Sync dotfiles to joeden/prompts

Updated Jun 17, 2026 ·

Overview

This KB documents how to mirror portable prompt files from dotfiles into joeden/prompts.

The goal is to keep dotfiles as the working source while also keeping a GitHub-visible copy inside the joeden repo.

The sync should only update joeden/prompts when files are added, removed, or changed.

Folder Purpose

The setup uses two folders.

Folder	Purpose
C:\Git\dotfiles	Working source for portable prompt assets.
C:\Git\joeden\prompts	GitHub-visible mirror of the dotfiles prompt tree.

The dotfiles folder can contain multiple prompt-related folders.

The joeden/prompts folder mirrors the prompt-related files that should be committed with the joeden repo.

Note: The dotfiles folder can be a local Git repo without a GitHub remote. The joeden folder is the GitHub-backed repo used for the public mirror.

Current Structure

The source folder can contain multiple folders:

C:\Git\dotfiles\
  .github\
  ai\

The mirror folder follows the same structure:

C:\Git\joeden\prompts\
  .github\
  ai\

The .git folder is excluded from the mirror.

Sync Script

The sync script is:

C:\Git\dotfiles\ai\scripts\sync-to-joeden.ps1

Run it with:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Git\dotfiles\ai\scripts\sync-to-joeden.ps1

The script compares source and destination files by relative path and SHA-256 hash.

If both folders already match, it does not rewrite files.

Expected output when no update is needed:

No sync needed. C:\Git\joeden\prompts already matches C:\Git\dotfiles

What Gets Synced

The script syncs dotfiles into joeden/prompts.

Source	Destination
C:\Git\dotfiles\ai	C:\Git\joeden\prompts\ai
C:\Git\dotfiles\.github	C:\Git\joeden\prompts\.github

The script does not sync:

• C:\Git\dotfiles\.git
• Startup watcher scripts
• Scheduled task installer scripts
• Temporary files

Why Not Use a Startup Watcher

The sync should not run every time Windows starts.

It should also not keep rewriting joeden/prompts when the files are already the same.

A startup watcher is unnecessary for this workflow because:

• It keeps a background process running.
• It can update the mirror too often.
• It can make Git changes harder to understand.
• It is more complex than the workflow needs.

The better behavior is to trigger sync only after dotfiles is updated.

Trigger Options

There are a few practical ways to trigger the sync.

Trigger	When to use
Manual run	Best when edits are occasional and explicit control is wanted.
Git hook	Best when dotfiles is a local Git repo.
Editor task	Best when using VS Code tasks for local automation.

Manual run is the simplest setup.

A Git hook is the cleanest automatic setup when dotfiles is a Git repo.

Git Hook Option

If dotfiles is a Git repository, the sync can be triggered by a post-commit hook.

In this setup, the repository does not need to have a GitHub remote.

The local repo gives access to Git hooks, commits, diffs, and local history.

The sync trigger is a post-commit hook:

C:\Git\dotfiles\.git\hooks\post-commit

The hook runs the sync script after each commit in dotfiles.

Example hook command:

#!/bin/sh

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:/Git/dotfiles/ai/scripts/sync-to-joeden.ps1"

This makes the mirror update only after dotfiles changes are committed.

The script still checks hashes, so it will skip the update when the files already match.

The normal workflow is:

cd C:\Git\dotfiles
git add .
git commit -m "Update dotfiles prompts"

After the commit, the hook syncs changed prompt files into:

C:\Git\joeden\prompts

Then commit the joeden repo separately when the mirrored files should be pushed to GitHub.

Note: The hook updates the local joeden mirror. It does not commit or push the joeden repo.

Validation

After running the sync script, check these items:

• C:\Git\joeden\prompts\ai\agents exists.
• C:\Git\joeden\prompts\ai\skills exists.
• Other folders under C:\Git\dotfiles are mirrored under C:\Git\joeden\prompts.
• There is no duplicate nested folder such as ai\ai.
• Running the script again with no changes prints No sync needed.
• The post-commit hook exists at C:\Git\dotfiles\.git\hooks\post-commit.
• A commit in C:\Git\dotfiles runs the sync script.

info

The mirror in joeden/prompts is for GitHub visibility. The installed user-level copies under .copilot, .claude, and .codex are still separate local files used by the AI tools.