Sync template

Skill luiseiman/dotforge/skills/sync-template

Configuration governance for Claude Code. Bootstrap, audit, sync, and evolve .claude/ across projects.

Install

npx -y skills add luiseiman/dotforge --skill sync-template

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One thing to look at

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What its author says it does

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Update an existing project's Claude Code configuration against the current dotforge template, without losing local customizations.

SKILL.md

4.9 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Sync Template

Update the current project's Claude Code configuration against the latest version of dotforge.

Principle: merge, not overwrite

NEVER overwrite existing files without confirmation. Compare and propose changes. NEVER touch settings.local.json — it is the user's personal configuration. NEVER modify sections marked with  in CLAUDE.md.

Step 0: Verify global

Before syncing the project, verify that ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md exists and contains behavior rules (communication, planning, autonomy). If global rules are active, the project's _common.md only needs technical rules (git, naming, testing, security). Do not duplicate what is already in global.

Step 1: Detect current state

Read the current .claude/settings.json
Read the current CLAUDE.md
Read existing .claude/rules/
Read existing .claude/hooks/
Detect stacks using $DOTFORGE_DIR/stacks/detect.md
Read ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md to know which rules are already covered globally

Step 2: Compare against template

For each component, compare with the dotforge version:

settings.json — Smart merge

allow: union of sets. Add missing permissions from base template + stacks. NEVER remove local permissions the project already has.
deny: union of sets. Add missing security denies. NEVER remove local denies.
hooks: add missing hooks from template. Preserve custom project hooks.
Other fields: preserve everything that is not allow/deny/hooks (e.g., MCP configs).

Rules

Is _common.md missing? → propose adding it
Are rules for the detected stack missing? → propose adding them
Are existing rules outdated? → show diff, propose update
Custom project rules (not in template) → DO NOT TOUCH
.claude/rules/domain/ → NEVER TOUCH. Domain rules are project-owned knowledge, not template-managed. Skip entirely during sync.

Hooks

Is block-destructive.sh missing? → propose adding + chmod +x
Is the stack's lint hook missing? → propose adding + chmod +x
Custom project hooks → DO NOT TOUCH
Verify that existing hooks are executable (chmod +x)

CLAUDE.md

Compare standard template sections with the project's sections
Sections with  → SKIP entirely
Missing template sections → propose adding
Custom project sections → DO NOT TOUCH

Step 3: Generate dry-run

Show the user what would change BEFORE applying anything:

═══ SYNC DRY-RUN: {{project}} ═══
dotforge: {{version}} (current project: {{previous_version or "unknown"}})

NEW FILES (will be created):
+ .claude/rules/_common.md
+ .claude/hooks/block-destructive.sh

UPDATED FILES (merge):
~ .claude/settings.json
  + allow: "Bash(docker *)", "Bash(docker compose *)"
  + deny: "**/.env.local"
  (local permissions preserved: "Bash(custom-script *)")

~ .claude/rules/backend.md
  diff: +3 lines (new common errors)

NO CHANGES:
= .claude/rules/frontend.md (already up to date)
= .claude/hooks/lint-ts.sh (already up to date)

IGNORED (custom):
⊘ .claude/rules/strategies.md (not in template)
⊘ CLAUDE.md section "<!-- forge:custom -->"

Apply changes? (yes/no/select)

Step 4: Apply with confirmation

Only apply the changes the user approves.

yes → apply all
no → cancel
select → show each change and ask yes/no individually

For settings.json: build the final merged JSON. Before writing, validate that the JSON is valid:

echo '<json_content>' | python3 -c 'import json,sys; json.load(sys.stdin)'

If validation fails, show the exact error and DO NOT write the file. Fix the JSON before continuing.

For hooks: copy + chmod +x.

Step 4b: Update manifest

After applying changes, update (or create) .claude/.forge-manifest.json:

If manifest exists, read it
For each file created or modified during sync, recalculate hash:
```
shasum -a 256 <file> | cut -d' ' -f1
```
Update dotforge_version, synced_at, and stacks (from detected stacks)
Write the updated manifest

Format:

{
  "dotforge_version": "<version from $DOTFORGE_DIR/VERSION>",
  "synced_at": "<current date YYYY-MM-DD>",
  "stacks": ["<detected-stack-1>", "<detected-stack-2>"],
  "files": {
    ".claude/settings.json": {"hash": "sha256:<hash>", "source": "template+stacks"},
    ".claude/rules/_common.md": {"hash": "sha256:<hash>", "source": "template"}
  }
}

Include ALL files in .claude/ that are managed by dotforge (not only those that changed in this sync).

Step 5: Update registry

Update in $DOTFORGE_DIR/registry/projects.yml:

last_sync: → current date
dotforge_version: → current dotforge version

Step 6: Verify

Run the /audit-project logic to confirm the score improved or held steady. Show score before and after.