olliecrow/git-sync

git-sync

Multi-agent collaboration

• Default to using subagents when they are likely to improve speed, quality, confidence, or keep the main context clean.
• Use subagents to widen coverage, dig deeper on one thread, get a fresh second opinion, or keep the main thread clean while side work runs.
• Split work into clear packets with owners, inputs, acceptance checks, and a synthesis step when parallelizing.
• Keep the main agent focused on synthesis, unblockers, and the next critical-path step; let subagents handle bounded side work that can run in parallel.
• Use single-agent execution only when scope is small or coordination overhead outweighs gains.

Proactive autonomy and knowledge compounding

• Be proactive: immediately take the next highest-value in-scope action when it is clear.
• Default to autonomous execution: do not pause for confirmation between normal in-scope steps.
• Request user input only when absolutely necessary: ambiguous requirements, material risk tradeoffs, missing required data/access, or destructive/irreversible actions outside policy.
• If blocked by command/tool/env failures, attempt high-confidence fallbacks autonomously before escalating (for example rg -> find/grep, python -> python3, alternate repo-native scripts).
• When the workflow uses plan/, ensure required plan directories exist before reading/writing them (create when edits are allowed; otherwise use an in-memory fallback and call it out).
• Treat transient external failures (network/SSH/remote APIs/timeouts) as retryable by default: run bounded retries with backoff and capture failure evidence before concluding blocked.
• On repeated invocations for the same objective, resume from prior findings/artifacts and prioritize net-new progress over rerunning identical work unless verification requires reruns.
• Drive work to complete outcomes with verification, not partial handoffs.
• Treat iterative execution as the default for non-trivial work; run adaptive loop passes. Example loops (adapt as needed, not rigid): issue-resolution investigate -> plan -> fix -> verify -> battletest -> organise-docs -> git-commit -> re-review; cleanup scan -> prioritize -> clean -> verify -> re-scan; docs audit -> update -> verify -> re-audit.
• Keep looping until actual completion criteria are met: no actionable in-scope items remain, verification is green, and confidence is high.
• Run organise-docs frequently during execution to capture durable decisions and learnings, not only at the end.
• Create small checkpoint commits frequently with git-commit when changes are commit-eligible, checks are green, and repo policy permits commits.
• Never squash commits; always use merge commits when integrating branches.
• Prefer simplification over added complexity: aggressively remove bloat, redundancy, and over-engineering while preserving correctness.
• When you touch code, leave the touched area in a better state than you found it: clearer, simpler, tidier, and at least as performant unless the task requires an explicit trade-off.
• Use simple, plain English in user messages, docs, notes, reports, code comments, and other explanatory writing. Avoid jargon, fancy wording, and complex phrasing. When a technical term is needed for correctness, explain it in simple words the first time. Default to short user-facing responses. Think about what the user most wants to know, and lead with that. Do not dump every detail by default. Always include important changes, blockers, verification gaps, and any important assumptions, nuances, principles, or decisions that shaped the work. Add more detail only when the user asks for it or when uncertainty or risk makes it necessary.
• Compound knowledge continuously: keep docs/ accurate and up to date, and promote durable learnings and decisions from work into docs.

Long-task checkpoint cadence

• For any non-trivial task (including long efforts), run recurring checkpoint cycles instead of waiting for a single end-of-task wrap-up.
• At each meaningful milestone with commit-eligible changes, and at least once per major phase, invoke git-commit to create a small logical checkpoint commit once relevant checks are green and repo policy permits commits.
• At the same cadence, invoke organise-docs whenever durable learnings/decisions appear, and prune stale plan/ scratch artifacts.
• If either checkpoint is blocked (for example failing checks or low-confidence documentation), resolve or record the blocker immediately and retry before expanding scope.

Terminal state contract (must follow)

The skill is complete only when all of the following are true:

• Objective completion: the user-requested outcome is achieved, or explicitly marked blocked with concrete blocker evidence.
• Workflow completion: every required workflow step is resolved as done, blocked, or not-applicable, with brief evidence or rationale.
• Step-level terminal completion: each numbered subtask must have explicit completion evidence (artifact, command output, or written rationale) before advancing.
• Verification completion: required checks/validations for this skill are executed, or any unavailable checks are explicitly called out with impact.
• Findings completion (where applicable): report only evidence-backed findings; if no high-confidence critical findings are present, explicitly state that.
• Loop completion: no actionable in-scope next step remains under the current objective.

Stop only after this terminal contract is satisfied; otherwise continue iterating.

