diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0d733b3..9040255 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
     "api-client",
     "sdk-generator"
   ],
-  "version": "1.17.0",
+  "version": "1.17.1",
   "license": "MIT",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/scripts/ship.sh b/scripts/ship.sh
index 210fd84..3ceb42f 100755
--- a/scripts/ship.sh
+++ b/scripts/ship.sh
@@ -84,6 +84,33 @@ promote_issues() {
         || warn "Could not promote issue labels — release has landed; label by hand."
 }
 
+# Sync local branches after a release, and push dev back to origin.
+#
+# The push is the part that used to be missing (#167). Without it, origin/dev
+# stays at the pre-release commit while local dev sits at main's tip: the next
+# `git pull origin dev` refuses with "Need to specify how to reconcile
+# divergent branches", and anything that branches from origin/dev — a fresh
+# clone, a worktree, the parallel issue fleet — silently starts from before
+# the release.
+#
+# Never force. A rejected push means someone landed work on dev during the
+# release window, and that work must not be discarded. Warn with the manual
+# reconcile and carry on: the release has already published by the time this
+# runs, so a sync hiccup must not fail the ship.
+sync_branches() {
+    info "Syncing branches..."
+    git checkout main --quiet && git pull --quiet
+    git checkout dev --quiet && git rebase main --quiet
+
+    if git push origin dev --quiet 2>/dev/null; then
+        ok "dev synced to origin"
+    else
+        warn "Could not fast-forward origin/dev — someone may have pushed to dev during the release."
+        warn "The release itself is fine. Reconcile by hand:"
+        warn "  git checkout dev && git pull --rebase origin dev && git push origin dev"
+    fi
+}
+
 # Resolve a merged PR's merge commit into $MERGE_SHA.
 #
 # `gh pr merge` returns once the REST merge completes, but `gh pr view` reads
@@ -209,9 +236,7 @@ resume_untagged_release() {
     tag_and_publish "$MERGE_SHA" "$main_version"
     promote_issues
 
-    info "Syncing branches..."
-    git checkout main --quiet && git pull --quiet
-    git checkout dev --quiet && git rebase main --quiet
+    sync_branches
     ok "Resumed and shipped v$main_version"
     exit 0
 }
@@ -450,8 +475,6 @@ promote_issues
 
 # ── Step 9: Cleanup ────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-info "Syncing branches..."
-git checkout main --quiet && git pull --quiet
-git checkout dev --quiet && git rebase main --quiet
+sync_branches
 
 ok "Shipped v$NEW_VERSION"
diff --git a/tests/codegen/stripe-e2e.test.ts b/tests/codegen/stripe-e2e.test.ts
index 841fe38..5d67b59 100644
--- a/tests/codegen/stripe-e2e.test.ts
+++ b/tests/codegen/stripe-e2e.test.ts
@@ -15,9 +15,16 @@ let commandsOutput: string;
 let commandMapOutput: string;
 
 beforeAll(async () => {
-    // Download Stripe spec — skip suite if offline
+    // Download Stripe spec — skip suite if unavailable (offline, rate-limited,
+    // or just slow). Two deadlines matter here and they must not be equal:
+    // the fetch is bounded well inside the hook's own timeout, so a slow or
+    // hanging response lands in the catch below instead of blowing the hook's
+    // deadline. A timed-out hook is reported as a hard test failure, not a
+    // skip — which is how a GitHub 429 on raw.githubusercontent.com (7-15s to
+    // respond, against bun's 5s default) once blocked a release even though
+    // this suite is designed to opt out when the spec can't be fetched.
     try {
-        const res = await fetch(STRIPE_SPEC_URL);
+        const res = await fetch(STRIPE_SPEC_URL, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(20_000) });
 
         if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);
 
@@ -35,7 +42,9 @@ beforeAll(async () => {
     clientOutput = await Bun.file(join(outDir, 'client.ts')).text();
     commandsOutput = await Bun.file(join(outDir, 'commands.ts')).text();
     commandMapOutput = await Bun.file(join(outDir, 'command-map.ts')).text();
-});
+    // Explicit hook timeout: the default 5s is shorter than a healthy download
+    // of this spec, let alone a throttled one.
+}, 60_000);
 
