`overleaf-sync`¶

Pack: ARIS skills

Category: submission

Field: —

License: MIT

Updated: 2026-05-18

Stages: dissemination

↗ view SKILL.md on source · GitHub stars

Overleaf Sync¶

Bridge a local paper directory with an Overleaf project so that:

You can keep editing in the Overleaf web UI (or share editing access with collaborators)
ARIS can read your changes, run audits (/paper-claim-audit, /citation-audit, /auto-paper-improvement-loop), and push fixes back

This uses the official Overleaf Git bridge (Premium feature). The agent never sees your authentication token — you do the one-time auth manually so the token lives in macOS Keychain, not in chat history or .git/config.

When to Use This Skill¶

You want to use Overleaf as the editing surface (better collaboration, shared with team) but still run ARIS pipelines locally
You want to take an existing local ARIS paper and push it to Overleaf for a co-author to edit
A collaborator made changes in Overleaf and you want to pull + diff them before continuing local work

Constants¶

CLONE_DIR_DEFAULT = paper-overleaf (sibling of existing paper/, NOT inside paper/)
CREDENTIAL_HELPER = osxkeychain (macOS) / manager (Windows) / cache (Linux fallback)
TOKEN_HANDLING = NEVER write token to disk, env var, or chat. User pastes it once into the terminal credential prompt; the OS keychain stores it from then on.

Architecture¶

Text Only

┌─────────────────┐       git pull/push      ┌─────────────────┐
│  Local paper/   │ ◄─── rsync ──── ►       │ paper-overleaf/ │ ◄──► Overleaf web
│  (ARIS audits)  │                          │ (git bridge)    │     (collaborators)
└─────────────────┘                          └─────────────────┘

The paper-overleaf/ directory is a git clone of the Overleaf project. The paper/ directory is the working copy where ARIS skills run. They are kept in sync via rsync.

Single-source-of-truth rule: at any given time, treat one of them as authoritative for active editing. Switch directions explicitly with pull or push, and run a status check before either to surface unexpected divergence.

Sub-commands¶

`setup <project-id>` — one-time¶

Sets up the bridge for a new Overleaf project. The user runs this in their own terminal, never through the agent. The skill ships with a hardened setup script that:

Refuses to run unless stdin/stdout are a TTY (won't run inside an agent harness)
Reads the token from a hidden prompt (no chat history, no shell history)
Strips the token from the remote URL immediately after cloning
Primes the OS keychain so subsequent agent operations are auth-free
Auto-installs a pre-commit hook in paper-overleaf/.git/hooks/ that refuses to commit any blob containing the token pattern olp_[A-Za-z0-9]{20,} — a hard technical block, not a behavioral rule

The agent's only role here is to print the user instruction:

Text Only

Run this in your own terminal (NOT through me):

    bash <ARIS_REPO>/tools/overleaf_setup.sh <project-id-or-url>

When it finishes, tell me "setup done" and I'll verify.

After the user reports "setup done", the agent verifies (token-free):

Bash

cd paper-overleaf
git remote -v                    # must show URL WITHOUT token
git config --get credential.helper
git fetch && git log --oneline -3   # must succeed without prompting
ls .git/hooks/pre-commit         # must exist
bash <ARIS_REPO>/tools/overleaf_audit.sh .   # must report "Audit clean"

If paper-overleaf/ exists but is empty (new Overleaf project), the agent then mirrors local paper/ into it (see push workflow).

`pull` — before each editing session¶

Bash

cd paper-overleaf && git pull --ff-only

## Show what changed since last pull
LAST=$(git rev-parse HEAD@{1})
git diff --stat $LAST..HEAD
git diff $LAST..HEAD -- 'sec/*.tex'        # detailed view for prose changes

Diff protocol — DO NOT blindly merge into local paper/. Overleaf edits frequently include:

Half-finished sentences (collaborator clicked save mid-thought)
Typos that aren't in canonical references (Lrage for Large)
Commented-out blocks that may be intentional or may be a stash
Number changes that should re-trigger /paper-claim-audit
Cite key changes that should re-trigger /citation-audit

For each diff hunk, decide one of:

Hunk character	Action
Clean editorial improvement	Sync into `paper/`, no audit needed
Numerical / claim change	Sync, then re-run `/paper-claim-audit`
New `\cite{...}`	Sync, then re-run `/citation-audit`
Half-sentence / obvious typo	Flag to user, do NOT auto-sync
New section / restructure	Stop, ask user before syncing

After deciding per-hunk:

Bash

## Sync only the files the user approved into local paper/
rsync -av paper-overleaf/sec/0.abstract.tex paper/sec/0.abstract.tex
## (or use Edit tool for surgical changes that skip half-sentences)

`push` — after local editing¶

Use after ARIS skills have edited paper/ and you want collaborators on Overleaf to see the changes.

