Openspec Update Change

---
name: openspec-update-change
description: Update an OpenSpec change by revising its existing planning artifacts and keeping them coherent with one another. Use when the user wants to revise a change's plan, fold new decisions into it, or reconcile its artifacts after an edit. Never edits code.
allowed-tools: Bash(./taskctl:*)
license: MIT
compatibility: Requires the repository-pinned ./taskctl wrapper.
metadata:
  author: openspec
  version: "1.0"
  generatedBy: "1.8.0"
---

RIPDPI VPN deployment policy: use only the local repository planning home. OpenSpec stores, global configuration changes, direct archive, and telemetry are out of scope; `./taskctl` enforces the pinned tool and disables telemetry.

Revise a change's existing planning artifacts and keep them coherent. Never edit code.

**Repository root:** Work only in the current RIPDPI VPN deployment checkout. Do not select or register OpenSpec stores. Run every CLI lookup through `./taskctl openspec cli` from the repository root.

**Input**: Optionally specify a change name. If omitted, check if it can be inferred from conversation context. If vague or ambiguous you MUST prompt for available changes.

This repo installs no `openspec-continue-change` skill, so wherever this workflow points to it below, use the in-repo fallback instead: `./taskctl openspec cli status --change "<name>" --json` shows the next artifact and `./taskctl openspec cli instructions "<artifact-id>" --change "<name>" --json` explains how to create it. Planning artifacts (proposal, specs, design, tasks) are created through `$openspec-propose`, which re-running is the way to fill in an artifact this workflow finds missing.

**Steps**

1. **Select the change**

   If a name is provided, use it. Otherwise:
   - Infer from conversation context if the user mentioned a change
   - Auto-select if only one active change exists
   - If ambiguous, run `./taskctl openspec cli list --json` to get available changes sorted by most recently modified, and ask the user to select one

   When prompting, present the top 3-4 most recently modified changes as options, showing:
   - Change name
   - Schema (from `schema` field if present, otherwise "spec-driven")
   - Status (e.g., "0/5 tasks", "complete", "no tasks")
   - How recently it was modified (from `lastModified` field)

   Mark the most recently modified change as "(Recommended)" since it's likely what the user wants to update.

   Always announce: "Using change: <name>" and how to override (e.g., `$openspec-update-change (Codex) or /openspec-update-change (other agents) <other>`).

2. **Get the change's artifacts**
   ```bash
   ./taskctl openspec cli status --change "<name>" --json
   ```
   Parse the JSON to understand current state. The response includes:
   - `schemaName`: The workflow schema being used (e.g., "spec-driven")
   - `artifacts`: Array of artifacts with their status ("done", "skipped", "ready", "blocked")
   - `isPlanningComplete`: Boolean indicating if all planning artifacts are complete. Older CLI versions expose the same value as `isComplete`.
   - `planningHome`, `changeRoot`, `artifactPaths`, and `actionContext`: path and scope context. Use these instead of assuming repo-local paths.

   The artifact ids and paths come from the active schema - do NOT assume them, and do NOT branch on hardcoded artifact names. Custom schemas must work unchanged.

   The files to edit are `artifactPaths.<id>.existingOutputPaths` - the concrete files that exist on disk, already glob-expanded for glob artifacts (e.g. `specs/**/*.md`). Do NOT write to `resolvedOutputPath`: for a glob artifact it is still the glob pattern, not a real file.

3. **Understand the request**
   - If the user asked for a specific revision ("the design now uses X"), that is the starting edit.
   - If they only said "update" / "make this coherent", treat it as a coherence review: read the existing artifacts and check them against each other for contradictions, gaps, and duplication.

4. **Read and reconcile**
   - Read the artifact(s) the request touches and the change's other existing artifacts.
   - Apply the requested edit. Then check every other existing artifact against it - in ANY direction: an edit to a later artifact may require revising an earlier one, not only the other way around. Build order is a useful reading order, not a constraint on which artifacts may be revised.
   - Note everything that is now inconsistent, missing, or contradictory.
   - Revise only files that already exist (`existingOutputPaths`). Do NOT create artifacts that don't exist yet, and do NOT invent new files under a glob artifact - note them and point the user to `$openspec-propose` to create them.
   - If the change is already coherent, say so and make no edits.

5. **Confirm and apply, one artifact at a time**
   - Show each proposed revision and why. Write only after the user confirms.
   - If the user rejects a revision, do not write it - leave that artifact unchanged.
   - When a substantial rewrite is needed, get that artifact's rules and template first:
     ```bash
     ./taskctl openspec cli instructions "<artifact-id>" --change "<name>" --json
     ```

6. **Point to the next step (guidance only - NEVER act on it)**
   - Artifacts still missing -> suggest `$openspec-propose` to create them.
   - Change already implemented (tasks checked off / already applied) -> the code may no longer match the revised plan; suggest `$openspec-apply-change (Codex) or /openspec-apply-change (other agents)` to carry the delta into code.
   - Everything done and implemented -> suggest `$openspec-archive-change (Codex) or /openspec-archive-change (other agents)`.

**Output**

After each invocation, show:
- Which artifacts were revised (and which proposed revisions were rejected)
- Anything deferred to `$openspec-propose` (not-yet-created artifacts or files)
- Where the change stands and the recommended next command

**Guardrails**
- Planning artifacts only - NEVER edit implementation code. If the revised plan implies code changes, stop and point to `$openspec-apply-change (Codex) or /openspec-apply-change (other agents)`.
- Use the artifact ids and paths reported by `./taskctl openspec cli status`; never branch on hardcoded artifact names.
- Edit only the concrete files in `existingOutputPaths`; never write to a glob `resolvedOutputPath`.
- Do not advance the build frontier: no new artifacts, no new files under glob artifacts - that is `$openspec-propose`'s job.
- Confirm every edit with the user before writing.
- If the request changes the change's *intent* rather than refining it, recommend starting fresh instead of forcing the revision (the "Update vs. Start Fresh" heuristic): create its own linked portfolio task with `$mdtask-create` (`./taskctl new --spec-mode required`), then generate its artifacts with `$openspec-propose`. This repo has no `openspec-new-change` skill and no bare `./taskctl openspec cli new change` scaffold outside that flow.