Syncing Specific Directories from Main

When working on a feature branch, you may need to get the latest updates for specific directories from the main branch without merging or rebasing your entire branch.

When to Use This Approach

This approach is useful when:

You need the latest version of a specific app without updating your entire codebase
You want to pull in changes to the documentation or API while continuing to work on your feature
You need to update shared components without disrupting your current work

How to Sync Specific Directories

To sync a specific directory from the main branch, use the following commands:

# First, fetch the latest changes from the main branch
git fetch origin main

# Then, checkout just the directory you need from main
git checkout origin/main -- <directory-path>

Available Directories to Sync

You can sync any of these app directories:

# Sync docs
git checkout origin/main -- apps/docs

# Sync web app
git checkout origin/main -- apps/web

# Sync dashboard
git checkout origin/main -- apps/dashboard

# Sync API
git checkout origin/main -- apps/api

# Sync presentation
git checkout origin/main -- apps/presentation

After Syncing

After syncing a directory, you should:

Review the changes that were brought in
Make sure your project still builds correctly
Commit the changes to your branch

# Review the changes
git status

# Add and commit the changes
git add <directory-path>
git commit -m "Sync <directory-path> with main branch"

Caution

Be careful when syncing directories that might have dependencies on other parts of the codebase. In some cases, you may need to sync multiple directories to maintain compatibility.

Selectively Syncing Specific Files

You can be even more granular and sync only specific files rather than entire directories:

# Sync a specific file
git checkout origin/main -- apps/web/components/Header.tsx

# Sync multiple specific files
git checkout origin/main -- apps/api/routes/users.ts apps/api/models/User.ts

Excluding Specific Files When Syncing a Directory

If you want to sync a directory but exclude certain files, you can:

First, sync the directory
Then revert the specific files you don’t want to sync

# First sync the entire directory
git checkout origin/main -- apps/docs

# Then revert specific files you don't want to update
git checkout HEAD -- apps/docs/specific-file-to-exclude.mdx

# You can also revert multiple files at once
git checkout HEAD -- apps/docs/file1.mdx apps/docs/file2.mdx

Using Git Add Interactive Mode

For more complex selections, you can use Git’s interactive add mode after syncing:

# First sync the directory
git checkout origin/main -- apps/web

# Then use interactive mode to selectively stage only what you want
git add -i

# Or use patch mode to select specific chunks within files
git add -p

With the interactive mode, you’ll get a menu where you can:

Select specific files to stage
Review changes before staging
Split files into smaller chunks for selective staging
Revert specific parts of the sync

Written by Ricky Raveanu

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Essentials

Syncing Specific Directories from Main Branch

Syncing Specific Directories from Main

When to Use This Approach

How to Sync Specific Directories

Available Directories to Sync

After Syncing

Caution

Selectively Syncing Specific Files

Excluding Specific Files When Syncing a Directory

Using Git Add Interactive Mode

​Syncing Specific Directories from Main

​When to Use This Approach

​How to Sync Specific Directories

​Available Directories to Sync

​After Syncing

​Caution

​Selectively Syncing Specific Files

​Excluding Specific Files When Syncing a Directory

​Using Git Add Interactive Mode

Syncing Specific Directories from Main

When to Use This Approach

How to Sync Specific Directories

Available Directories to Sync

After Syncing

Caution

Selectively Syncing Specific Files

Excluding Specific Files When Syncing a Directory

Using Git Add Interactive Mode