How to use the GEO-SEO Updater agent skill (geo-update)

What are agent skills, and what does geo-update do?

An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file that gives an AI agent instructions for a specific task. The agent reads these instructions when a request matches the skill's description. Claude Code and the Claude apps can both use skills.

geo-update is the maintenance helper for GEO-SEO. When you ask for an update, the agent checks whether your installed copy is out of date, clones the latest version from the upstream repository, and shows what would change. It then updates skills, agents, scripts and schema templates in place under your ~/.claude folder. It can also refresh Python dependencies and reminds you to restart your session.

• Compares installed files against the latest upstream version
• Lists new, modified and removed files before copying anything
• Updates the main skill, sub-skills, agents, scripts, schema templates and hooks
• Does not delete locally installed files that no longer exist upstream

Install the geo-update skill

You can install the skill in one of two ways. Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into your personal skills folder, ~/.claude/skills/, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder if you want it limited to one project.

Alternatively, in the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.

• Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Check that GEO-SEO is installed first

geo-update only updates an existing installation. The skill checks for ~/.claude/skills/geo/SKILL.md. If that file is missing, the skill tells you GEO-SEO is not installed and suggests running the installer instead.

The GEO-SEO toolkit installs these components under ~/.claude/: the main skill in skills/geo/, sub-skills in skills/geo-*/, agents as agents/geo-*.md, scripts in skills/geo/scripts/, schema templates in skills/geo/schema/ and hooks in skills/geo/hooks/.

Trigger the skill with a natural request

You do not need a special command. Ask the agent in plain language, and the skill's description should match. Requests such as checking for GEO-SEO updates, updating GEO-SEO skills or pulling the latest GEO-SEO changes are the kind of wording the skill is written for.

Expect the agent to show a summary of changes before it applies them. Read that summary before agreeing to the update, especially if you have edited any installed files.

• "Update my GEO-SEO skills to the latest version."
• "Check whether my GEO-SEO install is out of date."
• "Show me what would change in GEO-SEO before updating."

What the update does, step by step

The skill clones the upstream repository with Git into a temporary folder, using a shallow clone of the latest state. If the clone fails, it reports the error and stops without touching your installed files.

Next it compares each component directory with diff, sorts changes into new, modified and removed files, and presents the summary. Only then does it copy files over the installed locations. If requirements.txt exists upstream and differs from your installed version, it runs pip to install the requirements. Dependency failures are reported but are not treated as fatal. Finally it removes the temporary folder and reports counts of new, modified and unchanged files.

• If there is no difference, the skill reports that you are up to date and skips the copy step
• Removed upstream files are listed for you to review manually
• Settings files ~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.claude/settings.local.json are not modified

Safety notes: scripts and network access

geo-update runs shell commands and uses the network. It needs Git to clone the upstream repository from github.com, a Bash shell with standard Unix tools such as mktemp, cp, diff and chmod, and Python 3 with pip only if the upstream requirements.txt is installed. The skill's allowed tools are Bash, Read and Write.

Updates overwrite files that have the same name. If you have customised any installed GEO-SEO file, back up your changes before updating. The skill will not delete outdated files on its own, but it will copy over same-named files.

• Back up any customised GEO-SEO files before updating
• Review the change summary before agreeing to copy files
• Make sure you trust the upstream repository at github.com/zubair-trabzada/geo-seo-claude

Tips for a clean update

Restart your Claude Code session after updating. The skill reminds you of this because changes to skills take effect only in new sessions.

If you maintain a fork or test a fresh upstream copy, run the update in a session where you can review the summary and confirm the install works.

• Start a new session after the update before using GEO-SEO
• Read the removed-files list and delete anything you no longer want yourself
• Keep local edits outside same-named files where possible