/evolve

name: evolve
description: Research-driven self-upgrade pipeline for the Elle personal assistant. Fetches latest Claude Code features, audits Elle's architecture, plans upgrades, executes them, and verifies results. Use after Claude Code updates, when exploring new features, or periodically. Also use when the user says "let's modernize Elle", "evolve Elle", or "what Claude Code features are we missing".
user-invocable: true
disable-model-invocation: true

Evolve -- Research-Driven Self-Upgrade Pipeline

This skill researches the latest Claude Code platform state, audits Elle against it, plans upgrades, executes them, and verifies results. It auto-updates the reference files in this skill's `references/` directory to keep the knowledge base current between runs.

Context Detection

Determine execution mode before doing anything else.

**Check:** Does `<cwd>/personal-assistant/.claude-plugin/plugin.json` exist AND does `<cwd>/.git` exist AND does `<cwd>/CONVENTIONS.md` exist?

• **YES -- Source Mode.** Operating in the marketplace repo where Elle is maintained. Operate on skill files, hooks, and references directly. Bump version and update CHANGELOG when done.

• **NO -- Deployed Mode.** Show this disclaimer:

> **Note:** Evolve is designed to run from Elle's source repo where the plugin is maintained. Running here will audit and modify your installed copy at `~/.claude/plugins/cache/...`. These changes will be overwritten on the next plugin update. > > To run from source, navigate to your marketplace repo. > > Proceed with deployed copy?

Wait for confirmation. If declined, stop.

Set `ELLE_ROOT`:

• Source mode: `<cwd>/personal-assistant`
• Deployed mode: the installed plugin path (find via the highest version directory in `~/.claude/plugins/cache/ai-launchpad/personal-assistant/`)

Phase 1: Research

Run six research tasks in parallel using subagents. Each subagent summarizes its findings.

1A. Claude Code Changelog

Fetch latest Claude Code releases:

WebFetch: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases

Also check the raw changelog:

WebFetch: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anthropics/claude-code/main/CHANGELOG.md

Extract from the last 3-5 releases:

• New tool capabilities or parameters
• New hook events or rule features
• Changes to skill loading, triggering, or frontmatter
• New agent/subagent patterns
• Deprecations or breaking changes
• Performance improvements relevant to skill design

1B. Claude Code Documentation (Discovery-Driven)

Discover the Claude Code documentation landscape. Do NOT hardcode doc page URLs -- discover them dynamically.

1. Find available documentation:

   WebSearch: "Claude Code" site:docs.anthropic.com
   WebFetch: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/overview

2. From the search results and overview page, identify and fetch pages covering these categories:

• **Core infrastructure**: skills, hooks, rules, CLAUDE.md
• **Agent capabilities**: subagents/Agent tool, agent teams
• **Plugin system**: commands, output styles, MCP servers, plugin architecture
• **Memory & context**: auto memory, context management
• **Configuration**: settings, permissions, tool gating
• **Workflow**: worktrees, session management

3. For each fetched page, extract:

• Current best practices and recommended patterns
• New features not in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/platform-capabilities.md`
• Deprecated patterns Elle might still use
• Capabilities Elle doesn't leverage yet

1C. Skill-Creator Best Practices

Find and read the installed skill-creator:

Glob: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/*/skill-creator/*/skills/skill-creator/SKILL.md

Extract:

• Current skill writing patterns
• Progressive disclosure guidelines (line limits, reference files)
• Description optimization guidance (triggering, "pushy" descriptions)
• Testing and evaluation patterns

1D. Superpowers & Platform Patterns

Check official plugins for patterns worth adopting:

Glob: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/*/superpowers/*/skills/*/SKILL.md

Note structural patterns, frontmatter conventions, or composition techniques.

1E. Plugin Architecture

Understand the full plugin specification and what Elle could be using:

1. Read the marketplace conventions (source mode only):

   Read: <cwd>/CONVENTIONS.md

2. Examine other installed plugins for structural patterns:

   Glob: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/*/*/skills/*/SKILL.md
   Bash: ls ~/.claude/plugins/cache/*/*/ | head -50

Focus on: plugin.json fields, agents/ directories, MCP server integration, output style patterns.

3. Compare Elle's plugin structure against the full spec:

• What directories does Elle have vs. what's available?
• What plugin.json fields exist vs. what Elle uses?
• Are other plugins using agents/ or MCP servers effectively?

1F. Model Capability Assessment

Check for model-level improvements that may supersede Elle's skills:

1. Search for recent Anthropic model releases:

   WebSearch: "Anthropic Claude" model release OR capability update site:anthropic.com
   WebSearch: "Claude" new capabilities 2026

2. Fetch the models overview page:

   WebFetch: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/about-claude/models

3. Extract capabilities relevant to skill obsolescence:

• Built-in tool use improvements (web search, code execution)
• Reasoning and planning improvements
• Multi-step task handling
• Areas where dedicated prompting/orchestration adds less value

4. Compare against Elle's skill inventory:

• For each skill, ask: "Does the model now do this well enough without specialized prompting?"
• Flag skills where the answer is "yes" or "probably"

5. Cross-reference against `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/platform-capabilities.md` Model Capabilities table to detect changes since last run.

Research Output

After all research completes, compile a