Git Sync Manager

Git Sync Manager

When to Use This Skill

✅ Use when:

• Managing multiple Git repositories from a central location
• Performing batch git operations (pull, commit, push)
• Need consistent sync workflows across many repos
• Automating daily/periodic repository synchronization
• Building repository management CLIs

❌ Avoid when:

• Single repository operations
• Complex merge/rebase workflows requiring manual intervention
• Repositories with conflicting changes that need resolution

Large-Repo / Concurrent-Agent Safety Rules

When syncing very large repos or repos actively handled by Claude/Codex/Gemini workers:

1. Preflight active writers first: inspect ps//proc/<pid>/cwd for active claude, codex, git checkout, git status, git commit, git merge, git rebase, git pull, or git push processes. If a worker is operating inside the target repo, do not interrupt it or mutate that repo.
2. Use no-untracked status by default: prefer git -c status.showUntrackedFiles=no status --short --branch --untracked-files=no; never use git status -uall on huge repos unless explicitly justified.
3. Respect locks: treat .git/index.lock, .git/HEAD.lock, MERGE_HEAD, rebase-merge/, and rebase-apply/ as stop signs. Do not delete locks automatically during scheduled sync.
4. Backup before staging: for dirty tracked changes, write git diff --binary HEAD and no-untracked status output under .git/recovery-backups/ before git add -u.
5. Prefer fast-forward-only pulls: use git fetch origin --prune then git pull --ff-only/git pull --ff-only origin <default-branch>; do not use scheduled --rebase --autostash when concurrent workers may exist.
6. Sparse checkout: if a path exists on GitHub but is missing locally, use git ls-tree origin/<branch> <path> then git sparse-checkout add <path>. Do not run git sparse-checkout disable on very large repos without explicit approval; it can materialize hundreds of thousands of files and hold the index lock for a long time.

Complete Example: Repository Sync CLI

Full implementation combining all patterns:

#!/bin/bash
# ABOUTME: Complete multi-repository sync manager
# ABOUTME: Provides pull, commit, push, sync, and status operations

set -e

SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
WORKSPACE_ROOT="${WORKSPACE_ROOT:-$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")}"

# Colors
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
CYAN='\033[0;36m'
NC='\033[0m'

# ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Repository Discovery
# ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

declare -a REPOS=()
declare -A CATEGORIES=()

*See sub-skills for full details.*

## Resources

- [Git Reference](https://git-scm.com/docs)
- [Bash Arrays](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Arrays.html)
- [Associative Arrays in Bash](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Arrays.html)

---

## Version History

- **1.0.0** (2026-01-14): Initial release - extracted from workspace-hub repository sync scripts

## Sub-Skills

- [1. Repository Discovery from .gitignore](1-repository-discovery-from-gitignore/SKILL.md)
- [2. Multi-Phase Sync Pattern](2-multi-phase-sync-pattern/SKILL.md)
- [3. Repository Status Check (+1)](3-repository-status-check/SKILL.md)
- [5. Safe Branch Operations](5-safe-branch-operations/SKILL.md)
- [1. Always Check Before Operating (+4)](1-always-check-before-operating/SKILL.md)