diff --git a/dist/oribi-tech-sync.zip b/dist/oribi-tech-sync.zip
index e53d98b..46d9aa2 100644
Binary files a/dist/oribi-tech-sync.zip and b/dist/oribi-tech-sync.zip differ
diff --git a/includes/admin.php b/includes/admin.php
index cfcd30c..374c247 100644
--- a/includes/admin.php
+++ b/includes/admin.php
@@ -257,6 +257,18 @@ add_action( 'admin_post_oribi_sync_pull', function () {
     exit;
 } );
 
+add_action( 'admin_post_oribi_sync_force_pull', function () {
+    if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) wp_die( 'Permission denied.' );
+    check_admin_referer( 'oribi_sync_force_pull' );
+
+    $result = oribi_sync_run( false, true );
+
+    set_transient( 'oribi_sync_result', $result, 60 );
+
+    wp_redirect( add_query_arg( 'oribi_sync_done', 'force_pull', admin_url( 'options-general.php?page=oribi-sync' ) ) );
+    exit;
+} );
+
 add_action( 'admin_post_oribi_sync_clear_pat', function () {
     if ( ! current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) wp_die( 'Permission denied.' );
     check_admin_referer( 'oribi_sync_clear_pat' );
@@ -330,9 +342,10 @@ function oribi_sync_settings_page() {
         <?php if ( $sync_result ): ?>
             <div class="notice <?php echo $sync_result['ok'] ? 'notice-success' : 'notice-error'; ?> is-dismissible">
                 <p><strong><?php
-                    if ( $done === 'dry' )       echo 'Dry-run results';
-                    elseif ( $done === 'pull' )  echo 'Pull complete';
-                    else                         echo 'Sync complete';
+                    if ( $done === 'dry' )            echo 'Dry-run results';
+                    elseif ( $done === 'pull' )       echo 'Pull complete';
+                    elseif ( $done === 'force_pull' ) echo 'Force Pull complete';
+                    else                              echo 'Sync complete';
                 ?></strong></p>
                 <?php oribi_sync_render_result_list( $sync_result ); ?>
             </div>
@@ -469,6 +482,11 @@ function oribi_sync_settings_page() {
                onclick="return confirm('Pull content from the repo (no push). Continue?');">
                 Pull Only
             </a>
+            <a href="<?php echo esc_url( wp_nonce_url( admin_url( 'admin-post.php?action=oribi_sync_force_pull' ), 'oribi_sync_force_pull' ) ); ?>"
+               class="button"
+               onclick="return confirm('Force re-pull ALL content from the repo, bypassing change detection. Continue?');">
+                Force Pull
+            </a>
             <a href="<?php echo esc_url( wp_nonce_url( admin_url( 'admin-post.php?action=oribi_sync_push_all' ), 'oribi_sync_push_all' ) ); ?>"
                class="button"
                onclick="return confirm('Push all synced pages to the repo (no pull). Continue?');">
diff --git a/includes/post-sync.php b/includes/post-sync.php
index 3ae727b..ed0043e 100644
--- a/includes/post-sync.php
+++ b/includes/post-sync.php
@@ -733,14 +733,14 @@ function oribi_sync_run_posts(
             }
 
             $post_arr['ID'] = $existing->ID;
-            $post_id = wp_update_post( $post_arr, true );
+            $post_id = oribi_sync_save_post( $post_arr );
             if ( is_wp_error( $post_id ) ) {
                 $result['errors'][] = $slug . ': ' . $post_id->get_error_message();
                 continue;
             }
             $result['updated'][] = $slug;
         } else {
-            $post_id = wp_insert_post( $post_arr, true );
+            $post_id = oribi_sync_save_post( $post_arr );
             if ( is_wp_error( $post_id ) ) {
                 $result['errors'][] = $slug . ': ' . $post_id->get_error_message();
                 continue;
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ function oribi_sync_run_posts(
             $entry['path']
         );
         if ( $rewritten !== $html_content ) {
-            wp_update_post( [ 'ID' => $post_id, 'post_content' => $rewritten ] );
+            oribi_sync_save_post( [ 'ID' => $post_id, 'post_content' => $rewritten ] );
         }
 
