Skip to content

/gh-sync — GitHub Issue/PR Sync

Syncs GitHub issues and pull requests from a repository into the Distillery knowledge base as searchable github entries. The skill dispatches a background sync on the Distillery MCP server and returns immediately with a job_id; progress is checked on demand.

Usage

/gh-sync owner/repo                 # start a background sync
/gh-sync status                     # list recent jobs
/gh-sync status <job_id>            # check one job
/gh-sync status <owner/repo>        # check latest job for this repo

Trigger phrases: "sync GitHub", "import issues", "sync repo issues", "capture PR history", "how's the sync", "gh-sync status"

When to Use

  • Capturing GitHub issues and PRs alongside session notes for traceable decisions
  • Making issue discussions and PR context searchable via /recall and /pour
  • Checking on a previously-started sync without re-running it

What It Does

  1. Dispatches an async job on the Distillery MCP server (distillery_gh_sync(background=true)) and returns the job_id immediately.
  2. The server fetches issues/PRs from the GitHub API, respects rate limits, dedupes against metadata.external_id, creates new entries or updates existing ones, and wires link relations for cross-references.
  3. Status polls (distillery_sync_status) report status, entries_created, entries_updated, pages_processed, and any errors.

Options

Currently the backend tool accepts only url, author, project, and background. The flags below were previously documented but are not wired through. If you supply any of these filter flags, the skill will not silently start an unfiltered sync — it will prompt for explicit confirmation that a full sync is acceptable, and abort if you decline:

Flag Status
--issues not supported — prompts for confirmation before running a full sync
--prs not supported — prompts for confirmation before running a full sync
--since DATE not supported — prompts for confirmation before running a full sync
--limit N not supported — prompts for confirmation before running a full sync
--project <name> supported (overrides git-derived project)

Tips

  • The command returns in under a second — the sync runs in the background.
  • Ask "how's the sync going" or run /gh-sync status later to see progress.
  • Synced entries are searchable via /recall and synthesizable via /pour.
  • Use /investigate to follow relationship chains across synced issues.
  • Combine with /watch add github:owner/repo for ongoing event monitoring (different from /gh-sync which imports full issue/PR content).