bug: squad upgrade version stamp overwritten by template manifest loop

squad upgrade reports success but the version stamp never persists. Running upgrade repeatedly always shows 0.0.0-source → 0.8.18 — it never reaches "Already up to date."

Repro

squad upgrade    # says "0.0.0-source → 0.8.18"
squad upgrade    # says "0.0.0-source → 0.8.18" again (should say "Already up to date")
grep "version:" .github/agents/squad.agent.md   # still shows 0.0.0-source

Root Cause

In upgrade.js, stampVersion() correctly writes the version into squad.agent.md (line ~342), but the TEMPLATE_MANIFEST loop (line ~347) includes squad.agent.md with overwriteOnUpgrade: true, which copies the unstamped template back over the stamped file.

In templates.js:

export const TEMPLATE_MANIFEST = [
    {
        source: 'squad.agent.md',
        destination: '../.github/agents/squad.agent.md',
        overwriteOnUpgrade: true,  // <-- this causes the overwrite
    },
    // ...
];

In upgrade.js:

// Step 1: Copy + stamp (works correctly)
fs.copyFileSync(agentSrc, agentDest);
stampVersion(agentDest, cliVersion);

// Step 2: Template manifest loop (overwrites the stamp)
const filesToUpgrade = TEMPLATE_MANIFEST.filter(f => f.overwriteOnUpgrade);
for (const file of filesToUpgrade) {
    fs.copyFileSync(srcPath, destPath);  // squad.agent.md gets overwritten here
}

Impact

Coordinator greets with "Squad v0.0.0-source" instead of the real version
isAlreadyCurrent check never passes (compares 0.0.0-source vs 0.8.18), so it re-copies all 30 files on every run
Related: Version indicator missing from coordinator greeting after install/upgrade #128 (similar stamping fix, but this race condition was not caught)

Fix (verified locally)

Exclude squad.agent.md from the manifest loop — it is already handled explicitly with stampVersion():

const filesToUpgrade = TEMPLATE_MANIFEST.filter(f => f.overwriteOnUpgrade && f.source !== 'squad.agent.md');

After this one-line change, squad upgrade correctly stamps 0.8.18 and subsequent runs report "Already up to date (v0.8.18)."

Environment

squad --version: 0.8.18
Node.js: v25.7.0
npm: 11.10.1
OS: Linux
Install method: npm install -g @bradygaster/squad-cli@0.8.18

feat: Wave 3 — docs migration, site engine, 5 guides, mechanical upda…

Really only relevant for folks migrating an old .squad folder built in like v0.3.0 heh

🏗️ Squad Triage — Keaton (Lead)

Issue: #195 — bug: squad upgrade version stamp overwritten by template manifest loop
Assigned to: Hockney (Tester)
Reason: Issue relates to testing/quality work

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

Team roster:

Keaton (Lead) → label: squad:keaton
Verbal (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:verbal
Fenster (Core Dev) → label: squad:fenster
Hockney (Tester) → label: squad:hockney
McManus (DevRel) → label: squad:mcmanus
Kujan (SDK Expert) → label: squad:kujan
Edie (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:edie
Kobayashi (Git & Release) → label: squad:kobayashi
Fortier (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:fortier
Rabin (Distribution) → label: squad:rabin
Baer (Security) → label: squad:baer
Redfoot (Graphic Designer) → label: squad:redfoot
Strausz (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:strausz
Saul (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:saul
Kovash (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:kovash
Marquez (CLI UX Designer) → label: squad:marquez
Cheritto (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:cheritto
Breedan (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:breedan
Nate (Accessibility Reviewer) → label: squad:nate
Waingro (Product Dogfooder) → label: squad:waingro
Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
@copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

📋 Assigned to Fenster (Core Dev)

Issue: #195 — bug: squad upgrade version stamp overwritten by template manifest loop

Fenster will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
Fenster, work on issue #195

fix: preserve version stamp during squad upgrade (#195)

docs: update fenster history and team decision for #195

feat: contributors page + version stamp fix for v0.8.21 release

docs(ai-team): Session logging and decision merging

docs: update fenster history and team decision for #195

Merge pull request #212 from bradygaster/squad/195-fix-version-stamp-…

✅ Fixed by PR #221 (merged commit 0315468) — test suite regressions resolved.

Closed as part of v0.8.21 release wave cleanup.

@dnoriegagoodwin

Brilliant catch, @dnoriegagoodwin! The version stamping race condition—where the template loop overwrites the stamped version—is exactly the kind of subtle bug that's hard to spot. Your one-line fix is perfect. Thanks for the investigation and verification! 🔧

— McManus 📝, on behalf of the Squad

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bug: squad upgrade version stamp overwritten by template manifest loop #195

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Root Cause

Impact

Fix (verified locally)

Environment

🏗️ Squad Triage — Keaton (Lead)

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

📋 Assigned to Fenster (Core Dev)

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bug: squad upgrade version stamp overwritten by template manifest loop #195

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Fix (verified locally)

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dnoriegagoodwin commented on Mar 5, 2026

github-actions commented on Mar 5, 2026

🏗️ Squad Triage — Keaton (Lead)

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

github-actions commented on Mar 5, 2026

📋 Assigned to Fenster (Core Dev)

bradygaster commented on Mar 7, 2026

bradygaster commented on Mar 7, 2026

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