diff --git a/.gitconfig b/.gitconfig
index dab9f5bce..aebb63282 100644
--- a/.gitconfig
+++ b/.gitconfig
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@
 
 
 	# Two utils: 
-	#   What's the ancestor commit this branch shares with main?
+	#   What's the ancestor commit this branch shares with (the parent branch, or, more likely...) main?
+	#   diffbase = !"git config --get branch.$(command git symbolic-ref --short HEAD).base || git merge-base origin/$(git mainormaster) HEAD"
 	diffbase = !"git merge-base origin/$(git mainormaster) HEAD"
 	#   Is it a `main` or a `master` repo?
 	mainormaster = !"git branch --format '%(refname:short)' --sort=-committerdate --list master main | head -n1"
diff --git a/bin/pull b/bin/pull
index 1e8fed991..b111c1d0b 100755
--- a/bin/pull
+++ b/bin/pull
@@ -71,17 +71,6 @@ if grep -q chromium.googlesource.com <<<$repoUrl; then
   exit 0
 fi
 
-# Install Node.js packages 
-narn install
-
-# Install Bower components
-if [ "$GIT_FRIENDLY_NO_BOWER" != "true" ]; then
-  if which npm >/dev/null 2>&1 && [ -f bower.json ]; then
-    echo
-    echo "⚔  Installing Bower components..."
-    bower install
-  fi
-fi
 
 echo
 echo "🦄  Done"
diff --git a/fish/aliases.fish b/fish/aliases.fish
index 194177bf9..5212ca8f8 100644
--- a/fish/aliases.fish
+++ b/fish/aliases.fish
@@ -9,16 +9,6 @@ function ..... ; cd ../../../.. ; end
 # Utilities
 function grep     ; command grep --color=auto $argv ; end
 
-# uses npm if its an npm repo. https://www.npmjs.com/package/narn
-alias yarn=narn
-
-alias li=lighthouse
-alias lperf 'lighthouse --only-categories=performance'
-alias comp 'node build/build-report-components.js && yarn eslint --fix report/renderer/components.js'
-alias reportunit 'yarn jest (find report -iname "*-test.js" | grep -v axe)'
-# pretty sure watchexec has just won my heart after years of using `entr`
-alias reportwatch 'watchexec "node build/build-report-components.js && node build/build-report.js --psi && node build/build-sample-reports.js && echo \$(date) && yarn eslint --fix report/renderer/components.js" && bash core/scripts/copy-util-commonjs.sh'
-
 # mv, rm, cp
 alias mv 'command gmv --interactive --verbose'
 alias rm 'command grm --interactive --verbose'
@@ -80,6 +70,12 @@ subcommand_abbr git cp "cherry-pick"
 subcommand_abbr git cherrypick "cherry-pick"
 subcommand_abbr git dif "diff"
 
+# some of my git aliases
+subcommand_abbr git db "diffbranch"
+subcommand_abbr git dbt "diffbranch-that"
+
+
+
 # can only do one of these unless I adopt lucas's setup.
 subcommand_abbr npm i "install"
 #subcommand_abbr pnpm i "install"
@@ -139,3 +135,19 @@ alias fs="stat -f \"%z bytes\""
 alias brew_update="brew -v update; brew upgrade --force-bottle --cleanup; brew cleanup; brew cask cleanup; brew prune; brew doctor; npm-check -g -u"
 alias update_brew_npm_gem='brew_update; npm install npm -g; npm update -g; sudo gem update --system; sudo gem update --no-document'
 
+
+
+
+# project-specific shorthands
+
+alias li=lighthouse
+alias lperf 'lighthouse --only-categories=performance'
+alias comp 'node build/build-report-components.js && yarn eslint --fix report/renderer/components.js'
+alias reportunit 'yarn jest (find report -iname "*-test.js" | grep -v axe)'
+# pretty sure watchexec has just won my heart after years of using `entr`
+alias reportwatch 'watchexec "node build/build-report-components.js && node build/build-report.js --psi && node build/build-sample-reports.js && echo \$(date) && yarn eslint --fix report/renderer/components.js" && bash core/scripts/copy-util-commonjs.sh'
+
+
+alias rppunit 'npm run auto-unittest -- --expanded-reporting --mocha-fgrep=Processor\|Timeline\|trace\|Appender\|Handler\|Performance'
+alias rppinter 'HTML_OUTPUT_FILE=rppscreenshots.html npm run interactionstest -- --test-file-pattern="*/performance/**"'
+alias rppscreen 'HTML_OUTPUT_FILE=rppscreenshots.html third_party/node/node.py --output scripts/test/run_test_suite.js --config test/interactions/test-runner-config.json --mocha-fgrep "[screenshot]" --test-file-pattern="*/performance/**"'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/fish/chromium.fish b/fish/chromium.fish
index e1bb115d3..9de12e30e 100644
--- a/fish/chromium.fish
+++ b/fish/chromium.fish
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ function deps --description "run gclient sync"
     gclient sync --delete_unversioned_trees --jobs=70 --verbose
 end
 
