{
  "id": 6754710,
  "title": "Refresh APX Skills Without Replacing Your Dev Install",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/refresh-apx-skills-without-replacing-your-dev-install",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-11T12:02:43.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/agentprojectcontext/refresh-apx-skills-without-replacing-your-dev-install-i13"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "When you modify an APX skill and open your coding assistant, it continues to display the outdated instructions. This occurs because refreshing the installed skills is a distinct process from upgrading APX. The command to refresh the skills is 'apx skills sync --verbose'. The skill delivery system separates the project contract, which contains developer-owned instructions, from the machine's local helper files. This separation means editing an instruction does not automatically refresh all copies already installed on a developer's machine. The skills documentation differentiates between these two catalogs. It is essential to inspect the delivery path, ensuring the 'apx' executable points to the intended development installation. Running the bundled skill refresh and inspecting the installed helper in the target tool's global skill directory can verify if the corrected passage is present. The 'apx skills sync' command confirms the distribution by reporting created, updated, unchanged, and pruned entries. While an external assistant may not automatically reload its instructions, this workflow verifies the distribution first. Upgrading APX using 'apx update' is not a suitable solution for refreshing linked development checkouts, as it can replace the global link with a published package. Editing a development checkout does not trigger the postinstall hook, which installs the published version through the global package manager. To diagnose the issue, identify which specific file the external assistant reads and the operation that puts the new content there.",
  "summary": "You edit an APX skill, open your coding assistant, and get the old instructions again. The Markdown change is correct. The assistant may simply be reading a different file. For contributors working from a linked APX checkout, refreshing installed skills is a separate operation from upgrading APX. Use apx skills sync when the change needs to reach the external tools' global skill directories.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}