subscribe git:20260504.09b173dA

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---
name: subscribe
description: Add a shared guidelines repo (read-scope subscription or write-scope publish target) to the unified repos list.
---

# Subscribe to a Shared Repo

## Overview

Configured guidelines repos are multi-reader / multi-writer git databases,
described in a single unified list in `evolve.config.yaml`:

```yaml
repos:
  - name: memory
    scope: write
    remote: git@github.com:alice/evolve.git
    branch: main
    notes: public memory for foobar project
  - name: org-memory
    scope: read
    remote: git@github.com:acme/org-memory.git
    branch: main
    notes: private memory shared only within my org
```

- `scope: read` — download-only. Synced on every run.
- `scope: write` — publish target. Synced on every run too, so you see
  what you have already published and anything others have pushed.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Bootstrap config if missing

If `evolve.config.yaml` does not exist, ask the user for a username and
create:

```yaml
identity:
  user: {username}
repos: []
sync:
  on_session_start: true
```

Also ensure `.evolve/` is gitignored:

```bash
grep -qxF '.evolve/' .gitignore 2>/dev/null || echo '.evolve/' >> .gitignore
```

### Step 2: Gather details

Ask the user for:

- the remote URL for the guidelines repo
- a short local name such as `alice`
- the scope: `read` (default, subscribe-only) or `write` (also a publish target)
- an optional note

### Step 3: Run subscribe script

```bash
sh -lc 'real_home="$(python3 -c "import os,pwd; print(pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid()).pw_dir)")"; config_home="${CLAW_CONFIG_HOME:-$real_home/.claw}"; script=".claw/skills/evolve-lite:subscribe/scripts/subscribe.py"; [ -f "$script" ] || script="$config_home/skills/evolve-lite:subscribe/scripts/subscribe.py"; python3 "$script" --name "{name}" --remote "{remote}" --branch main --scope "{scope}" --notes "{notes}"'
```

### Step 4: Confirm

Tell the user the repo was added and they can run `/evolve-lite:sync`
immediately if they want to pull updates now.

## Notes

- The repo is cloned directly into `.evolve/entities/subscribed/{name}/`,
  which doubles as the recall mirror
- Subscribed entities will appear in recall with `[from: {name}]`
  annotations
- Read-scope repos use a shallow clone; write-scope repos use a full
  clone so publish commits can be rebased and pushed cleanly