Managing what's installed
1. Order matters when replacing a profile
secure the source → tidy it → uninstall → install
Uninstall first and the source you were about to edit goes with it. Worse: if
uninstall succeeds and install then hits the evaluation gate, the user is left
with no profile at all. Confirm the incoming version is installable with
forgecat view before removing the outgoing one.
2. What's here
forgecat list # one line per profile
forgecat list -v # file-level detail
forgecat status # per-file clean / modified
forgecat status --json # for scripts
All of these read forgecat.lock.yml in the current directory. Run them
anywhere else and list reports "No profiles installed" — truthfully, about a
forge that isn't this one.
status is the real inventory. The number install printed on the way in counts
platform files only — co-installed assets show up here and not there.
3. Drift
status marks each tracked file clean or modified. Modified means the user
edited an installed file, and it changes what the other commands do:
uninstall leaves modified files behind; uninstall --force deletes them too
update --force overwrites them — there is no merge, and no revert verb
- an update that drops a resource keeps the user's edited copy, with a warning
4. Update
forgecat update --dry-run
forgecat update [target]
Same gates as install (--allow-unevaluated, --allow-high-risk), and the same
rule about consent: -y doesn't open a gate, it removes the chance to ask about
one. See forgecat-install §4.
5. Remove
uninstall takes back only the profile's own marker section of AGENTS.md —
handwritten text around it survives. But a re-install appends its marker at the
end of the file, not where it used to be. If a handwritten note refers to "the
section above", fix it in the same pass.
6. Two profiles in one project
The lockfile is keyed per profile, so coexistence is by design. The one real
collision is skill directory names — two profiles both shipping
.claude/skills/review/ will mark each other modified. Rename before installing.
7. MCP environment
forgecat setup # fill in what's missing
forgecat setup --reconfigure # re-prompt everything
Verify
forgecat status
🐾 all clean, or a named list of what drifted.