/configure:config-sync

Extract, compare, and propagate tooling config improvements across FVH repos.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when... Use another approach when...

Comparing a workflow/config across all FVH repos Configuring a single repo's workflow from scratch — use /configure:workflows

Propagating an improvement from one repo to many Debugging a failing CI run — use github-actions-inspection

Identifying which repos have outdated configs Creating a reusable workflow — use /configure:reusable-workflows

Extracting novel patterns from a repo to share Checking a single repo's compliance — use /configure:status

Context

• Workspace root: /Users/lgates/repos/ForumViriumHelsinki

• Repos: !fd -t d -d 1 . /Users/lgates/repos/ForumViriumHelsinki --exclude .git --exclude node_modules

• Current directory: !pwd

Parameters

Parse mode and options from command arguments:

Modes

• extract [repo-name] — Identify improvements in a source repo

• diff <file-pattern> — Compare a specific config across all repos

• apply <file-pattern> [--from repo] [--to repo1,repo2,...|--all] — Propagate config to targets

Options

• --from <repo> — Source repo for apply mode (default: best version detected)

• --to <repo1,repo2,...> — Target repos (comma-separated)

• --all — Target all repos that have the file

• --dry-run — Show what would change without creating branches/PRs (default behavior)

• --confirm — Actually create branches and PRs

Config Categories

Files tracked for cross-repo sync, organized by sync strategy:

Tier 1: Wholesale (100% identical across repos)

Copy verbatim — no repo-specific variations expected.

File Pattern Description

.github/workflows/claude.yml

Claude Code workflow

renovate.json

Renovate dependency updates

Tier 2: Parameterized (shared core with known variation points)

Shared structure with specific fields that vary per repo.

File Pattern Variation Points

.github/workflows/auto-merge-image-updater.yml

Branch prefix pattern

.github/workflows/release-please.yml

Publish job, extra steps

.github/workflows/renovate.yml

Standalone (infrastructure) vs reusable caller (all others)

Tier 3: Structural (standard skeleton, project-specific bodies)

Standard recipe/section names must conform; bodies are project-specific.

File Pattern Conformance Target

justfile

Standard recipe names from justfile-template conventions

Tier 4: Pattern-based (categorized by tech stack)

Group by detected stack, extract general best practices only.

File Pattern Stack Detection

Dockerfile*

package.json → Node, pyproject.toml → Python, go.mod → Go, Cargo.toml → Rust

.github/workflows/container-build.yml

Same as Dockerfile

Tier 5: Reference (compare and report, selective apply)

File Pattern Notes

release-please-config.json

Varies by project type

.release-please-manifest.json

Version tracking

skaffold.yaml

Dev environment config

Execution

Extract Mode

Goal: Scan a repo and identify improvements that could benefit other repos.

Step 1: Identify the source repo

If repo name provided, use /Users/lgates/repos/ForumViriumHelsinki/<repo-name> . Otherwise use the current working directory (must be inside an FVH repo).

Step 2: Scan tooling files

Scan for all tracked config categories:

fd -t f -d 3 '(claude|renovate|auto-merge|release-please|container-build|Dockerfile|justfile|skaffold)' <repo-path>

Also check:

• .github/workflows/*.yml

• justfile

• Dockerfile*

• renovate.json

• release-please-config.json

• .release-please-manifest.json

• skaffold.yaml

Step 3: Compare against workspace patterns

For each file found:

• Wholesale tier: Hash the file content and compare against the most common version across all repos. Report if this repo has a newer/different version.

• Parameterized tier: Extract the shared core (strip known variation points) and compare structure.

• Structural tier (justfile): Check for standard recipes (default , help , dev , build , clean , lint , format , format-check , test , pre-commit , ci ). Report missing standard recipes and non-standard names (e.g., check instead of lint ).

• Pattern-based tier: Detect tech stack, then check for best practices:

• Pinned base images (not latest )

• .dockerignore present

• Multi-stage builds

• Non-root user

• SHA-pinned GitHub Actions

• SBOM/provenance attestation

• Reference tier: Note divergences from the most common configuration.

Step 4: Generate extract report

Config Extract Report: <repo-name>

Wholesale Configs: claude.yml ✅ Matches canonical (sha: abc123) renovate.json ⚠️ Differs from canonical — newer features detected

Parameterized Configs: auto-merge-image-updater.yml ✅ Core matches, variation: branch-prefix=argocd release-please.yml ⚠️ Has publish job (novel improvement)

Structural (Justfile): Standard recipes: 8/11 present Missing: format-check, pre-commit, ci Non-standard names: none

Pattern-based (Dockerfile): Stack: Python ✅ Pinned base image (python:3.12-slim) ✅ Multi-stage build ⚠️ Missing .dockerignore ✅ Non-root user

Potential Improvements to Propagate:

1. renovate.json — has newer schedule config
2. release-please.yml — publish job pattern

Diff Mode

Goal: Compare a specific file across all FVH repos.

