Updating Packages

The update (alias upgrade) command runs system upgrades across all available package managers using a safe two-phase (check + confirm) flow.

stamp update

Checking for outdated packages

Use the outdated or check-update commands to see available updates without applying them:

stamp outdated
stamp check-update

▪ Refreshing package metadata...
  refreshing apt...
  refreshing brew...
▪ Checking for updates...
  apt: curl 7.88.1 → 7.88.3
  apt: git 2.43.0 → 2.43.2
  dnf: htop 3.2.1 → 3.2.2
  brew: lazygit 0.40.0 → 0.41.0
  pipx: cannot preview updates
  uv: cannot preview updates

Both outdated and check-update are read-only — they run the check phase and exit without applying anything. Equivalent to stamp update --check.

Default Flow (Check + Confirm)

By default, running stamp update performs metadata refresh, then a serialized check across all package managers, aggregates the available updates, and prompts you before applying them:

▪ Refreshing package metadata...
  refreshing apt...
  refreshing brew...
▪ Checking for updates...
  apt: curl 7.88.1 → 7.88.3
  apt: git 2.43.0 → 2.43.2
  dnf: htop 3.2.1 → 3.2.2
  brew: lazygit 0.40.0 → 0.41.0
  pipx: cannot preview updates (unsupported)
  uv: cannot preview updates (unsupported)

Proceed with updates? [Y/n]: y

▪ sudo password:
[apt] Reading package lists... Done
[apt] Upgrading: 2 packages
[dnf] Upgrading: 1 package
[brew] Upgrading: 1 package
updated packages via apt
updated packages via dnf
updated packages via brew

Managers that do not support a native “list upgrades” command (like go, pipx, uv) will print a short notice and continue safely.

To ensure accuracy, the check phase runs an explicit metadata refresh step before querying for updates. Each adapter’s Refresh method is called (e.g., brew update, apt update, zypper refresh, pacman -Sy) before the check loop. Managers like dnf and flatpak skip refresh since they use local metadata. A single sudo prompt at the start covers both the refresh and the run phase.

Check Only (Dry-Run)

Use --check or -c to check for available updates without applying them:

stamp update --check

▪ Refreshing package metadata...
  refreshing apt...
  refreshing brew...
▪ Checking for updates...
  apt: curl 7.88.1 → 7.88.3
  brew: lazygit 0.40.0 → 0.41.0

Skip Check (Auto-Confirm)

To skip the check phase entirely for speed (useful in scripts or CI), use the -y / --yes flag:

stamp update -y

This bypasses the check-update latency and proceeds directly to parallelized updates.

Scoped to a Manager

Scope the check and update to a single package manager with -m / --manager:

stamp update -m apt

Single Package

Update only one specific package instead of all packages (requires -m):

stamp update -p htop -m apt

Serial Mode

Run updates one manager at a time instead of concurrently (useful for debugging):

stamp update --serial

Python tools (pipx / uv)

stamp update -m pipx

Runs pipx upgrade-all to upgrade all pipx-installed tools.

stamp update -m uv

Runs uv tool upgrade --all to upgrade all uv-managed tools.

Go tools

Batch update (stamp update without flags) reinstalls all go tools whose module path is recoverable from the binary metadata. Tools installed before the Go module system, or with stripped binaries, may be skipped. Use -p <module> -m go to update a single go tool explicitly:

stamp update -p github.com/golangci/golangci-lint -m go

Error Handling

If one manager fails, others continue. The command exits with a non-zero status:

⚠ update failed for apt: exit status 100
updated packages via brew
Error: one or more managers failed to update