Kit updates
Bring the kit's improvements into your app without losing your data or your own changes.
Your app started as a copy of the Starta kit. From then on the code is yours, so fixes and new features in the kit do not reach you by themselves. When you want them, ask Claude for an update. You do not need to take every one: your app keeps working as it is.
Ask for it#
“Is there a kit update? Tell me what it changes before applying it.”
Claude runs starta update --dry-run first and tells you which files would change. When you say so, it runs the update, then the checks, and opens the app to confirm all is well.
What an update touches#
| Your files | What happens |
|---|---|
Your data in app/data/ |
Never overwritten |
The wiki in app/wiki/ |
Never overwritten |
| Kit files you did not change | Replaced by the new version |
| Kit files you changed, which the kit did not | Kept as you have them |
| Kit files both you and the kit changed | Kept as you have them, with the kit’s version beside them as <file>.kit |
| Kit files you deleted | Left deleted, and listed |
How it knows#
When the app was made, starta.json recorded a fingerprint of every file copied from the kit. On an update, each file is compared three ways: the fingerprint, the file as it is now, and the kit’s new version. So a file is replaced only when you have not touched it.
.kit files#
A .kit file means both sides changed the same file. Yours is left working as it is; the kit’s version waits beside it.
app/src/blocks/datatable/table-view.tsx
app/src/blocks/datatable/table-view.tsx.kitAsk:
“Merge the .kit files with me, then remove them.”
Claude reads both, keeps your change and the kit’s improvement, runs the checks, and deletes the .kit file.
The look works the same way: starta apply keeps a theme.css you changed and writes the preset’s beside it as theme.css.kit.
Go back#
“Go back to how the app was before the update.”
Claude updates to the earlier version with starta update --to <tag>, or puts back a saved version of your app. Ask Claude to save a checkpoint before an update, so one step back is always possible.