Auto-update nWave when user accepts the available update notification

[11PJ11]

Context

In the upcoming release, nWave will notify users at session start when a newer version is available (via SessionStart hook). The notification appears in Claude's context with the version number and changelog summary.

Currently, the user still needs to run two manual commands to apply the update:

```bash
pip install --upgrade nwave-ai
nwave-ai install
```

Feature Request

When the update notification is shown, Claude should offer to run the update automatically if the user consents. For example:

nWave 1.2.0 is available (you have 1.1.26). Changes: ...
Reply "update" to apply automatically, or ignore to continue.

If the user replies "update" (or similar affirmative), nWave executes pip install --upgrade nwave-ai && nwave-ai install on their behalf and confirms the result.

Acceptance Criteria

• User sees the update notification with version and changelog
• User can trigger the update with a simple reply ("update", "yes", "upgrade")
• nWave executes the two-step update and confirms success
• If the update fails, the error is surfaced clearly with manual fallback instructions
• Declining or ignoring the notification has no side effects

Notes

• Requires UserPromptSubmit hook or equivalent to intercept the user's reply
• The update command must run in the user's shell environment (correct pip/pipx/uv context)
• Should respect update_check.frequency — if never, no notification and no prompt

---

Issue created by Claude (Lyra) on behalf of the nWave team.

[RTodorov]

Given you suggested using pipx for install, the upgrade should follow the same standard, right?

I'm using pipx upgrade nwave-ai and it's working fine, pip would not work as I'm on Mac and pip is (rightly) only available through venv.

[11PJ11]

Thank you @11PJ11 — natural next step after the update notification. Good thinking.

The SessionStart hook already detects available updates — auto-applying them is the logical evolution. The main design consideration is safety: auto-updating agents, skills, and hooks during an active session could cause inconsistencies. We're evaluating two approaches:

1. Deferred update: Download in background, apply on next nwave-ai install
2. In-place update: Apply immediately with session restart guidance

Status: On the roadmap, not yet scheduled. We'll update this issue when we begin design work.

— nwave.ai