CLI Commands

Quick Commands

# Initialize new project (recommended: organized rules structure)
rulesync init

# Import existing configurations (to .rulesync/rules/ by default)
rulesync import --targets claudecode --features rules,ignore,mcp,commands,subagents,skills

# Fetch configurations from a Git repository
rulesync fetch owner/repo
rulesync fetch owner/repo@v1.0.0 --features rules,commands
rulesync fetch https://github.com/owner/repo --conflict skip

# Generate all features for all tools (new preferred syntax)
rulesync generate --targets "*" --features "*"

# Generate specific features for specific tools
rulesync generate --targets copilot,cursor,cline --features rules,mcp
rulesync generate --targets claudecode --features rules,subagents

# Generate only rules (no MCP, ignore files, commands, or subagents)
rulesync generate --targets "*" --features rules

# Generate simulated commands and subagents
rulesync generate --targets copilot,cursor,codexcli --features commands,subagents --simulate-commands --simulate-subagents

# Dry run: show changes without writing files
rulesync generate --dry-run --targets claudecode --features rules

# Check if files are up to date (for CI/CD pipelines)
rulesync generate --check --targets "*" --features "*"

# Install skills from declarative sources in rulesync.jsonc
rulesync install

# Force re-resolve all source refs (ignore lockfile)
rulesync install --update

# Fail if lockfile is missing or out of sync (for CI); fetch missing skills using locked refs
rulesync install --frozen

# Install then generate (typical workflow)
rulesync install && rulesync generate

# Add generated files to .gitignore
rulesync gitignore

# Add only specific tool entries to .gitignore
rulesync gitignore --targets claudecode,copilot

# Add only specific feature entries to .gitignore
rulesync gitignore --targets copilot --features rules,commands

# Update rulesync to the latest version (single-binary installs)
rulesync update

# Check for updates without installing
rulesync update --check

# Force update even if already at latest version
rulesync update --force

Gitignore Command

The gitignore command adds generated AI tool configuration files to .gitignore. By default, it includes entries for all supported tools and features. You can optionally filter the output to include only specific tools or features.

Options

Option	Description	Default
--targets, -t <tools>	Comma-separated list of tools to include (e.g., claudecode,copilot or * for all)	* (all)
--features, -f <features>	Comma-separated list of features to include (rules, commands, subagents, skills, ignore, mcp, hooks)	* (all)

Examples

# Add all entries (default)
rulesync gitignore

# Add entries for Claude Code only
rulesync gitignore --targets claudecode

# Add entries for multiple tools
rulesync gitignore --targets claudecode,copilot,cursor

# Add only rules and commands entries for Copilot
rulesync gitignore --targets copilot --features rules,commands

Behavior

• Common entries (e.g., .rulesync/skills/.curated/, rulesync.local.jsonc) are always included regardless of filters.
• General entries (e.g., memories, settings) are always included when their target is selected.
• When re-running, all previously generated rulesync entries are removed before writing the new filtered set.

Fetch Command

The fetch command allows you to fetch configuration files directly from a Git repository (GitHub/GitLab).

NOTE

This feature is in development and may change in future releases.

Note: The fetch command searches for feature directories (rules/, commands/, skills/, subagents/, etc.) directly at the specified path, without requiring a .rulesync/ directory structure. This allows fetching from external repositories like vercel-labs/agent-skills or anthropics/skills.

Source Formats

# Full URL format
rulesync fetch https://github.com/owner/repo
rulesync fetch https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch
rulesync fetch https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/path/to/subdir
rulesync fetch https://gitlab.com/owner/repo  # GitLab (planned)

# Prefix format
rulesync fetch github:owner/repo
rulesync fetch gitlab:owner/repo              # GitLab (planned)

# Shorthand format (defaults to GitHub)
rulesync fetch owner/repo
rulesync fetch owner/repo@ref        # Specify branch/tag/commit
rulesync fetch owner/repo:path       # Specify subdirectory
rulesync fetch owner/repo@ref:path   # Both ref and path

Options

Option	Description	Default
--target, -t <target>	Target format to interpret files as (e.g., 'rulesync', 'claudecode')	rulesync
--features <features>	Comma-separated features to fetch (rules, commands, subagents, skills, ignore, mcp, hooks)	* (all)
--output <dir>	Output directory relative to project root	.rulesync
--conflict <strategy>	Conflict resolution: overwrite or skip	overwrite
--ref <ref>	Git ref (branch/tag/commit) to fetch from	Default branch
--path <path>	Subdirectory in the repository	. (root)
--token <token>	Git provider token for private repositories	GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN env

Examples

# Fetch skills from external repositories
rulesync fetch vercel-labs/agent-skills --features skills
rulesync fetch anthropics/skills --features skills

# Fetch all features from a public repository
rulesync fetch dyoshikawa/rulesync --path .rulesync

# Fetch only rules and commands from a specific tag
rulesync fetch owner/repo@v1.0.0 --features rules,commands

# Fetch from a private repository (uses GITHUB_TOKEN env var)
export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxxx
rulesync fetch owner/private-repo

# Or use GitHub CLI to get the token
GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) rulesync fetch owner/private-repo

# Preserve existing files (skip conflicts)
rulesync fetch owner/repo --conflict skip

# Fetch from a monorepo subdirectory
rulesync fetch owner/repo:packages/my-package