 function skipIfOffline() {
     if (!spec) {
diff --git a/tests/ship-sync-branches.test.ts b/tests/ship-sync-branches.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67cb870
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ship-sync-branches.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+import { describe, test, expect, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'bun:test';
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'os';
+import { join } from 'path';
+import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
+
+const repoRoot = join(import.meta.dir, '..');
+const shipPath = join(repoRoot, 'scripts', 'ship.sh');
+
+/**
+ * #167 — ship.sh's post-release sync must push dev back to origin.
+ *
+ * Before the fix, sync_branches rebased local dev onto main and stopped, so
+ * origin/dev kept pointing at the pre-release commit. The next
+ * `git pull origin dev` refused with "divergent branches", and anything
+ * branching from origin/dev started from before the release.
+ *
+ * sync_branches is extracted from ship.sh rather than reimplemented, so these
+ * tests exercise the shipped code. Running ship.sh end-to-end is not an option
+ * here — it merges PRs and publishes to npm.
+ */
+
+const HELPERS = `
+set -u
+info() { echo "> $1"; }
+ok()   { echo "OK $1"; }
+fail() { echo "FAIL $1"; }
+warn() { echo "WARN $1"; }
+eval "$(sed -n '/^sync_branches() {/,/^}/p' "$SHIP_PATH")"
+`;
+
+interface RunResult {
+    stdout: string;
+    originDev: string;
+    originMain: string;
+    devLog: string;
+}
+
+describe('#167 ship.sh sync_branches pushes dev to origin', () => {
+    let root: string;
+
+    /** origin.git + a clone on `dev`, with `main` one release commit ahead. */
+    function setupRepos(): string {
+        const work = join(root, 'work');
+        const script = join(root, 'setup.sh');
+
+        writeFileSync(script, `
+set -eu
+cd "${root}"
+git init -q --bare origin.git
+git clone -q origin.git work
+cd work
+git config user.email t@t
+git config user.name t
+echo a > f
+git add f
+git commit -qm init
+git branch -M main
+git push -q -u origin main
+git checkout -qb dev
+git push -q -u origin dev
+git checkout -q main
+echo b > f
+git commit -qam "chore(release): v9.9.9"
+git push -q origin main
+git checkout -q dev
+`);
+        spawnSync('bash', [script], { encoding: 'utf-8' });
+
+        return work;
+    }
+
+    function runSync(work: string, extra = ''): RunResult {
+        const script = join(root, 'run.sh');
+
+        writeFileSync(script, `
+export SHIP_PATH="${shipPath}"
+cd "${work}"
+${extra}
+${HELPERS}
+sync_branches
+echo "EXIT=$?"
+git fetch -q origin
+echo "ORIGIN_DEV=$(git rev-parse origin/dev)"
+echo "ORIGIN_MAIN=$(git rev-parse origin/main)"
+echo "DEV_LOG=$(git log origin/dev --oneline | tr '\\n' '|')"
+`);
+        const r = spawnSync('bash', [script], { encoding: 'utf-8' });
+        const out = `${r.stdout}${r.stderr}`;
+        const pick = (k: string): string => out.match(new RegExp(`${k}=(.*)`))?.[1]?.trim() ?? '';
+
+        return {
+            stdout: out,
+            originDev: pick('ORIGIN_DEV'),
+            originMain: pick('ORIGIN_MAIN'),
+            devLog: pick('DEV_LOG'),
+        };
+    }
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+        root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'apijack-sync-'));
+    });
+
+    afterEach(() => {
+        rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    });
+
+    test('normal post-release: origin/dev is fast-forwarded to main', () => {
+        const work = setupRepos();
+        const r = runSync(work);
+
+        expect(r.stdout).toContain('dev synced to origin');
+        expect(r.originDev).toBe(r.originMain);
+        expect(r.originDev).not.toBe('');
+    });
+
+    test('contended dev: push is rejected, never forced, and the ship still succeeds', () => {
+        const work = setupRepos();
+
+        // Someone lands work on dev during the release window, then ship.sh's
+        // rebase leaves local dev at main's tip — the push cannot fast-forward.
+        const intruder = `
+git checkout -q dev
+echo intruder > g
+git add g
+git commit -qm "landed during release"
+git push -q origin dev
+git reset -q --hard origin/main
+`;
+        const r = runSync(work, intruder);
+
+        expect(r.stdout).toContain('Could not fast-forward origin/dev');
+        expect(r.stdout).toContain('git pull --rebase origin dev');
+        // Must not fail the ship: the release has already published by now.
+        expect(r.stdout).toContain('EXIT=0');
+        // The other person's commit must survive — no force-push.
+        expect(r.devLog).toContain('landed during release');
+        expect(r.originDev).not.toBe(r.originMain);
+    });
+});