diff --git a/.claude/scripts/sync.sh b/.claude/scripts/sync.sh
index d54c86e..12a5bb6 100755
--- a/.claude/scripts/sync.sh
+++ b/.claude/scripts/sync.sh
@@ -109,6 +109,42 @@ BOTID
     return 0
 }
 
+# When the parent's gitlinks point a submodule at a commit that TRACKS a file the
+# submodule currently holds as UNTRACKED, `git submodule update` aborts with
+# "untracked working tree files would be overwritten by checkout". Non-fatal, but it
+# leaves the pointer stale and recurs every sync (seen with guru-rmm
+# docs/RMM_THOUGHTS.md). Resolve NON-DESTRUCTIVELY: for each submodule, find untracked
+# files that collide with the target gitlink commit's tree and rename them aside
+# (content preserved) so checkout can proceed. Returns 0 if it moved anything (caller
+# should retry the update), 1 if there was nothing to do.
+resolve_submodule_collisions() {
+    [ -f ".gitmodules" ] || return 1
+    local moved=0 subpath target untracked stamp dest
+    local subpaths=()
+    stamp=$(date -u "+%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ")
+    while read -r p; do [ -n "$p" ] && subpaths+=("$p"); done \
+        < <(git config --file .gitmodules --get-regexp '^submodule\..*\.path$' 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $2}')
+    for subpath in "${subpaths[@]}"; do
+        [ -e "$subpath/.git" ] || continue
+        # Target gitlink commit the parent now expects for this submodule.
+        target=$(git ls-tree HEAD -- "$subpath" 2>/dev/null | awk '$2=="commit"{print $3}')
+        [ -n "$target" ] || continue
+        # Need the target commit present locally to know which paths it tracks.
+        git -C "$subpath" cat-file -e "$target" 2>/dev/null || continue
+        # Untracked files in the submodule that the target commit also tracks = the
+        # exact set that would block checkout. Move only those aside.
+        while IFS= read -r -d '' untracked; do
+            git -C "$subpath" cat-file -e "${target}:${untracked}" 2>/dev/null || continue
+            dest="${untracked}.synced-aside-${stamp}"
+            if mv "$subpath/$untracked" "$subpath/$dest" 2>/dev/null; then
+                echo -e "${YELLOW}[WARNING]${NC} ${subpath}: untracked '${untracked}' collided with incoming commit; preserved as '${dest}' (reconcile manually if it held local edits)."
+                moved=1
+            fi
+        done < <(git -C "$subpath" ls-files --others --exclude-standard -z 2>/dev/null)
+    done
+    [ "$moved" -eq 1 ] && return 0 || return 1
+}
+
 # Machine + timestamp
 if [ -n "$COMPUTERNAME" ]; then
     MACHINE="$COMPUTERNAME"
@@ -477,7 +513,19 @@ if [ "$INCOMING_COUNT" -gt 0 ]; then
     SUB_RC=${PIPESTATUS[0]}
     set -e
     if [ "$SUB_RC" -ne 0 ]; then
-        echo -e "${YELLOW}[WARNING]${NC} One or more submodules failed to update — likely a transient dead ref. Parent repo is current; investigate the submodule manually if a pointer is wrong."
+        # Most common recurring cause: an untracked file in a submodule colliding
+        # with the incoming gitlink commit. Resolve non-destructively and retry once.
+        if resolve_submodule_collisions; then
+            set +e
+            git submodule update --init --recursive --quiet 2>&1 | grep -v '^$' || true
+            SUB_RC=${PIPESTATUS[0]}
+            set -e
+        fi
+        if [ "$SUB_RC" -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo -e "${YELLOW}[WARNING]${NC} One or more submodules failed to update — likely a transient dead ref. Parent repo is current; investigate the submodule manually if a pointer is wrong."
+        else
+            echo -e "${GREEN}[OK]${NC} Submodules reconciled (set aside colliding untracked file(s))."
+        fi
     fi
 fi