Terminal state examples (adapt to skill)

• done: requested outcome is delivered and required checks are completed (for example expected artifact/report produced and required validation command(s) passed).
• blocked: progress cannot continue after bounded retries because of a concrete dependency or access issue; blocker evidence and exact unblock action are reported.
• not-applicable: an optional step is explicitly skipped with reason (for example no remote configured, so push step is marked not-applicable).

Overview

Safely sync local git state with the most recent remote state for one of:

• the current branch,
• the mainline branch (main/master), or
• an explicitly requested branch.

Default behavior is fast-forward only. Do not introduce merge commits during sync.

Trigger phrases

Use this skill when the user intent matches phrases like:

• git pull
• pull branch
• pull most recent remote main
• sync with upstream
• switch to most recent version of branch

If the request is only synchronization and branch-state verification, prefer git-sync over broader git skills.

Prompt templates

Use these copy-paste templates:

• [$git-sync] sync current branch with upstream (ff-only) and verify branch/upstream/ahead-behind.
• [$git-sync] pull most recent remote main (ff-only) and report new HEAD commit.
• [$git-sync] sync explicit branch olliecrow/<branch-name> to latest remote state (ff-only).
• [$git-sync] verify we are on most recent remote <branch-name>; if blocked, return exact unblock commands.

Behavioral guardrails (must follow)

• Proceed without permission for standard in-scope steps (read/scan/summarize/plan/tests/edits/analysis). Ask clarifying questions only when requirements are ambiguous, missing inputs, or a risky decision cannot be inferred. Require explicit approval only for destructive/irreversible actions, executing untrusted code or installers, remote-state changes (push/deploy/publish), or changes outside the repo environment.
• Run a preflight before substantial work: confirm repo root, verify git with command -v, and confirm remote availability.
• Prefer git fetch + explicit fast-forward operations over implicit merges.
• If worktree has local modifications that block pull/checkout, preserve user changes and provide the safest next step instead of forcing.
• Prefer quoted paths and explicit path checks when running shell commands to reduce avoidable glob/path failures.
• If an environment variable is required, check whether it is already set before asking for it or stating it is missing.
• If there is nothing left to do, say so explicitly and stop.

Git safety and permissions

• Follow the current repo's git policy and the session's environment restrictions; if git writes are disallowed, do not perform them and provide commands instead.
• Never rewrite git history or force push. Do not use git rebase, git commit --amend, git reset --hard, git reset --soft, git reset --mixed, git push --force, git push --force-with-lease, or git filter-branch, or git clean -fdx.
• Use --ff-only for pull/sync operations.

Workflow

1. Preflight:

   • Run git rev-parse --show-toplevel, git status -sb, git remote -v.
   • Detect default mainline (origin/main, fallback origin/master).
   • Capture current branch and its tracking branch.

2. Determine sync target mode:

   • current-branch when user says git pull or pull branch.
   • mainline when user says pull most recent remote main or equivalent.
   • explicit-branch when user names a remote branch.
   • For mainline, distinguish the user's actual need:
     • literal-mainline: they need this worktree on the local mainline branch itself.
     • content-parity-only: they only need the current worktree content to match origin/<mainline>.
   • If ambiguous, choose current-branch and state the assumption.

3. Fetch fresh remote state:

   • Run git fetch --prune origin (bounded retries on transient failure).
   • If fetch fails after retries, report blocker with exact failing command/output.

4. Apply sync safely:

   • current-branch: if tracking branch exists, run git pull --ff-only.
   • mainline + literal-mainline: switch to detected mainline branch if needed, then run git pull --ff-only origin <mainline>.
   • If literal-mainline is blocked because the mainline branch is checked out in another worktree, do not fast-forward the current feature branch as a silent substitute; report the block and give exact safe options (for example use another worktree that can check out mainline).
   • mainline + content-parity-only: only when the working tree is clean and the user does not require literal branch identity, fast-forward the current branch to origin/<mainline> and report explicitly that content now matches mainline while branch identity did not change.
   • explicit-branch: fetch branch, switch/create local tracking branch if needed, then pull with --ff-only.
   • If local changes block checkout/pull, do not stash/reset automatically; report safe options and continue with read-only verification where possible.

5. Verify sync outcome:

   • Report branch, upstream, and ahead/behind status (git status -sb).
   • Report new HEAD commit (git log --oneline -n 1) and whether local is aligned with upstream.

6. Output contract:

   • State mode used, target branch, and exact sync result.
   • For mainline, state whether the result achieved literal-mainline or only content-parity-only.
   • If blocked, give one concise reason and exact unblock commands.
   • If git writes were not allowed, provide one copy-pasteable command block and mark sync pending.

Repeat invocations

• Reuse the previous target mode unless the user changes it.
• Continue from current repo state; do not re-run unrelated diagnostics.
• If already up to date, report that explicitly and stop.