| name | law-upstream |
| description | Merge local paper changes back to the shared ~/.common-law/ global state. Use when the user asks to upstream changes, sync bib entries, or merge writing guide modifications. Presents a list of local modifications and lets the user select what to merge. |
LAW Upstream
Merge local paper modifications back to ~/.common-law/. This keeps the global bib file, writing guide, and build scripts in sync across all papers.
What gets tracked
Three categories of local changes:
- New bib entries — citations added to the paper's
refs.bib that don't exist in ~/.common-law/bib/refs.bib
- CLAUDE.md changes — modifications to the writing guide (excluding the "Paper Narrative" section)
- Script changes — modifications to
build.sh, build.bat, or verify.sh
Workflow
Step 1: Scan for changes
Run scripts/upstream-bib.sh to find new bib entries and scripts/upstream-claude.sh to find CLAUDE.md changes.
For script changes, diff the paper's scripts against the skill's canonical copies.
Step 2: Present options to user
Show a grouped list:
Changes ready to upstream:
[Bib entries — 3 new]
1. extraref1 — "Machine Learning for Resource Management..." (Garcia, EuroSys 2025)
2. extraref2 — "Reinforcement Learning for Cluster Scheduling" (Nguyen, MLSys 2024)
3. extraref3 — "A Formal Analysis of Joint..." (Tanaka, PER 2025)
[CLAUDE.md changes]
4. Added "No hyphens" rule to Hard Prohibitions section
[Script changes]
(none)
Select items to upstream (e.g., "1,2,4" or "all"):
Step 3: Merge selected changes
- Bib entries: append to
~/.common-law/bib/refs.bib, deduplicate by citation key
- CLAUDE.md: strip the "Paper Narrative" section and everything below it, then merge changes into
~/.common-law/paper-style/CLAUDE.md
- Scripts: copy to the corresponding skill's
scripts/ directory
Step 4: Report
Tell the user exactly what was merged and where.
Prompted by other skills
After law-write or law-revise sessions that add citations, ask: "You added N new citations. Upstream them to the global bib?"
The user can say yes, no, or "later." Do not push.
Scripts
scripts/upstream-bib.sh — finds new bib entries and handles deduplicationscripts/upstream-claude.sh — diffs CLAUDE.md and strips the narrative section
