Keep Maven POM files up to date by checking and upgrading all dependencies and plugins to their latest versions. Use this skill whenever the user mentions updating, bumping, upgrading, or checking Maven dependencies or plugins — even if they just say "update my POMs", "are my dependencies up to date?", "bump versions", or "check for newer versions". Trigger also when the user shares or references a pom.xml and asks about version currency. Handles multi-module Maven projects, asks before applying major version upgrades, and keeps a clear audit trail of every change made.
Audit and update all <dependency> and <plugin> versions across one or more Maven POM
files. Check Maven Central for the latest releases, flag major-version bumps for user
confirmation, and apply approved updates directly to the POM files.
find . -name "pom.xml" | sort
Start from the project root (or the path the user specified). In a multi-module project
the parent POM is typically ./pom.xml; child modules will have their own pom.xml files.
Collect every artifact that has an explicit version. Versions may appear:
| Pattern | Where |
|---|---|
Inline <version> in <dependency> | <dependencies> block |
Inline <version> in <plugin> | <build><plugins> and <pluginManagement> |
Property placeholder ${my.lib.version} | Resolve from <properties> in the same POM or an ancestor |
Build a flat list of records:
groupId | artifactId | currentVersion | resolvedVersion | type (dep/plugin) | sourceFile
Skip artifacts with versions like ${revision}, ${project.version}, or other
project-internal properties that should not be bumped.
Use the Maven Central REST search API — no authentication required: