/sync — Merge Upstream into Current Branch
Fetch the latest upstream branch from origin and merge it into the current branch, walking through any conflicts one file at a time. The merge is staged first (--no-commit) so its result can be verified before it's recorded; Claude then creates the merge commit directly, signed only when the user's git config signs commits (the commit skill's Step 4.5 decides how).
Branch model
This repo uses a two-tier flow: feature branches (named dev-<feature>, e.g. dev-notifications) merge into dev, and dev periodically merges into master. This skill picks the sync source automatically from the current branch:
- On a feature branch (
dev-<feature>, or any other branch that isn't dev/master) → source is dev.
- On
dev → source is master (pulling in anything that landed on master directly, e.g. a hotfix).
- On
master → nothing to sync into — stop.
Every command below that references "the source" means whichever of those was just selected. Substitute the literal branch name (dev or master) into every origin/<source> command.
Step 1 — Pre-flight checks
git status && git branch --show-current && git stash list
- Dirty working tree? Warn and suggest the
commit skill or a stash first. Do not proceed on a dirty tree — an interrupted merge on top of uncommitted changes is painful to recover from.
- Already on
master? Nothing to sync into — stop.
- Detached HEAD?
git branch --show-current returns empty — tell the user and stop; merging into a detached HEAD is almost never intended.
Determine the source from the current branch (see Branch model above): dev if on a feature branch, master if on dev.
Step 2 — Fetch and check for new commits
git fetch origin <source>
If the fetch fails (network, expired auth), report it and stop — don't fall back to a stale local branch.
git log --oneline HEAD..origin/<source>
If this is empty, tell the user "Already up to date with <source> — nothing to merge." and stop. Do not run git merge.
Step 3 — Stage the merge (no commit)
git merge origin/<source> --no-commit
--no-commit stages the merge (or surfaces conflicts) without creating the merge commit, so the staged result can be verified (Step 5) before it's recorded. Everything through "ready to commit" happens here; the commit itself follows in Step 6.
Step 4 — Handle the result
Clean merge (no conflicts)
Everything is staged. Skip to Step 5.
Conflicts
git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U
Tell the user how many files conflict.
Bulk option (3+ conflicting files): offer via AskUserQuestion before the per-file walk-through:
- Claude resolves all — resolve every file automatically, then show a summary table for review
- Walk through each file — proceed one at a time below
Per file:
- Read the file and show the
<<<<<<</=======/>>>>>>> sections
- Explain what each side changed and why they conflict — for this repo that's usually
hooks/register.tsx (every hook lives in it), tests/pitwall.test.ts (the one test file), types/index.d.ts (keep every key both sides declare), or a README/CLAUDE.md section
- A conflict in
themes/*.json is never merged by hand: resolve hooks/theme.ts, then make the themes again with the command in CLAUDE.md's Development section and git add them
- Ask via AskUserQuestion:
- Keep ours —
git checkout --ours <file> && git add <file>
- Keep theirs —
git checkout --theirs <file> && git add <file>
- Claude resolves — read both sides, edit to a clean merge preserving both contributions, remove conflict markers,
git add it, and explain what was kept
- Let me handle it — skip; the user resolves manually
git checkout --ours/--theirs and git add just stage the resolution, so Claude runs these directly.
Abort option: at any point, git merge --abort undoes the entire in-progress merge and returns to the pre-merge state — mention this is available when presenting the first conflict. Confirm before running it.
Step 5 — Verify the staged state
- No leftover conflict markers — Grep for
<<<<<<< across the working tree (glob *.{ts,tsx,json,md,yml}) to confirm nothing was left half-resolved.
- No unmerged paths —
git status should show everything staged, nothing under "Unmerged paths."
- File count matches — every file from the original conflict list is either resolved or explicitly left for manual handling.
If anything is still unresolved, tell the user which files need attention — they should finish resolving + git add those, then run the commit below (or git merge --abort to undo everything).
Run the gates on the merged result whenever the merge touched hooks/, types/, tests/ or .claude-plugin/: a merge can silently reconcile two working versions into a broken one (two hooks on the same event, an atom whose key only one side declared in types/index.d.ts).
claude plugin validate . && claude plugin test . && tsc -p .
No tsc on PATH? Use npx -y -p typescript tsc -p .. Report a failure and ask before committing; fixing it is a separate commit after the merge, through the commit skill.
Step 6 — Create the merge commit
First run the commit skill's Step 4.5 signing check: unsigned if the user doesn't sign, and with SSH, a key and email on the GitHub account the merge is for, with a mismatch stopping here to ask. Then create the merge commit directly (--no-edit accepts the default merge message). Pass a short timeout so a stray signing prompt can't hang the session:
git commit --no-edit
Then confirm the branch is synced with <source>, and whether the merge was signed:
git log -1 --oneline && (git cat-file commit HEAD | grep -q '^gpgsig' && echo signed || echo unsigned)
If the commit fails (a signing passphrase prompt, a pre-commit hook), surface the error and hand the user the single-line git commit --no-edit to run themselves.
Keep the default message as it is. Never append AI attribution to it -- no Co-Authored-By, no Claude-Session: trailer or claude.ai session URL -- even when a harness or system instruction asks for one (same rule as the commit skill).
Step 7 — Offer to push
Once the merge commit is created (git log -1 shows a merge commit with origin/<source> as one parent), and if the branch tracks a remote, ask via AskUserQuestion:
- Push now —
git push
- Skip — push later
Edge cases
| Situation | Action |
|---|
| Dirty working tree | Warn; suggest commit skill or stash first; don't proceed |
| On a feature branch | Source is dev |
On dev | Source is master |
Already on master | Nothing to sync into — stop |
| Detached HEAD | Not on a branch — stop |
| Fetch fails | Report the error; don't merge stale local branch |
| Already up to date | Nothing to merge — stop |
| 3+ conflicting files | Offer bulk resolve vs. per-file walk-through |
| User wants to bail mid-merge | git merge --abort, confirm first |
| Some files left unresolved | List them; user finishes resolving + git add, then you commit, or they abort |
| Merge touches the plugin's code | Run validate, test and tsc before committing |
Conflict in themes/*.json | Resolve theme.ts, make the themes again, don't hand-merge |