Command Content

41 lines · ~580 tokens

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MaintenanceGood

Last CommitApr 6, 2026

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Steps

Check for concurrent brew processes. Before anything else, check for stale lock files:
```
find ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/ -name "*.incomplete"
```
- If .incomplete files exist, check whether a brew upgrade process is actually running (pgrep -f 'brew upgrade').
- If a process IS running: abort and tell the user another upgrade is in progress.
- If NO process is running: the locks are stale. Clean them up with find ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/ -name "*.incomplete" -delete and continue.
Run brew update to update Homebrew itself and fetch the latest formulae/cask definitions.
Run brew outdated --verbose to capture the list of outdated packages BEFORE upgrading. Save this list — you'll need it for the summary.
Before running brew upgrade, warn the user:

HEADS UP: The upgrade may trigger a Touch ID or sudo password prompt. Some cask upgrades require elevated privileges.
Run brew upgrade to upgrade all outdated formulae and casks. Use a 10-minute timeout.
Run brew cleanup to remove old versions.
Run brew services list and check if any upgraded packages have running services that should be restarted. Use brew services restart <service> as needed.
Produce a summary:
- List all packages that were upgraded, showing old version -> new version.
- For these important/daily-use packages, provide a TLDR of notable changes (search the web for release notes if needed):
  - git, jj, bash, zsh, openssl, curl, jq, ripgrep, fd, fzf, tmux, neovim, gh, opencode, claude-code (claude), httpie, eza, delta, direnv, mise, ghostty, iterm
- For any OTHER package that had a MAJOR version bump (eg, 2.x -> 3.x), also provide a TLDR.
  - If the version number starts with 0, provide a TLDR if the second number increases.
- Skip TLDRs for packages with only patch-level bumps (eg, 2.3.4 -> 2.3.5) or if there are no notable features. Omit them from the TLDR — just list them in the "all other upgrades" table.
- No need to show freed disk space.
Report any errors or warnings from the upgrade process.