+function depsbg --description "run gclient sync in the background"
+    gclient sync --delete_unversioned_trees --jobs=70 &
+end
+
+
 function hooks --description "run gclient runhooks"
     gclient runhooks
 end
@@ -12,6 +17,15 @@ function b --description "build chromium"
     
     ulimit -n 200000 # b/294987716
 
+    # reclient env vars from alexnj:
+    #    RBE_racing_bias=1 RBE_cas_concurrency=3000 autoninja -C out/Default chrome
+    #  - racing bias is a value between 0 and 1 that determines where you prefer compilation to be. 
+    #    default is set at 0.5, i.e., equal probability of something pushed to remote, vs. local. 
+    #     1 pushes everything to remote, but I think it's overkill as well ... I'm now at 0.7
+    #  - cas_concurrency is how many compilations in parallel. 
+    #    I'm running 2000 now resulting in 22 second incremental compilation with these values
+    #    i think it makes sense to tune these to your network and cpu cores
+
     set -l dir_default (grealpath $PWD/(git rev-parse --show-cdup)out/Default/)
     # autoninja is better than trying to set -j and -l manually.
     # and yay, nice cmd built-in, so no more need to do this:  `renice +19 -n (pgrep ninja); renice +19 -n (pgrep compiler_proxy)`
@@ -130,7 +144,7 @@ function gom --description "run goma setup"
 end
 
 function glurpgrab0
-    rsync --archive --verbose --itemize-changes --compress --human-readable --delete paulirish@glurp:chromium/src/out/Mac-cross/Chromium.app $HOME/chromium/src/out/Mac-cross-from-glurp/ 
+    rsync --archive --verbose --itemize-changes --compress --human-readable --delete paulirish@glurp:chromium/src/out/Mac-cross-siso/Chromium.app $HOME/chromium/src/out/Mac-cross-from-glurp/ 
 end
 
 function glurpgrab --description "dl mac-cross build from glurp"
@@ -154,17 +168,25 @@ function maccr
     eval $cmd
 end
 
-function maccr-flagged
-    # some dev flags plus chrome-launcher flags.
-    set -l bigcmd /Users/paulirish/chromium/src/out/Mac-cross-from-glurp/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium \
-        --user-data-dir=/tmp/glurp-mac-cross --password-store=basic --use-mock-keychain --disable-features=Translate,OptimizationHints,MediaRouter,ProcessPerSiteUpToMainFrameThreshold \
+function crflags
+    echo --password-store=basic --use-mock-keychain --disable-features=Translate,OptimizationHints,MediaRouter,ProcessPerSiteUpToMainFrameThreshold \
         --custom-devtools-frontend=file:///Users/paulirish/chromium-devtools/devtools-frontend/out/Default/gen/front_end \
         --disable-extensions --disable-component-extensions-with-background-pages --disable-background-networking --disable-component-update \
         --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --disable-sync --metrics-recording-only --disable-default-apps --mute-audio --no-default-browser-check \
         --no-first-run --disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows --disable-renderer-backgrounding --disable-background-timer-throttling --disable-ipc-flooding-protection \
-        --disable-hang-monitor  --enable-blink-features=BackForwardCacheNotRestoredReasons --enable-logging=stderr
+        --disable-hang-monitor  --enable-logging=stderr $clutch_chrome_flags --user-data-dir=\(mktemp -d "$TMPDIR/chrome-profile-XXXXX"\)
     # these two are also good, but tricky to escape for inclusion here: --vmodule='device_event_log*=1' --force-fieldtrials='*BackgroundTracing/default/' 
+end
+
+function maccr-flagged
+    # some dev flags plus chrome-launcher flags.
+    set -l bigcmd /Users/paulirish/chromium/src/out/Mac-cross-from-glurp/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium (crflags)
+
      echo " > $bigcmd"
      eval $bigcmd
     # --v=1 
+end
+
+function git-clfastupload
+    git cl upload --bypass-hooks -o "banned-words~skip"
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/fish/config.fish b/fish/config.fish
index 6356f528b..c87b32db8 100644
--- a/fish/config.fish
+++ b/fish/config.fish
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 # status stack-trace
 
 # set fish_trace 1
+# fish --debug "*" # super noisy
+# fish --debug "(fish --print-debug-categories)"  and could start removing stuff.
 function fish_greeting
 end