Cross device sync

Cross-Device Claude Code Sync

This skill walks the user through setting up a private GitHub repo that mirrors their Claude Code configuration across machines, with strict safety defaults: credentials never get committed, per-device state stays local, and plugin caches regenerate themselves.

The repo this skill creates is the user's own — this skill does not host anything centrally.

---

When this skill is the right tool

Activate this skill when the user says things like:

• "How do I sync my Claude Code setup between my PC and laptop?"
• "Get the same Claude config on another machine."
• "Mirror ~/.claude/ to my work computer."
• "Set up a new device with my Claude Code plugins and skills."
• "Use a GitHub repo to sync my Claude configuration."

If the user wants to sync memory (claude-mem, project transcripts) or session state rather than configuration, this skill is NOT the right tool — warn them off and explain why (per-project, per-device, conflict-prone).

---

What this skill DOES sync

These travel between machines via the private repo:

• ~/.claude/settings.json — master config with enabled plugins, env, theme.
• Custom skill content. On Windows the live ~/.claude/skills/<name> entries are typically junctions pointing at ~/.agents/skills/<name> (or similar). We version the target content, not the junctions.
• The CLI inventory (which tools to install) — via the bundled prereqs script.
• The MCP/connector list — implicit via settings.json because most MCPs come from enabled plugins.

What this skill does NOT sync (security + correctness)

The bundled .gitignore template excludes:

• .credentials.json — Claude auth token. Never commit.
• mcp-needs-auth-cache.json, security_warnings_state_*.json — per-device auth.
• ~/.claude.json (the user-level file in $HOME, not inside .claude/) — runtime state, projects list, OAuth account, growthbook cache.
• projects/, sessions/, session-env/, tasks/, todos/ — per-device.
• plugins/cache/, plugins/marketplaces/, plugins/data/ — regenerates.
• shell-snapshots/, file-history/, backups/, downloads/, telemetry/, cache/, ide/, history.jsonl, .last-cleanup — local runtime state.
• settings.local.json — machine-specific overrides by design.
• plans/ — often contain absolute machine-specific paths.
• **/__pycache__/, *.pyc — Python build artifacts (some skills carry Python).

Each MCP/connector auth (Firebase, Atlassian, Zapier, Vercel, Supabase, Stripe, GitHub gh, Azure, Shopify, etc.) is per-device by design — the user re-authenticates the first time they invoke each connector on the new machine. This is a security feature, not a bug.

---

Workflow when this skill activates

Follow this sequence. Each step is checkpointed; do not skip ahead.

Step 1 — Confirm the operating system

Ask which OS the user is on for both machines. This determines whether to use the Windows templates (templates/windows/) or the Unix templates (templates/unix/). Mixed setups (e.g. PC = Windows, laptop = Mac) are supported by generating both scripts in the same repo.

Step 2 — Inspect the current .claude/ directory

Run Get-ChildItem $HOME/.claude (PowerShell) or ls -la $HOME/.claude (Bash). Specifically check for:

• Symlinks/junctions in skills/. If present, follow the targets and note where the actual skill content lives (often ~/.agents/skills/).
• settings.json — confirm it exists and parses as JSON.
• The presence of .credentials.json — confirm the gitignore will exclude it.
• Any agents/, commands/, hooks/ folders — note for the sync scope.

Do NOT print the contents of .credentials.json or ~/.claude.json to the session; they contain secrets and runtime state.

Step 3 — Create the private repo

Recommend gh repo create <name> --private --source . --remote origin --push. Use a descriptive name like claude-setup, dotclaude, or my-claude-sync. Always private. Even on private repos, GitHub Secret Scanning will catch and invalidate exposed Claude tokens — so the .gitignore matters even there.

Step 4 — Scaffold the local repo

Create this structure inside the new clone:

<repo>/
├── .gitignore               # from templates/gitignore-template
├── README.md                # short personalized README
├── prereqs.<ps1|sh>         # CLI installer for the user's OS
├── bootstrap.<ps1|sh>       # restores setup on a new machine
├── push-from-machine.<ps1|sh>  # mirrors live state back to repo
├── connectors/
│   └── README.md            # per-MCP re-auth guide (from template)
├── claude/
│   └── settings.json        # copy of live ~/.claude/settings.json
└── agents/
    └── skills/              # actual skill content (no symlinks/junctions)

Copy each script from the matching templates/<os>/ directory. Do NOT change the script logic unless the user has unusual paths — these scripts are tested.

Step 5 — Copy live configuration into the repo

• settings.json: straight copy.
• Skills: mirror the contents of the actual skill-content directory (~/.agents/skills/ on Windows, or wherever the symlinks resolve to) into <repo>/agents/skills/. Use robocopy /MIR /XD __pycache__ /XF *.pyc on Windows or rsync -a --exclude __pycache__ --exclude '*.pyc' on Unix.

