Chezmoi Sync

Chezmoi Sync (Interactive)

On-demand replacement for the automatic chezmoi stop guard. Run this skill whenever you want to check for chezmoi drift and sync tracked dotfiles.

Self-Evolving Skill: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

Workflow

Step 1: Check for drift

Run chezmoi status and chezmoi diff --no-pager to detect drift between the source repo and home directory.

chezmoi source-path && chezmoi status && echo "---" && chezmoi diff --no-pager | head -80

If output is empty (no drift), report "Chezmoi is clean — no drift detected" and stop.

Step 2: Present drift to user (AskUserQuestion)

If drift exists, use AskUserQuestion to show the user what drifted and ask what to do.

Question 1 (header: "Drift action"):

"Chezmoi detected N drifted file(s): [list files]. What would you like to do?"

Options:

• Sync all — chezmoi re-add all drifted files, commit, and push
• Review each — Walk through each file individually with per-file choices
• Ignore — Skip sync, I'll handle it later

Step 3a: Sync all (if chosen)

chezmoi re-add --verbose
chezmoi git -- add -A && chezmoi git -- commit -m "sync: dotfiles" && chezmoi git -- push
chezmoi status  # Verify clean

Report the commit hash and confirm clean state.

Step 3b: Review each (if chosen)

For each drifted file, use AskUserQuestion:

Question (header: "File action"):

"[filename] has changed. What should we do?"

Options:

• Sync — Add this file to chezmoi source (chezmoi add <path>)
• Diff — Show the full diff first, then ask again
• Forget — Stop tracking this file (chezmoi forget --force <path>)
• Skip — Leave it drifted for now

After processing all files, if any were synced:

chezmoi git -- add -A && chezmoi git -- commit -m "sync: dotfiles" && chezmoi git -- push

Step 3c: Ignore (if chosen)

Report: "Skipped chezmoi sync. Run /dotfiles-tools:chezmoi-sync when ready."

Notes

• Always use chezmoi forget --force (not bare forget) to avoid TTY prompt issues
• The chezmoi source dir is ~/own/dotfiles (configured in ~/.config/chezmoi/chezmoi.toml)

Post-Execution Reflection

After this skill completes, reflect before closing the task:

0. Locate yourself. — Find this SKILL.md's canonical path before editing.
1. What failed? — Fix the instruction that caused it.
2. What worked better than expected? — Promote to recommended practice.
3. What drifted? — Fix any script, reference, or dependency that no longer matches reality.
4. Log it. — Evolution-log entry with trigger, fix, and evidence.

Do NOT defer. The next invocation inherits whatever you leave behind.