Bash

## 1. Always pull first to surface remote drift
cd paper-overleaf && git pull --ff-only

## 2. If pull was a no-op, sync local paper → paper-overleaf
rsync -av --delete \
  --exclude='.git' --exclude='.DS_Store' \
  --exclude='*.aux' --exclude='*.log' --exclude='*.bbl' --exclude='*.blg' \
  --exclude='*.fls' --exclude='*.fdb_latexmk' --exclude='*.out' \
  --exclude='*.synctex.gz' --exclude='*.toc' \
  paper/ paper-overleaf/

## 3. Show what would be pushed
git status --short
git diff --stat

## 4. Commit + push
git add -A
git commit -m "<descriptive message — what ARIS changed and why>"
git push

Commit message protocol: include the ARIS skill that produced the change so collaborators on Overleaf understand provenance. Examples:

paper-write: regenerated sec/3.assurance after audit cascade refactor
citation-audit: fix 14 metadata entries (madaan2023, lee2024, ...)
paper-claim-audit: correct sec/5 numbers vs results/run_2026_04_19.json

Confirmation gate: push writes to a shared resource. ALWAYS show the user git diff --stat (and a representative hunk for prose changes) before running git push. Wait for explicit confirmation unless the user said auto: true upfront.

`status` — diagnostic¶

Bash

cd paper-overleaf
git fetch
echo "=== Remote-vs-local divergence ==="
git log --oneline HEAD..origin/master    # remote ahead
git log --oneline origin/master..HEAD    # local ahead
echo "=== paper/ vs paper-overleaf/ divergence ==="
diff -rq --brief paper/ paper-overleaf/ 2>/dev/null \
  | grep -v "Only in paper/.*\.\(aux\|log\|out\|fls\|fdb_latexmk\|bbl\|blg\|synctex\|toc\)" \
  | grep -v "Only in paper-overleaf/.git" \
  | grep -v "DS_Store"

Three-way state assessment:

Remote ahead?	paper/ vs paper-overleaf/ differ?	Meaning	Recommended action
No	No	Clean	Nothing to do
Yes	No	Overleaf has new edits	Run `pull`, then re-run status
No	Yes	Local ARIS edits unsynced	Run `push`
Yes	Yes	Diverged — needs merge	Stop, surface to user, do NOT auto-resolve

Conflict Resolution¶

If git pull --ff-only fails because of true divergence:

Do not run git pull (which would auto-merge).
Do not run git reset --hard or git push --force (destructive).
Show the user git log origin/master ^HEAD (their Overleaf commits) and git log HEAD ^origin/master (local ARIS commits).
Ask the user which side to take per file, or to manually merge in Overleaf and then re-pull.

Token Security — Defense in Depth¶

Behavioral rules alone are not enough — the next agent reading this skill might forget them. The skill therefore relies on technical guards that hold even if the agent misbehaves:

Layer	Guard	Where enforced
1. Setup	`overleaf_setup.sh` refuses to run without an interactive TTY (agents don't have one)	`tools/overleaf_setup.sh`
2. Input	Token is read by `read -s` (hidden prompt, no shell history, never enters chat)	`tools/overleaf_setup.sh`
3. Storage	Token goes straight into OS keychain via `git credential approve`; remote URL is stripped to a token-free form	`tools/overleaf_setup.sh`
4. Commits	`paper-overleaf/.git/hooks/pre-commit` greps staged content for `olp_[A-Za-z0-9]{20,}` and aborts	auto-installed by setup script
5. Audit	`overleaf_audit.sh` scans working tree, remote URLs, git history, credential files	`tools/overleaf_audit.sh`

Behavioral rules (still apply, but secondary):

Never ask the user to paste a token into chat. If they do anyway: (a) acknowledge it, (b) tell them to revoke it at https://www.overleaf.com/user/settings, (c) recover via keychain if already primed.
Never write a token to a file (.env, .netrc, tools/*.sh, etc.) committed to any repo.
Never include a token in a git remote -v URL — strip it after clone.
On 401 Unauthorized from push/pull, tell the user the keychain entry expired and to re-run overleaf_setup.sh. Do not ask for a fresh token.

Mutual-Exclusion Rule¶

The single biggest source of pain in two-way sync is simultaneous editing on both sides.

If the user is in an active Overleaf editing session, ARIS skills should read-only access paper/ until the user runs /overleaf-sync pull.
If ARIS is in the middle of /auto-paper-improvement-loop or /paper-write, the user should pause Overleaf editing until the loop finishes and /overleaf-sync push is run.

When in doubt, run status first.

Output Contract¶

paper-overleaf/ directory at repo root, git clone of Overleaf project (origin URL has NO token)
paper/ directory unchanged in role — still the ARIS working copy
Each pull/push operation: a one-line summary back to the user (commits pulled / pushed, file count, link to Overleaf project URL)

overleaf-sync¶

Overleaf Sync¶

When to Use This Skill¶

Constants¶

Architecture¶

Sub-commands¶

setup <project-id> — one-time¶

pull — before each editing session¶

push — after local editing¶

status — diagnostic¶

Conflict Resolution¶

Token Security — Defense in Depth¶

Mutual-Exclusion Rule¶

Output Contract¶

See Also¶

`overleaf-sync`¶

`setup <project-id>` — one-time¶

`pull` — before each editing session¶

`push` — after local editing¶

`status` — diagnostic¶