Outdated Maven dependencies — AEM as a Cloud Service

This pattern is executed by the code-assessment runbook — follow ../references/runbook.md for the full flow (preflight → plan → apply → verify, run log). This skill supplies the detection + recipe the runbook applies.

Overview

Stale Maven dependencies (notably aem-sdk-api) cause build failures and local/runtime drift. This skill bumps a dependency's version surgically — literal <version> or a same-pom ${property} — without reformatting the pom.

Answering "are my dependencies up to date?"

This pattern locates Maven coordinates; it does not declare a dependency outdated vs current without a user-supplied target version (see Resolution contract). For a comparative ask ("up to date?", "stale?", "outdated?") with report intent:

1. Run discovery via the analyzer (--pattern outdated-dependencies, or a full audit).
2. Present every located coordinate in the Step 7 Candidates table with planned action skipped and reason needs-user-target (no target supplied).
3. State plainly: "Found N versioned dependencies across M pom files. Supply target versions to mark upgrades. For aem-sdk-api, align with your Cloud Manager environment SDK — do not assume the latest public version."
4. Offer follow-up: reply with target versions to apply, or name coordinates then say apply.

Do not run mvn versions:display-*, npm outdated, or Maven Central / registry lookups in place of this inventory. A live registry comparison needs network and is advisory only — if the user explicitly asks, do it as a separate step after the skill report.

Classification — confirm this pattern applies

• A pom.xml with a <dependency> whose version the user wants raised, either as a literal <version> or via a <version>${prop}</version> + <properties> entry.
• Applies to a <dependency> that carries a <version> (literal or ${property}) in <dependencies> or <dependencyManagement>. Not for <plugin> / <build> dependencies, version-less (inherited) <dependency> entries, or versions defined only in an out-of-workspace parent pom.

Discovery

Detection is performed by the analyzer (../scripts/analyze.sh), run by the runbook:

bash ../scripts/analyze.sh <workspace-root> --pattern outdated-dependencies

Match criteria (what the detector flags): each <dependency> element carrying a <version> (literal or ${property}) under <dependencies> or <dependencyManagement> — excluding <plugin>/<pluginManagement>/<build>/<reporting> dependencies and version-less (inherited) <dependency> entries — emitted with its groupId:artifactId@version and the line of its <artifactId>. The analyzer only locates dependencies — "is this outdated?" and "what is the target version?" are user-supplied (see Resolution contract); the analyzer performs no network lookup. If the same (groupId, artifactId, version) appears in more than one <dependency> block in a file, the recipe's ambiguous-locator skip applies during planning.

Allowlist scope: by default the detector is scoped to a curated allowlist of coordinates where upgrades are actionable in AEM Cloud Service projects (currently com.adobe.aem:aem-sdk-api and org.mockito:*). Non-allowlisted versioned dependencies are silently skipped. To list every versioned dependency regardless of allowlist, pass --all to analyze.sh — but only for an explicit full audit ("all dependencies", "every library", "comprehensive"). For a normal "are my dependencies outdated?" ask, keep the default allowlist scope: it is the actionable answer, and --all adds platform deps (OSGi, JCR, servlet-api) that are not independently upgradeable. Adding a coordinate to the allowlist is a one-line change in OutdatedDependencies.java; analyze.sh recompiles automatically. Both exact groupId:artifactId and prefix-wildcard groupId:prefix* forms are supported.

Resolution contract

user-supplied — list the found coordinates with their current versions and ask which to upgrade and to what target version before planning. Never guess a version.

Review checklist

• Only the <version> text (or the <properties> entry) changed — no whitespace/attribute churn
• Property shape edits validated: property exists, value matched, referenced by the target dependency
• Ambiguous (multi-match) locators skipped, not guessed
• Target version came from the user — never invented

Recipe

Read recipe.md in full before editing: input contract, Pattern A (literal), Pattern B (property), multi-module caveat, editing strategy.

Handoff

The skill never commits. See ../references/git-workflow.md for git vs in-place handoff and the suggested commit message.