[jdx]

https://entire.io/gh/jdx/mise/trails/667

mise dot sync, mise dot pull, and mise dot apply each write different things, and the docs and help did not say so. Users could not tell which command changes which files, or when they need more than one.

The sync guide now has a "Pull and apply" section with two comparison tables (commands, and entry modes) and a worked tracked-template example:

mise dot sync    # fetch the change
mise dot pull    # update ~/.bashrc and ~/.dotfiles/gitconfig.tera
mise dot apply   # render the template into ~/.gitconfig

It also says that the watcher fetches and pulls in sync mode but never copies or renders, so mise dot apply is still needed after incoming sources change.

Help text changes:

• pull summary: "Write fetched changes from other machines to tracked files". It no longer says "Apply" or "from the origin", which suggested a network step.
• apply summary: "Link, copy, and render [dotfiles] entries into place".
• pull long help says that it updates the source of a copy or template entry but never writes the target.
• apply long help says that it never fetches or pulls, and gives the sync, pull, apply order.

No behavior changes. A combined apply --pull is not part of this PR.

Refs #14321, #14273

Validation: docs formatted with prettier. The generated copies (mise.usage.kdl, docs/cli/dotfiles/{apply,pull}.md, docs/public/llms.txt, man/man1/mise.1) were edited by hand to match the source help rather than regenerated.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

AI-assisted — Tool: Claude Code; model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-5; version: 2.1.295.

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Note

Low Risk
Documentation and CLI help text only; no changes to dotfiles sync, pull, or apply behavior.

Overview
Clarifies how mise dot sync, pull, and apply divide work so users know which command touches which files and when more than one step is required.

The sync guide adds a Pull and apply section with comparison tables (what each command reads/writes, and how track vs copy/template entries behave) plus a worked example (sync → pull → apply after a remote template source change). It also notes that automatic sync mode pulls but does not copy or render, so mise dot apply is still needed when incoming sources change.

CLI help and generated docs are reworded: pull is described as writing fetched changes to tracked files (not “apply from the origin”), and apply as linking, copying, and rendering [dotfiles] locally without fetch/pull. Matching updates land in mise.usage.kdl, CLI markdown, man pages, and llms.txt. No runtime behavior changes.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit bade1ca. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 623b640 and bade1ca.

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📒 Files selected for processing (8)

• docs/cli/dotfiles/apply.md
• docs/cli/dotfiles/pull.md
• docs/dotfiles/sync.md
• docs/public/llms.txt
• man/man1/mise.1
• mise.usage.kdl
• src/cli/dotfiles/apply.rs
• src/cli/dotfiles/pull.rs

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[greptile-apps]

Confidence Score: 5/5

[Low impact] This documentation-only PR appears safe to merge.

Summary

Clarifies what mise dot sync, mise dot pull, and mise dot apply read and write.

• The sync guide shows how fetched changes reach tracked files and targets.
• The pull and apply help spells out which files each command writes.

_{Reviews (2) · Last reviewed commit: "docs(dotfiles): note that pull restores ..." · Reviewed by Greptile}

[github-actions]

Instruction counts

Nothing was compared, and so nothing was gated. No series appears on both sides: either the base has no measurements recorded, or the two were measured on different runner classes, which are deliberately not comparable — counts shift between machine types by more than a real regression does.

New, nothing to compare against: env on jdx-perf-v1-ubuntu24.04-x64-mise-rust1.97.1-img5263c143, hook-env on jdx-perf-v1-ubuntu24.04-x64-mise-rust1.97.1-img5263c143, ls on jdx-perf-v1-ubuntu24.04-x64-mise-rust1.97.1-img5263c143, registry on jdx-perf-v1-ubuntu24.04-x64-mise-rust1.97.1-img5263c143, startup on jdx-perf-v1-ubuntu24.04-x64-mise-rust1.97.1-img5263c143

_{Only instruction counts gate. Wall clock is shown for context — on identical hardware it moves 4-20% run to run.}

_{Measured by tak — instruction-counted CLI benchmarks, stored in this repository's git notes.}

_{bade1cad0277 vs 76c646679585 · measured on the runner, not pushed to the history.}