         // ── Featured image ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -852,10 +852,13 @@ function oribi_sync_trash_removed_posts( array $current_slugs ): array {
  * The post_content (HTML) is stored as the body — raw HTML is valid in
  * most Markdown flavours and renders correctly when re-imported.
  *
- * @param WP_Post $post
+ * @param WP_Post  $post
+ * @param int|null $post_id  When provided, post_content is read raw from the DB.
  * @return string  Markdown source.
  */
-function oribi_sync_generate_post_markdown( WP_Post $post ): string {
+function oribi_sync_generate_post_markdown( WP_Post $post, ?int $post_id = null ): string {
+    global $wpdb;
+
     $fm = "---\n";
 
     // Title — decode HTML entities (WP stores &amp; etc. in DB) so the YAML
@@ -909,7 +912,14 @@ function oribi_sync_generate_post_markdown( WP_Post $post ): string {
 
     $fm .= "---\n\n";
 
-    return $fm . $post->post_content;
+    // Read post_content directly from the DB when a post_id is supplied so
+    // we get exactly what oribi_sync_save_post() wrote, with no filter applied.
+    $id = $post_id ?? $post->ID;
+    $body = (string) $wpdb->get_var(
+        $wpdb->prepare( 'SELECT post_content FROM ' . $wpdb->posts . ' WHERE ID = %d', $id )
+    );
+
+    return $fm . $body;
 }
 
 // ─── Push post to repo ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -976,7 +986,7 @@ function oribi_sync_push_post( int $post_id, array $opts = [] ): array {
         $repo_path = rtrim( $posts_folder, '/' ) . '/' . $post->post_name . '.md';
     }
 
-    $markdown_content = oribi_sync_generate_post_markdown( $post );
+    $markdown_content = oribi_sync_generate_post_markdown( $post, $post_id );
     $commit_msg  = $opts['message'] ?? 'Sync: update post ' . $post->post_name . ' from WordPress';
     $new_checksum = hash( 'sha256', $markdown_content );
 
diff --git a/includes/push-client.php b/includes/push-client.php
index 6b65d8f..3bbf7d9 100644
--- a/includes/push-client.php
+++ b/includes/push-client.php
@@ -386,9 +386,18 @@ function oribi_sync_push_page( int $post_id, array $opts = [] ): array {
     }
 
     // ── Generate content ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
-    $slug       = $post->post_name;
-    $title      = $post->post_title;
-    $wp_content = $post->post_content;
+    $slug  = $post->post_name;
+    $title = $post->post_title;
+
+    // Read post_content directly from the DB — bypassing every get_post()
+    // filter — so we get exactly what oribi_sync_save_post() wrote.
+    global $wpdb;
+    $wp_content = (string) $wpdb->get_var(
+        $wpdb->prepare( 'SELECT post_content FROM ' . $wpdb->posts . ' WHERE ID = %d', $post_id )
+    );
+
+    // Clean any corruption baked in by previous syncs (e.g. \u0026amp; artefacts)
+    $wp_content = oribi_sync_clean_block_content( $wp_content );
 
     $commit_msg = $opts['message'] ?? "Sync: update {$slug} from WordPress";
 
diff --git a/includes/sync-engine.php b/includes/sync-engine.php
index 7ab39d4..d8670af 100644
--- a/includes/sync-engine.php
+++ b/includes/sync-engine.php
@@ -11,6 +11,93 @@ if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) exit;
 
