Sync

Sync Process Guide (Non-Interactive)

Follow this guide to sync branches with main following Marty's workflow. All operations are command-line only — no interactive editors.

Sync Strategy

Choose the sync method based on your situation:

Fetch Latest Changes

Always start by fetching the latest from remote:

# Fetch all remotes
git fetch --all

# Or fetch just origin
git fetch origin

Rebase (Preferred for Feature Branches)

Rebase rewrites your commits on top of latest main. Creates cleaner history.

# Rebase current branch onto origin/main
git rebase origin/main

# Rebase with autosquash for fixup commits
git rebase -i --autosquash origin/main

Handling Rebase Conflicts

# After resolving conflicts in affected files
git add <resolved-files>

# Continue rebase
git rebase --continue

# Abort if needed
git rebase --abort

When to Use Rebase

• Feature branches with multiple commits
• Before creating PR
• When you want clean, linear history

Merge (When Rebase Isn't Appropriate)

Merge preserves original commit history. Use for collaborative branches.

# Merge origin/main into current branch
git merge origin/main

# Merge with a custom commit message
git merge origin/main -m "Merge main into feat/my-feature"

Handling Merge Conflicts

# After editing conflicted files
git add <resolved-files>

git commit

Pull (Quick Updates)

For trivial syncing:

# Pull with rebase (preferred)
git pull --rebase origin main

# Standard pull (creates merge commit)
git pull origin main

Sync Commands Reference

Sync Feature Branch

git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main

Sync Main Branch

git checkout main && git fetch origin && git merge origin/main && git push

Sync All Branches

git fetch --all && for branch in $(git branch --format="%(refname:short)"); do git checkout "$branch" && git rebase origin/main 2>/dev/null || echo "Skipped $branch"; done

Stash Before Sync

If you have uncommitted changes:

# Stash changes
git stash push -m "WIP: work in progress"

# Sync branch
git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main

# Restore changes
git stash pop

Verify Sync

After syncing, verify with:

# Check commits ahead/behind
git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD

# Verify no divergences
git status

# Show recent commits on branch
git log --oneline -5

Sync Before PR

Before creating a PR, ensure your branch is synced:

# 1. Fetch latest
git fetch origin

# 2. Rebase onto main
git rebase origin/main

# 3. Run tests
# <your test command>

# 4. Push updates
git push --force-with-lease

Push After Sync

After rebasing, you'll need to force push because history changed:

git push --force-with-lease

Important: Only force push feature branches, never main.

Quick Reference

Fetch:           git fetch --all
Rebase:          git rebase origin/main
Merge:           git merge origin/main
Pull rebase:     git pull --rebase origin main
Force push:     git push --force-with-lease
Stash:           git stash push -m "WIP"
Restore stash:   git stash pop

Related Skills