How to Enable Auto-Update on Every Commit with --auto-update in Understand Anything

How to Enable Auto-Update on Every Commit with --auto-update in Understand Anything

Run understand --auto-update to enable automatic knowledge-graph updates on every Git commit, which writes {"autoUpdate": true} to .understand-anything/config.json and installs a post-commit hook that incrementally patches the graph without manual intervention.

Understand Anything is an open-source tool by Egonex-AI that maintains a structural knowledge graph of your repository. When you enable the --auto-update flag, it configures a post-commit hook that keeps this graph synchronized with your code changes automatically, eliminating the need for manual rebuilds after every commit.

How --auto-update Works

The auto-update mechanism operates through three coordinated components defined in the source code that detect commits and incrementally update the knowledge graph.

Configuration File Creation

When you execute the command with the --auto-update flag, the skill defined in understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md writes a JSON configuration file to your project root. This stores the boolean flag that controls subsequent hook behavior.

Run this command from your project root:

understand --auto-update

This creates or updates .understand-anything/config.json with:

{
  "autoUpdate": true
}

Post-Commit Hook Activation

The repository's hook system, defined in hooks/hooks.json, monitors Git operations and triggers updates when specific conditions are met. According to the source code at lines 9-19, the hook validates three conditions before emitting an auto-update prompt:

• A Git-related command (commit, merge, rebase, etc.) is running
• .understand-anything/config.json exists and contains "autoUpdate": true
• The knowledge-graph files are present in the repository

Incremental Update Execution

When conditions are met, the hook instructs Claude-Code to read hooks/auto-update-prompt.md and execute the incremental update script. As implemented in lines 245-252 of that file, this process loads the existing fingerprints.json, re-analyzes only the changed files, patches the fingerprint map, and saves the updated graph without requiring a full rebuild.

Prerequisites: Baseline Fingerprints Required

Before the first auto-update runs, you must generate a baseline fingerprint. The build-fingerprints.mjs skill creates this baseline and stores it under .understand-anything/.

According to the implementation in understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md (lines 746-765), if the baseline is missing, the first incremental run treats every file as STRUCTURAL and falls back to full graph regeneration, effectively disabling the performance benefit of incremental updates.

Generate the baseline first:

node ./understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/build-fingerprints.mjs

Step-by-Step Setup

Follow these commands to enable and use auto-update in your workflow:

1. Enable auto-update

understand --auto-update

2. Create baseline fingerprints (first time only)

node ./understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/build-fingerprints.mjs

3. Use your normal Git workflow

git add .
git commit -m "Refactor data-flow module"

When you commit, you will see a console message:

[understand-anything] Commit detected with auto-update enabled.

The hook automatically runs the incremental update script in the background.

Managing Auto-Update Settings

You can disable the feature at any time using the --no-auto-update flag:

understand --no-auto-update

This writes "autoUpdate": false to the config file, preventing the post-commit hook from triggering.

To manually trigger an incremental update outside of a commit (for example, after a large rebase), invoke the script directly:

node ./understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/build-fingerprints.mjs --incremental

Summary

• The --auto-update flag writes configuration to .understand-anything/config.json as defined in understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/SKILL.md
• The hook logic in hooks/hooks.json detects Git commits and checks the config file before triggering updates
• Incremental updates run via hooks/auto-update-prompt.md, which patches only changed files using existing fingerprints.json
• A baseline fingerprint is required before auto-update works; without it, the system falls back to full regeneration
• Disable auto-update anytime with --no-auto-update

Frequently Asked Questions

What file does --auto-update create?

The command creates or modifies .understand-anything/config.json in your project root. This file contains a JSON object with an autoUpdate boolean property that the post-commit hook reads to determine whether to trigger incremental updates.

Why do I need a baseline fingerprint before using auto-update?

The incremental update system compares current file states against stored fingerprints to identify changes. Without the baseline generated by build-fingerprints.mjs, the system cannot determine what changed, forcing a full graph rebuild on the first run and negating the performance benefits of incremental patching.

How do I disable auto-update after enabling it?

Run understand --no-auto-update to write "autoUpdate": false to the configuration file. This prevents the hook in hooks/hooks.json from executing the update prompt on subsequent commits, effectively pausing automatic synchronization without removing the knowledge graph data.

Can I run the incremental update manually without committing?

Yes. You can manually invoke the incremental update script by running node ./understand-anything-plugin/skills/understand/build-fingerprints.mjs --incremental. This is useful after operations like rebasing or cherry-picking that modify history without triggering post-commit hooks.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}