Power Sync Conflict Resolver

Detect, analyze, and resolve synchronization conflicts across distributed systems using configurable resolution strategies and merge policies.

When to Use This Command

Run this command when...

• You have detected synchronization conflicts between GitHub and Linear or between database replicas and need intelligent automated resolution
• Multiple team members edited the same record in disconnected systems and you need to merge their changes without data loss
• You want to audit existing conflict patterns to identify recurring issues and build preventive resolution rules

Avoid this command when...

• You simply need a straightforward one-way sync with no conflict potential (use Easy Sync Executor instead)
• Conflicts involve sensitive data that requires manual human review before any resolution can be applied

Quick Start

Copy
# conflict-rules.json
{
  "default_strategy": "field-level-merge",
  "rules": [
    { "field": "status", "strategy": "latest-timestamp" },
    { "field": "description", "strategy": "longest-content" },
    { "field": "assignee", "strategy": "source-wins" }
  ]
}

Copy
claude -p "Resolve all sync conflicts using rules in conflict-rules.json and generate a resolution report"

Expected output:
Conflict scan complete: 14 conflicts detected
  - status field: 6 conflicts (resolved: latest-timestamp)
  - description field: 5 conflicts (resolved: longest-content)
  - assignee field: 3 conflicts (resolved: source-wins)
Resolution applied: 14/14 conflicts resolved
Report saved: ./sync-reports/conflict-resolution-2026-03-15.json

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Field-Level Merge	Resolves conflicts at individual field granularity rather than whole-record replacement
Resolution Strategy	Pluggable algorithm that determines which version of a conflicting field wins
Conflict Graph	Dependency map showing which conflicts cascade into related records
Holdback Window	Configurable delay before applying resolution to allow manual override
Audit Trail	Immutable log of every conflict detected and how it was resolved

Record A (Source)     Record A (Target)
  field1: "X"          field1: "Y"    <-- CONFLICT
  field2: "same"       field2: "same"
         \                /
          Conflict Engine
          [field-level-merge]
               |
         Resolved Record
          field1: "Y" (latest-timestamp)
          field2: "same"

Configuration

Parameter	Type	Default	Description	Example
default_strategy	string	latest-timestamp	Fallback strategy when no field rule matches	source-wins
rules	array	[]	Per-field resolution rules	See Quick Start
holdback_minutes	number	0	Delay before auto-applying resolution	30
notify_on_conflict	boolean	true	Send notifications when conflicts are detected	false
preserve_history	boolean	true	Keep conflict history for audit purposes	true

Best Practices

1. Define field-level rules for critical fields -- Generic strategies work for most fields, but business-critical fields like status and priority deserve explicit rules.
2. Use holdback windows in production -- Set a 15-30 minute holdback so team leads can review high-impact conflicts before automatic resolution kicks in.
3. Review conflict trend reports weekly -- Recurring conflicts on the same fields signal a workflow problem upstream that should be fixed at the source.
4. Test resolution rules against historical conflicts -- Replay past conflicts through new rules in dry-run mode before deploying them to production.
5. Separate resolution rules by environment -- Development, staging, and production may need different strategies; keep per-environment config files.

Common Issues

1. Conflicts re-appear after resolution -- The source system is still producing conflicting writes. Investigate whether two automation rules or two users are modifying the same field without coordination.
2. Field-level merge produces invalid state -- Some field combinations have implicit constraints (e.g., status=closed requires resolution_date). Add composite validation rules to the conflict engine.
3. Resolution report is empty despite known conflicts -- Verify that the conflict detection scan window covers the correct time range. The default window may be too narrow for infrequent sync schedules.