ralphex-update

ralphex-update is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from umputun/ralphex. It costs 13 tokens per session (1,664 once invoked), scanned C, original, MIT.

A guide for updating ralphex configuration files, where ralphex is a command-line tool with built-in default prompts and agents. It compares those defaults with your customized files and combines changes while keeping your edits.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to export current defaults, find the active configuration directory, and merge newer ralphex prompt or agent changes into installed custom files.
Why use it?
It avoids replacing customized configuration when ralphex's built-in defaults change. It also checks that the ralphex command and configuration directory are available before updating.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Part of the ralphex plugin — 4 skills shipped together

About the project

ralphex is a command-line tool that runs coding agents through implementation plans, executing repository tasks autonomously in separate sessions. It is intended for developers who want long-running features implemented, validated, reviewed, and committed with less interactive supervision.

umputun/ralphex · 1,477 stars · on GitHub

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/umputun/ralphex/ralphex-update
Any agent
npx skills add umputun/ralphex --skill ralphex-update
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/umputun/ralphex

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install ralphex, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 4 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for ralphex-update

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/umputun/ralphex/ralphex-update.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/umputun/ralphex/ralphex-update)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/umputun/ralphex/ralphex-update"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/umputun/ralphex/ralphex-update.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 13 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,664 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan C 1 finding. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00013 $0.01664
Opus 5 $0.00006 $0.00832
Sonnet 5 $0.00003 $0.00333
Haiku 4.5 $0.00001 $0.00166

Measured 5d ago against content hash b83d1ef3681c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade C, and why

ralphex-update scanned grade C with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 5d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Recursive force deletehighDestructive command

rm -rf with a variable or a broad path is one typo away from removing the wrong tree.

rm -rf <dump-dir>
assets/claude/skills/ralphex-update/SKILL.md · 178 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 178 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

ralphex-update - Smart Prompt Merging

SCOPE: Compare current embedded defaults with user's installed config, and intelligently merge updates into customized files. Preserves user intent while incorporating structural changes.

Step 0: Verify CLI Installation

which ralphex

If not found, guide installation:

  • macOS (Homebrew): brew install umputun/apps/ralphex
  • Any platform with Go: go install github.com/umputun/ralphex/cmd/ralphex@latest

Do not proceed until which ralphex succeeds.

Step 1: Extract Current Defaults

Create temp directory and dump embedded defaults:

DUMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d /tmp/ralphex-defaults-XXXX)
ralphex --dump-defaults "$DUMP_DIR"
echo "$DUMP_DIR"

Save the dump directory path for later use.

Step 2: Determine Config Directory

Resolve the user's config directory:

# check environment variable first
echo "${RALPHEX_CONFIG_DIR:-}"

If RALPHEX_CONFIG_DIR is empty, use default:

  • macOS/Linux: ~/.config/ralphex/

Verify the directory exists:

ls -la <config-dir>/

If it doesn't exist, inform user that ralphex hasn't been configured yet and there's nothing to update.

How ralphex Config Files Work

ralphex installs config, prompt, and agent files with all content commented out (every line prefixed with # ). At runtime, stripComments() removes these lines, finds nothing, and falls back to embedded defaults compiled into the binary. These all-commented files are functionally identical to missing files — they are do-nothing placeholders.

When ralphex is updated, new embedded defaults take effect automatically for every file that hasn't been customized. No file changes are needed.

A file is customized only if it contains at least one uncommented, non-empty line that was intentionally modified by the user. The --dump-defaults command produces the raw (uncommented) embedded content for comparison.

Step 3: Compare Files

For each file in the defaults dump (config, prompts/*.txt, agents/*.txt), compare with the corresponding file in the user's config directory.

Read the full file on GitHub · 178 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 5d ago First seen · 178 lines · 13 tokens per session scan C b83d1ef3681c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

ralphex-update is a skill published in the GitHub repository umputun/ralphex (1,477 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 13 tokens to every session and 1,664 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 1 finding (recursive force delete). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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