Step 6 — SECURITY GATE before first commit

After staging but before committing:

git ls-files | grep -iE 'credentials|\.env|oauthAccount|secret|token'

This MUST produce no output (or only documentation/placeholders containing those words in obviously-non-secret contexts). If anything real shows up, abort: untrack the file, fix the .gitignore, re-stage. Do not commit until this check passes.

Also check for Python artifacts that should have been excluded:

git ls-files | grep -iE '__pycache__|\.pyc$|\.pyo$'

Both must be empty.

Step 7 — Initial commit + push

Commit message format:

Initial Claude Code setup sync
- settings.json with N enabled plugins
- M custom skills under agents/skills/
- bootstrap + prereqs + push-from-machine scripts

Step 8 — Walk through the second-machine setup

On the new machine, in order:

1. git clone <repo-url> <local-path>
2. Run prereqs.<ps1|sh> to install CLIs (winget on Windows, brew on macOS, apt/dnf on Linux + npm i -g for Node tooling).
3. Restart the shell to refresh PATH.
4. Start Claude Code and log in — this creates a fresh .credentials.json on the new machine. The new machine has its own token.
5. Run bootstrap.<ps1|sh> — restores skills + settings.json.
6. Restart Claude Code — plugins (and the MCPs/connectors they bring) load automatically from the marketplace. Expect 1–2 minutes the first time.
7. Open connectors/README.md and authenticate each MCP/connector the user actually needs. Don't bulk-authenticate; do them on first use.
8. For "Claude in Chrome": install the Chrome extension manually — it's a browser extension, not an MCP install.

Step 9 — Ongoing sync workflow

Teach the user the round-trip:

# Machine A: changed something
.\push-from-machine.ps1    # or ./push-from-machine.sh
git diff                   # review
git add -A && git commit -m "sync: <what>" && git push

# Machine B: pull in changes
git pull
.\bootstrap.ps1            # or ./bootstrap.sh
# Restart Claude Code if settings/plugins changed

---

Important details to handle correctly

Windows junctions vs Unix symlinks

On Windows, custom skills are usually junctions (created with New-Item -ItemType Junction). On Unix it's typically ln -s. The bootstrap script in each templates folder handles this correctly. The repo stores neither junctions nor symlinks — it stores the actual content under agents/skills/<name>/, and the bootstrap script creates the link on each machine.

Different usernames between machines

If the user has different Windows usernames on PC vs laptop, the absolute paths differ but $HOME resolves correctly. All bundled scripts use $HOME/$env:USERPROFILE, never hardcoded C:\Users\<name>\. Do not introduce hardcoded paths.

Mixed-OS pairs

If one machine is Windows and another is Mac/Linux, generate both sets of scripts in the same repo. Each machine just runs the variant matching its OS.

What if the user has manually-configured MCP servers in ~/.claude.json?

~/.claude.json is mostly runtime state but the mcpServers key, if populated, contains user-defined MCP server configs (from claude mcp add invocations). These are NOT covered by the plugin-driven sync. If the user has manual mcpServers entries:

• Extract only the mcpServers portion (e.g. with PowerShell ConvertFrom-Json and re-export just that key).
• Commit it as mcp-servers.json in the repo.
• Add a step to bootstrap that merges this back via claude mcp add calls.
• Never commit the rest of ~/.claude.json — it has OAuth + secrets.

Check this with: (Get-Content $HOME\.claude.json | ConvertFrom-Json).mcpServers on PowerShell or jq .mcpServers ~/.claude.json on Unix.

---

Templates bundled with this skill

The templates/ directory inside this skill ships:

• gitignore-template — comprehensive, ready to copy as .gitignore.
• connectors-readme.md — per-MCP re-auth guide for ~20 common connectors.
• windows/bootstrap.ps1 — restore + junctions + settings.json.
• windows/prereqs.ps1 — winget + npm i -g + bun installer.
• windows/push-from-machine.ps1 — live → repo mirror.
• unix/bootstrap.sh — symlinks + settings.json (best-effort, untested cross-distro; PRs welcome).
• unix/prereqs.sh — brew / apt detection + Node + bun.
• unix/push-from-machine.sh — rsync mirror.
• repo-README-template.md — README to drop into the user's new repo.

Use the templates as the canonical implementation. If the user's situation is unusual (custom skill paths, dotfile-manager integration, multiple Claude Code configs side-by-side), adapt; otherwise, just copy the templates verbatim.

---

Anti-patterns to refuse

• Public repo for sync: even if the user insists, refuse. Their token will get caught and invalidated. Recommend a private repo + a separate public repo if they want to publish parts of their skills as plugins.
• Committing .credentials.json "just temporarily": no. Every commit is permanent in git history.
• Syncing memory or session transcripts as part of this setup: conflict-prone, pollutes the repo, defeats per-device privacy. If they want this, point them at a separate dedicated sync (e.g. cloud-folder mount) — not this skill.
• Bypassing the security gate because they're "in a hurry": no. The gate takes 2 seconds. Skipping it has destroyed people's tokens before.