Step 1: Resolve file pattern

Interpret the file pattern argument:

• Full path: .github/workflows/claude.yml

• Short name: claude.yml → search in .github/workflows/

• Glob: *.yml → match all workflows

Step 2: Find the file across repos

fd -t f '<pattern>' /Users/lgates/repos/ForumViriumHelsinki --max-depth 4

Step 3: Group by content hash

For each found file, compute a content hash:

shasum -a 256 <file>

Group files by identical hash. Sort groups by size (largest first = most common version).

Step 4: Identify the "best" version

Heuristics for selecting the canonical version:

• Most common hash (majority rules)

• If tie: most recently modified

• If tie: from infrastructure repo (reference repo)

Step 5: Generate diff report

Config Diff: .github/workflows/claude.yml

Group 1 (canonical) — 18 repos [sha: abc123]: citylogger, CycleRoutePlanner, FVHIoT-python, ...

Group 2 — 2 repos [sha: def456]: theme-management, OLMap Differences from canonical: - Line 12: uses different action version - Line 25: extra step for Node setup

Not present in (5 repos): infrastructure, helm-webapp, terraform-modules, ...

Recommendation: Update Group 2 repos to match canonical.

For small files (< 100 lines), show an inline unified diff between the canonical and each outlier group.

Apply Mode

Goal: Propagate a config file from source to target repos.

Step 1: Determine source

• If --from specified, use that repo's version

• Otherwise, run diff mode internally to find the canonical version

Step 2: Determine targets

• If --to specified, use those repos

• If --all , use all repos that currently have the file (excluding source)

• Otherwise, ask the user which repos to target

Step 3: Determine sync strategy by tier

Wholesale: Copy file verbatim to targets.

Parameterized: Copy file but preserve known variation points:

• auto-merge-image-updater.yml : preserve BRANCH_PREFIX value

• release-please.yml : preserve extra publish/deploy jobs

Structural (justfile): Do NOT overwrite. Instead:

• Add missing standard recipe stubs (commented templates)

• Suggest renaming non-conforming recipes

• Preserve all project-specific recipes and recipe bodies

Pattern-based: Only apply general improvements matching the target's stack:

• Pin unpinned base images

• Add missing .dockerignore

• Update SHA-pinned actions

• Do NOT change build args, multi-arch config, or app-specific steps

Reference: Show diff and ask user to confirm each change.

Step 4: Preview changes (default / --dry-run)

For each target repo, show the unified diff of what would change.

Dry Run: Apply .github/workflows/claude.yml

repo: OLMap Status: Will update (sha def456 → abc123) Diff: @@ -12,1 +12,1 @@ - uses: actions/checkout@v3 + uses: actions/checkout@v4

repo: theme-management Status: Will update (sha def456 → abc123) Diff: (same as above)

Total: 2 repos would be updated

Step 5: Execute changes (--confirm or user approval)

For each target repo:

• Create a branch: config-sync/<filename-slug>

• Copy/update the file

• Commit with conventional message: chore: sync <filename> from <source-repo>

• Push and create PR via gh pr create

cd /Users/lgates/repos/ForumViriumHelsinki/<target-repo> git checkout -b config-sync/claude-yml

... apply changes ...

git add <file> git commit -m "chore: sync claude.yml from canonical

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>" git push -u origin config-sync/claude-yml gh pr create --title "chore: sync claude.yml" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'

Summary

• Synced .github/workflows/claude.yml to match canonical version
• Source: most common version across 18 repos

Changes

<inline diff>

🤖 Generated with Claude Code EOF )"

Report results:

Apply Results: OLMap: PR #42 created — https://github.com/ForumViriumHelsinki/OLMap/pull/42 theme-management: PR #15 created — https://github.com/ForumViriumHelsinki/theme-management/pull/15

Agentic Optimizations

Context Command

Quick workflow comparison /configure:config-sync diff claude.yml

Find improvements in a repo /configure:config-sync extract theme-management

Propagate renovate config /configure:config-sync apply renovate.json --from infrastructure --all

Preview changes only /configure:config-sync apply claude.yml --all (dry-run is default)

Create PRs /configure:config-sync apply claude.yml --all --confirm

Safety

• Dry-run by default: apply only shows diffs unless --confirm is passed or user explicitly approves

• Never overwrites justfile recipe bodies: Only adds stubs and suggests renames

• Stack-aware Dockerfile sync: Only applies improvements matching the target's tech stack

• Preserves parameterized variation points: Known customizations are not overwritten

See Also

• /configure:workflows — Single-repo workflow compliance

• /configure:reusable-workflows — Install reusable workflow patterns

• /configure:justfile — Single-repo justfile compliance

• /configure:dockerfile — Single-repo Dockerfile compliance

• /configure:all — Run all compliance checks on current repo