sync

Brings your branch level with the shared copy and pushes your own commits up — or, if the branch has never left your machine, puts it on the server for the first time.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

Rebase the current branch onto its upstream and push the result.
Publish a brand-new branch and set its upstream in one step.
Check ahead/behind counts and stop early when the branch is already in sync.
Resolve rebase conflicts by preserving the intent of both sides, then continue.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (4)

Sync Changes

Sync the current session branch with its upstream branch, or publish the current session branch to a remote. Use when the user asks to sync a branch, pull latest changes, rebase onto upstream, push current branch, publish branch, or set upstream.

Guidelines

Never force-push (--force, --force-with-lease) without explicit user approval.
Never skip pre-push hooks (do not use --no-verify).
Never rewrite or drop commits during rebase without asking the user.
When in doubt about conflict resolution — ask the user.

Workflow

Check for uncommitted changes first. If there are uncommitted changes, use the /commit skill to commit them before continuing.
Check whether the current session branch has an upstream branch.
If the current session branch has an upstream branch: 3.1. Fetch the upstream remote first so tracking refs are up to date.
```
git fetch <upstream-remote>
```
3.2. Check ahead/behind counts. If the branch is already in sync (0 ahead, 0 behind), stop and report that no sync is needed.
```
git rev-list --left-right --count HEAD...@{u}
```
3.3. If behind, rebase onto the upstream tracking branch.
```
git rebase @{u}
```
3.4. If there are merge conflicts, resolve them by preserving the intent of both sides. Stage the resolved files and continue the rebase.
```
git add <resolved-files>
git rebase --continue
```
If conflict resolution is unclear, ask the user how to proceed. If the user wants to stop the rebase, abort it:
```
git rebase --abort
```
3.5. If the branch has local commits (ahead > 0), push them to the remote after a successful rebase.
```
git push
```
If the push is rejected because the rebase rewrote history, explain the situation to the user and ask for approval before force-pushing.
If the current session branch does not have an upstream branch: 4.1. Determine the remote to publish to.
- If there is only one remote, use it.
- If there are multiple remotes, use the #tool:vscode/askQuestions tool to ask which remote to use. 4.2. Publish the current branch and set upstream in one step.
```
git push -u <remote> HEAD
```

Validation

After the workflow completes, validate the result with explicit checks:

Verify the working tree is clean:
```
git status --porcelain
```
Verify sync state (ahead/behind counts are both 0):
```
git rev-list --left-right --count HEAD...@{u}
```
If the branch was newly published, verify the upstream branch is configured:
```
git rev-parse --abbrev-ref --symbolic-full-name @{u}
```

Run this outside your AI tool, using Node.js 22.20.0 or newer. Skills CLI 1.7.2 skips skill selection; prompts cancel installation without an interactive terminal. If choosing Project when asked about installation scope, open your project's folder before running this.

Install checklist

Check selected tools if a picker appears; Claude Code may be unchecked under Additional agents. ↑/↓ moves, Space toggles selections, Enter confirms.
Without a tool picker, check Installing to: for your intended tool. Stop if it names a different tool.
If asked, choose Symlink (Recommended) for shared files or Copy to all agents for separate copies; review the summary before confirming installation.
Install the find-skills skill? defaults to Yes, adding another skill for all projects. Choose No if you don't want that extra installation.

Skills CLI 1.7.2 sends install data to skills.sh by default, including the source, skill names, target tools and file details; GitHub sources are reported only when GitHub confirms the repository is public, while other remote sources can also be reported. Confirmed-public GitHub sources also trigger a security-audit request. Before installing, set the environment variable DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 to disable both.

npx skills add microsoft/vscode --skill "sync" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

If installation created a top-level skills folder that did not exist when your Claude Code session started, run /reload-skills in that session. Run it again after later changes in that folder.

View on GitHub

Sync Changes

Guidelines

Workflow

Validation

Local tool required

More skills

MCP keyword matches