# Up To Date

> Preflight sync + situational brief before repo work: fetch origin, ahead/behind divergence, recent commits, open PRs/issues, dirty-state warnings, one recommended first action. Read-only — never pulls or rewrites a dirty tree without explicit OK. Use proactively before starting work in any repo with a remote, especially shared or long-untouched ones. Also on "up-to-date", "sync first", "pull latest", "catch me up on the repo". Not for repos without a remote or quick mid-task re-checks.

- Skill: `alonbaron/up-to-date` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add alonbaron/up-to-date`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/alonbaron/up-to-date/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Productivity
- Author: alonbaron (https://skillmd.com/u/alonbaron)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/alonbaron/up-to-date

---


# Up To Date

Get current before doing work. Goal: a short situational brief so you build on
the latest code with full context. **Read-only by default. Never mutate a dirty
tree, never force, never discard local work without explicit confirmation.**

## Proactive use

When work is about to start in a repo with a remote, invoke this without being
asked: announce in one line ("Running up-to-date on <repo>") and proceed.
Proactive runs stay strictly read-only — the sync decision (step 7) still
requires explicit OK.

## Steps

1. **Confirm it's a git repo with a remote.** If not, say so and stop — there's
   nothing to sync.
2. **Local state:** `git status --short` and `git stash list`. Note uncommitted
   changes, untracked files, stashes. This gates everything below.
3. **Fetch:** `git fetch --all --prune`. (Fetch is safe; it changes nothing
   local.)
4. **Divergence:** current branch vs its upstream —
   `git rev-list --left-right --count @{upstream}...HEAD`. Report ahead/behind.
   No upstream (new local branch, or detached HEAD) → that command fails; say
   so plainly, fall back to `origin/<default-branch>` for the comparison, and
   note the branch is unpushed. Never report "in sync" from a failed command.
5. **Recent activity:** `git log --oneline -15` on the branch, and the same for
   the default branch if you're not on it. Summarize what changed, not every
   line.
6. **Open work (if `gh` is available and the remote is GitHub):** `gh pr list`
   and `gh issue list`. Surface anything touching the files you're about to
   work on.
7. **Sync decision:**
   - Clean + behind only → offer `git pull --ff-only`. Do it only on confirm.
   - Diverged (ahead *and* behind) → explain; recommend rebase or merge; ask.
   - Dirty → do NOT pull. Report the dirty state and let the user decide.
8. **Library currency (only if asked or `docs` arg given):** for the key deps in
   play, use context7 (resolve-library-id → query-docs) to pull current API
   docs, so code targets today's API, not stale memory.

## Output: the brief

- **Branch** + sync state (ahead/behind, clean/dirty) in one line.
- **Recent commits** — 2–4 line summary of what's new.
- **Open PRs/issues** relevant to the intended work (or "none touching this").
- **Warnings** — dirty tree, diverged history, stale deps.
- **Recommended first action** — one line.

## Rules

- Report only what commands return. Never invent commit messages, PR titles, or
  authors.
- No mutating command (`pull`, `rebase`, `merge`, `checkout`, `stash pop`)
  without explicit user OK.
- If `gh` is missing or unauthenticated, skip that section and say so — don't
  guess at remote state.

## When not to use

- No remote → nothing to sync; say so in one line and start the work.
- Mid-task re-checks in a repo already briefed this session — `git fetch` +
  `git status` answer it without the full brief.

## Hand-offs

- Brief delivered → start the actual task on the now-current tree.
- The task is a new app/feature/workstream with no design docs → `architect`
  next, before code.

## Done when

The user knows: what branch they're on, whether it's behind/ahead/clean, what
changed recently, what open work overlaps, and the one safe next action.

## Global rules

Apply on every run — canonical home `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md`:
- **Ground everything.** Only what's given or verified; never invent files, APIs, or facts. Unknown → say "I don't know" or state the assumption.
- **No tokenmaxing.** Lead with the answer; keep an output budget; no filler, no restating the question.
- **Agent discipline.** Read before you edit; small reversible changes; ask when blocked, don't guess; report failures honestly.
- **Commits are the user's alone.** Author = the user; never add an AI co-author or `Co-Authored-By`/credit line, and don't mention AI in commit messages.