# Version Check

Recommend which Claude Code version to run, or whether to update.

- Repository: https://github.com/ykdojo/claude-code-tips (10298 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-09-25
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add ykdojo/claude-code-tips --skill version-check -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add ykdojo/claude-code-tips --skill version-check -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add ykdojo/claude-code-tips --skill version-check -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add ykdojo/claude-code-tips --skill version-check -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add ykdojo/claude-code-tips`

## Description

Recommend which Claude Code version to run, or whether to update. Use when asked which Claude Code version is best/safe, whether to update now, whether a recent release is buggy, or what changed since the installed version.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Claude Code version check

The goal is a recommendation: stay put, update, or pin to a specific version. Claude Code ships `latest` very frequently (often 1-2x/day), so "best version" is a moving target and the answer is usually a *range*, not a single build.

## Heuristics (read first)

- **`stable` lags `latest` and is NOT an LTS.** The npm `stable` dist-tag is just a pointer that trails `latest` by a handful of patch releases. It can even sit *behind* an important fix release, so "stable" does not mean "most bugs fixed." Don't blindly recommend `@stable`.
- **Quiet version = good sign.** If nobody is complaining about a recent release, that's a positive signal. A loud pile-on about a specific build is the thing to avoid.
- **Version comparisons are the strongest signal.** Posts where people compare builds ("X broke Y, rolled back to Z") tell you exactly which release to avoid.
- **Stay ~a day behind the bleeding edge.** Avoid a release that's only a few hours old - let others surface same-day regressions first.
- **But a same-day release is fine when the tracker is quiet and it fixes something you're carrying.** If a few hours have passed with no cluster of issues, and the changelog shows it fixing a regression that's live in your installed range, taking it is usually better than waiting. Say plainly what you're trading: a few hours of field time instead of a day.
- **The real lever is *when* you update, not stable-vs-latest.** Default Claude Code auto-updates to `latest` constantly, which is how you drift onto a same-day regression.

## 1. What's installed vs what's published

```bash
claude --version
npm view @anthropic-ai/claude-code dist-tags --json
```

`dist-tags` shows `latest`, `stable`, and `next`. Compare against the installed version to see how far ahead/behind each pointer is.

Recent releases and their timestamps (to see how fast things are shipping):

The rest: https://github.com/ykdojo/claude-code-tips/blob/HEAD/skills/version-check/SKILL.md