Sync Overleaf

Overleaf folders live under ~/Dropbox/Apps/Overleaf/<paper>/ (or your Dropbox root's equivalent) — confirm the folder before writing; project folders may sit in a different Dropbox root. Overleaf ↔ Dropbox is a two-way bridge, and the user edits in the Overleaf web editor between turns.

1. Before ANY write under Apps/Overleaf/

• Run overleaf-sync-now sync <folder> first. The PreToolUse hook only fires on Read/Edit/Write; Bash cp/rsync and Python rewrites bypass it.
• Edit the Overleaf-folder copy in place. Never keep a separate "master" copy and cp it over — that has clobbered the user's web edits before.
• If the user says they are revising a file by hand, leave it alone until they say otherwise. Re-read a file right before editing so you never overwrite edits they just made.
• Keep Overleaf comment anchors and coauthors' comments intact when editing nearby text.
• .bib files come from Zotero. Never edit them directly; tell the user what to add in Zotero.

2. Getting tables and figures in

Find out which case the project uses:

• Producers write straight into the Overleaf folder (esttab or a generator writes both the project's tables/ and Overleaf's Tables/). Don't copy — verify:

  for f in tables/*.tex; do cmp -s "$f" "$OL/Tables/$(basename "$f")" || echo "DIFFERS $f"; done

• Copy mode (artifacts exist only in the project): diff -q each source against the destination and list NEW / CHANGED / UNCHANGED. Run overleaf-sync-now sync, then copy only NEW + CHANGED, preserving filenames so \input{} / \includegraphics{} calls don't change.

Never delete files in the Overleaf folder — only add or overwrite. If a filename collides but the content differs on purpose (e.g. an anonymized version), ask before overwriting.

3. After writing — confirm it actually landed

Dropbox can silently demote a just-written file to <name> (… conflicted copy <date>).tex and restore Overleaf's older content as the live file, keeping the old mtime. A compile right after the write proves nothing.

1. Save a copy of each edited file outside Dropbox (scratchpad) before anything else.
2. Don't run overleaf-sync-now sync in a loop right after writing — that invites the round-trip race. A dropbox_echo result doesn't mean the edit reached Overleaf.
3. A minute or two later, re-read the file and check the change is still there. Run find "$OL" -name "*conflicted copy*" before concluding anything is lost.
4. To confirm real sync, download https://www.overleaf.com/project/<id>/download/zip with the overleaf_session2 cookie from ~/.overleaf-sync/cookies.json and shasum the file against local.
5. If Overleaf still doesn't show the change after ~20 minutes (the bridge has stalled for hours before), say so and tell the user. Don't keep rewriting the file.

4. Editing .tex files

• Diff before writing. If the pulled Overleaf version differs from the local copy, show the diff and ask which to keep. Do not merge on your own.
• Targeted edits only. Never regenerate or overwrite a whole .tex file when an Edit on the specific block will do — regenerating clobbers the user's web-editor prose.
• If an Edit fails because the file changed underneath (the sync hook updated it mid-edit), re-read and redo the edit. Don't fall back to rewriting the file.

5. Verify the compile before reporting done

After any table or figure edit, recompile the root that \inputs it (see the table skill: tectonic -Z continue-on-errors --keep-logs -o "$TMP" <root>.tex). Check the affected page — fit, float placement, header layout — and report the actual measurement (e.g. Overfull \hbox (83.0pt too wide) at line 412). Never say a fit is "fixed" without a compile that shows it. Render the page with pdftoppm and show the PNG so the user can check it without opening the PDF.

Reporting

List NEW and CHANGED paths with sizes (≤ 10 lines). When the user asks to see a table, show it — the table itself or the rendered page.