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warden sync

Update cached remote skills to their latest versions. Syncs unpinned remote skills from GitHub repositories to ensure you have the most recent versions.

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Usage

# Sync all remote skills
warden sync

# Sync specific remote
warden sync <remote>
warden sync --remote <remote>

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What It Does

  1. Identifies cached remotes - Finds all remote skills in .warden/skills/
  2. Checks for updates - Fetches latest commit SHA from GitHub
  3. Updates unpinned remotes - Downloads new versions if SHA changed
  4. Preserves pinned remotes - Skips skills pinned to specific commits

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Arguments

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remote
string
Remote repository to sync (optional). Can be specified as positional argument or --remote flag.Formats:
  • owner/repo - Repository in owner/repo format
  • https://github.com/owner/repo - Full GitHub URL
warden sync getsentry/skills
warden sync --remote getsentry/skills
warden sync https://github.com/getsentry/skills

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Options

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--remote
string
Alternative way to specify remote (same as positional argument)
warden sync --remote owner/repo
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--quiet
boolean
default:"false"
Suppress non-error output
warden sync --quiet
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--color / --no-color
boolean
Force color output on or off
warden sync --no-color

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Remote Types

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Unpinned Remotes

Remotes without a specific SHA are automatically updated: 
[[skills]]
name = "security-review"
remote = "getsentry/skills"  # No @sha - will be synced

$ warden sync

SYNC REMOTE SKILLS

Syncing getsentry/skills...
getsentry/skills: updated abc1234 -> def5678

✓ Updated 1 remote.

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Pinned Remotes

Remotes pinned to a specific commit SHA are skipped: 
[[skills]]
name = "security-review"
remote = "getsentry/skills@abc123def456"  # Pinned - won't be synced

$ warden sync

SYNC REMOTE SKILLS

All cached remotes are pinned to specific versions.
Pinned remotes do not need syncing as they are immutable.
  - getsentry/skills@abc123def456 (pinned)

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Exit Codes

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0
Success
  • All remotes synced successfully
  • No remotes to sync
  • All remotes already up to date
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1
Error
  • Network error fetching remote
  • Invalid remote reference
  • Remote not found in cache
  • One or more remotes failed to sync

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Examples

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Sync All Remotes

$ warden sync

SYNC REMOTE SKILLS

Syncing getsentry/skills...
getsentry/skills: updated abc1234 -> def5678

Syncing acme/custom-skills...
acme/custom-skills: already up to date

Skipped pinned remotes:
  - other/repo@xyz9876

✓ Updated 1 remote.

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Sync Specific Remote

$ warden sync getsentry/skills

SYNC REMOTE SKILLS

Syncing getsentry/skills...
getsentry/skills: updated abc1234 -> def5678

✓ Updated 1 remote.

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All Up to Date

$ warden sync

SYNC REMOTE SKILLS

Syncing getsentry/skills...
getsentry/skills: already up to date

Syncing acme/custom-skills...
acme/custom-skills: already up to date

✓ All remotes up to date.

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No Remote Skills

$ warden sync

No remote skills cached.
Add remote skills with: warden add --remote owner/repo --skill name

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Network Error

$ warden sync

SYNC REMOTE SKILLS

Syncing getsentry/skills...
getsentry/skills: Failed to fetch: Network error

Synced with 1 error.

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Remote Caching

Remote skills are cached in .warden/skills/: 
.warden/
├── skills/
│   ├── getsentry-skills-abc1234/    # Cached at commit abc1234
│   │   ├── security-review/
│   │   └── bug-detection/
│   └── acme-custom-skills-def5678/  # Cached at commit def5678
│       └── performance-review/
└── state.json  # Cache metadata with SHAs
The state.json tracks the commit SHA for each cached remote: 
{
  "skills": {
    "getsentry/skills": {
      "sha": "abc1234def5678",
      "updatedAt": "2026-03-05T14:30:22.000Z"
    }
  }
}

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When to Sync

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Manual Sync

Run sync when you want the latest skill updates: 
# Before important analysis
warden sync
warden

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Automated Sync

Add to CI/CD pipelines: 
# .github/workflows/warden.yml
- name: Update Warden skills
  run: warden sync
  
- name: Run Warden
  run: warden

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Team Sync

Sync after adding new team members or changing skill configurations: 
# Share updated cache
warden sync
git add .warden/state.json
git commit -m "Update cached skill versions"

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Comparison with Add

The difference between sync and add --force:

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warden sync

  • Updates all unpinned remotes at once
  • Only updates cache, doesn’t modify warden.toml
  • Preserves pinned versions
  • Shows summary of updates

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warden add —force

  • Updates one skill at a time
  • Re-adds skill to warden.toml (may duplicate)
  • Forces refresh even for pinned versions
  • Used when first adding a skill
# Update all remote skills
warden sync

# Force refresh specific skill
warden add --remote owner/repo --skill name --force

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Pinning Skills

To prevent automatic updates, pin skills to specific commits:

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Pin Existing Skill

Edit warden.toml to add @sha: 
[[skills]]
name = "security-review"
- remote = "getsentry/skills"
+ remote = "getsentry/skills@abc123def456"
Get the current SHA from cache: 
cat .warden/state.json | jq '.skills["getsentry/skills"].sha'

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Add Pinned Skill

warden add --remote getsentry/skills@abc123 --skill security-review

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Unpin Skill

Remove the @sha suffix: 
[[skills]]
name = "security-review"
- remote = "getsentry/skills@abc123def456"
+ remote = "getsentry/skills"
Then sync to get latest: 
warden sync

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Offline Mode

When working offline, Warden uses cached skills automatically: 
# Use cached skills without syncing
warden --offline
No need to run sync when using --offline.

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Troubleshooting

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Remote Not Found

$ warden sync unknown/repo

Remote not found in cache: unknown/repo

Cached remotes:
  - getsentry/skills
  - acme/custom-skills
Solution: Verify the remote name matches what’s in your warden.toml.

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Network Errors

If sync fails due to network issues: 
# Retry
warden sync

# Or use cached versions
warden --offline

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Pinned Skills Not Updating

If a pinned skill isn’t updating: 
# Check if it's pinned
grep -A2 'name = "skill-name"' warden.toml

# If pinned, remove @sha and sync
warden sync

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Cache Corruption

If the cache is corrupted: 
# Remove cache and re-add skills
rm -rf .warden/skills/ .warden/state.json
warden add --remote owner/repo --skill name --force

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