update

Update Project Knowledge

Incrementally update the project knowledge base based on changes from the current iteration.

Announce at start: "I'm updating the project knowledge base."

Prerequisites

• docs/project-knowledge/ must exist. If not, tell the user to run superpowers-memory:rebuild first.

Process

1. Gather context:

   • Read all 5 current knowledge files from docs/project-knowledge/
   • Identify the most recent plan file: list docs/superpowers/plans/ sorted by modification time and pick the most recently modified file. If there are multiple files modified within the last 24 hours or no plan files exist, ask the user which plan triggered this update.
   • Read the triggering plan file and its associated spec (from docs/superpowers/specs/)
   • Determine the base branch: run git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's|refs/remotes/origin/||' and fall back to main if the command fails. Then run git diff <base-branch>...HEAD --stat to see what files changed.

2. Analyze what changed:

   • New features implemented? → update features.md
   • Architecture changed (new modules, changed data flow)? → update architecture.md
   • New dependencies added? → update tech-stack.md
   • New conventions established? → update conventions.md
   • Significant design decisions made? → add ADR to decisions.md

3. Apply updates:

   • Only modify files that need changes — do not rewrite unchanged files
   • Preserve existing content; append or modify specific sections
   • Update frontmatter in every modified file:
     • last_updated: today's date (YYYY-MM-DD)
     • updated_by: superpowers-memory:update
     • triggered_by_plan: the plan filename that triggered this update (e.g., 2026-03-31-superpowers-memory.md); if no plan triggered this update, preserve the existing value — do not overwrite with null or "none"

4. Regenerate MEMORY.md index:

   Always regenerate docs/project-knowledge/MEMORY.md in full (full overwrite — any file's key points may have changed):

   • Re-read all 5 knowledge files (including any you just updated)
   • Extract 2-3 concrete key points per file
   • Write docs/project-knowledge/MEMORY.md following the format in templates/MEMORY.md, setting updated_by: superpowers-memory:update and triggered_by_plan: <plan-filename>

   Size constraint: Keep MEMORY.md under 30 lines total.

5. Report changes:

   • List which knowledge files were updated and what changed
   • Confirm MEMORY.md was regenerated
   • If no knowledge file updates were needed, still regenerate MEMORY.md

Templates

Knowledge files follow the structure defined in the plugin templates. If you need to add a new section that doesn't exist in the current file, refer to the template for the expected format:

• architecture.md → System Overview, Module Structure, Data Flow, Key Design Decisions
• tech-stack.md → Languages & Frameworks, Key Dependencies, Build & Dev Tools, Infrastructure
• features.md → Implemented (with spec/plan links), In Progress
• conventions.md → Coding Standards, Architecture Rules, Testing Conventions, Git & Workflow
• decisions.md → ADR format (Context, Decision, Alternatives, Reason)

Related Skills

• If docs/project-knowledge/ does not exist, run superpowers-memory:rebuild instead.
• Run superpowers-memory:load before brainstorming or architectural work to surface the updated knowledge.

Commit

After updating, commit the changes:

git add docs/project-knowledge/
git commit -m "docs: update project knowledge base from [plan-name]"