Update and Restore

How to keep OpenWolf current across projects and recover from problems.

Overview

OpenWolf tracks every project where openwolf init has been run. The update command pushes new protocol files to all registered projects at once, while restore lets you roll back if something goes wrong.

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openwolf update

Updates all registered projects (or a specific one) to the latest OpenWolf version.

openwolf update

What It Does

1. Creates a timestamped backup of each project's .wolf/ directory before making any changes
2. Overwrites protocol files with the latest versions:
   • OPENWOLF.md
   • config.json
   • reframe-frameworks.md
   • Hook scripts in .wolf/hooks/
   • Claude rules in .claude/rules/openwolf.md
3. Preserves user data -- these files are never overwritten:
   • cerebrum.md (learned preferences and conventions)
   • memory.md (session history)
   • buglog.json (bug tracking)
   • anatomy.md (project file map)
   • Any custom files you added to .wolf/
4. Updates hooks registered in .claude/settings.json

Options

openwolf update --dry-run              # show what would change, touch nothing
openwolf update --project my-app       # update only projects matching "my-app"
openwolf update --list                 # show all registered projects

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Preview changes without writing any files. Shows which files would be overwritten, added, or skipped.
--project <name>	Update only projects whose name or path matches the given string. Partial matches work.
--list	Print all registered project paths and exit. No updates performed.

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openwolf restore

Restore a project's .wolf/ directory from a previous backup.

List Available Backups

openwolf restore

Without arguments, this lists all available backups for the current project with their timestamps and sizes.

Restore a Specific Backup

openwolf restore 2026-03-15T14-30-00

Pass a backup timestamp to restore .wolf/ from that snapshot. The current .wolf/ directory is replaced entirely with the backup contents.

WARNING

Restoring overwrites the entire .wolf/ directory, including user data files like cerebrum.md and memory.md. If you have recent changes you want to keep, back them up manually first.

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What Gets Backed Up

Every backup is a full copy of .wolf/ at the time of the update. This includes:

File	Type
OPENWOLF.md	Protocol
config.json	Protocol
reframe-frameworks.md	Protocol
hooks/*	Protocol
cerebrum.md	User data
memory.md	User data
buglog.json	User data
anatomy.md	User data
designqc-captures/*	Generated
Any custom files in .wolf/	User data

Backups are stored alongside the project and named by timestamp for easy identification.

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Registered Projects

Each time you run openwolf init in a project, that project's path is registered in OpenWolf's global state. This registry is what openwolf update iterates over.

To see all registered projects:

openwolf update --list

Output:

Registered projects:
  D:\WORKSPACE\my-app        (initialized 2026-02-10)
  D:\WORKSPACE\landing-site  (initialized 2026-02-28)
  D:\WORKSPACE\api-server    (initialized 2026-03-05)

Projects are registered automatically during openwolf init. There is no manual registration step. If a registered project path no longer exists (the directory was deleted or moved), openwolf update skips it and prints a warning.