 // ─── Helpers ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+/**
+ * Insert or update a post while writing post_content DIRECTLY to the DB.
+ *
+ * Every code-path in wp_insert_post / wp_update_post runs the content through
+ * sanitize_post_field() → apply_filters('pre_post_content') and
+ * apply_filters('content_save_pre'), both of which have wp_kses_post
+ * callbacks that turn & (inside Gutenberg block JSON) into &amp;.
+ * kses_remove_filters() only unhooks content_save_pre, NOT pre_post_content,
+ * so the ampersand corruption survived even with those wrappers.
+ *
+ * This helper lets WP create/update every other field normally (title, slug,
+ * status, dates, author …) with an empty content placeholder, then immediately
+ * overwrites post_content in the DB directly — no filters, no escaping beyond
+ * the $wpdb placeholder.
+ *
+ * @param array $post_arr  Same shape as wp_insert_post / wp_update_post.
+ * @return int|WP_Error    Post ID on success, WP_Error on failure.
+ */
+function oribi_sync_save_post( array $post_arr ) {
+    global $wpdb;
+
+    $content = $post_arr['post_content'] ?? '';
+    $post_arr['post_content'] = ''; // let WP handle everything else
+
+    if ( ! empty( $post_arr['ID'] ) ) {
+        $post_id = wp_update_post( $post_arr, true );
+    } else {
+        $post_id = wp_insert_post( $post_arr, true );
+    }
+
+    if ( is_wp_error( $post_id ) ) {
+        return $post_id;
+    }
+
+    $wpdb->update(
+        $wpdb->posts,
+        [ 'post_content' => $content ],
+        [ 'ID'           => (int) $post_id ],
+        [ '%s' ],
+        [ '%d' ]
+    );
+
+    clean_post_cache( (int) $post_id );
+
+    return $post_id;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Clean previously-corrupted Gutenberg block content.
+ *
+ * Old syncs ran content through wp_kses_post which HTML-entity-encoded `&`
+ * inside JSON attributes to `&amp;`.  php's json_encode then re-encoded that
+ * `&` to `\u0026`, producing `\u0026amp;` instead of just `\u0026`.
+ *
+ * This function corrects those artefacts so block JSON attributes contain
+ * the right unicode escape sequences.
+ *
+ * Also normalises plain `&amp;` → `&` inside JSON block comments so the
+ * next round of json_encode produces a single clean `\u0026`.
+ *
+ * @param  string $content  Gutenberg block HTML.
+ * @return string           Cleaned block HTML.
+ */
+function oribi_sync_clean_block_content( string $content ): string {
+    // json_encode always hex-escapes & as \u0026 (even with JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE,
+    // which only affects codepoints > U+007F).  Previous syncs also ran content
+    // through wp_kses_post which turned & into &amp;, so json_encode then produced
+    // \u0026amp; instead of just \u0026.
+    //
+    // Fix the double-encoded forms first, then unescape the remaining \u0026 back
+    // to literal & — Gutenberg's block JSON parser treats both identically.
+    // These sequences are unambiguous in Gutenberg block comment JSON.
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0026amp;',  '&', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0026lt;',   '<', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0026gt;',   '>', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0026quot;', '"', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0026#039;', "'", $content );
+    // Clean any remaining plain hex-escapes of ASCII punctuation
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0026', '&', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u003C', '<', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u003E', '>', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0022', '"', $content );
+    $content = str_replace( '\u0027', "'", $content );
+
+    return $content;
+}
+
 /**
  * Strip a case-insensitive directory prefix from a file path.
  *
@@ -29,14 +116,26 @@ function oribi_sync_strip_prefix( string $path, string $prefix ): string {
 /** Generate a self-closing block comment (standalone or child blocks). */
 if ( ! function_exists( 'oribi_b' ) ) {
     function oribi_b( $name, $attrs = [] ) {
-        return '<!-- wp:oribi/' . $name . ' ' . wp_json_encode( $attrs, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES ) . ' /-->';
+        $json = wp_json_encode( $attrs, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES );
+        // json_encode always hex-escapes & < > ' for XSS safety, but these are
+        // inside HTML comments so they are safe as literals in Gutenberg block JSON.
+        $json = str_replace( [ '\u0026', '\u003C', '\u003E', '\u0022', '\u0027' ],
+                             [ '&',      '<',       '>',      '"',      "'"     ], $json );
+        return '<!-- wp:oribi/' . $name . ' ' . $json . ' /-->';
     }
 }
 
 /** Generate an opening tag for a parent block comment. */
 if ( ! function_exists( 'oribi_b_open' ) ) {
     function oribi_b_open( $name, $attrs = [] ) {
-        $json = ! empty( $attrs ) ? ' ' . wp_json_encode( $attrs, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES ) : '';
+        if ( ! empty( $attrs ) ) {
+            $json = wp_json_encode( $attrs, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES );
+            $json = str_replace( [ '\u0026', '\u003C', '\u003E', '\u0022', '\u0027' ],
+                                 [ '&',      '<',       '>',      '"',      "'"     ], $json );
+            $json = ' ' . $json;
+        } else {
+            $json = '';
+        }
         return '<!-- wp:oribi/' . $name . $json . ' -->';
     }
 }
@@ -100,10 +199,11 @@ function oribi_sync_execute_php( string $php_source, string $slug ) {
  * Run the full page sync.
  *
  * @param bool $dry_run  If true, returns what would happen without making changes.
+ * @param bool $force    If true, bypasses SHA-based change detection and re-pulls all files.
  *
  * @return array{ok: bool, created: string[], updated: string[], trashed: string[], skipped: string[], errors: string[]}
  */
-function oribi_sync_run( bool $dry_run = false ): array {
+function oribi_sync_run( bool $dry_run = false, bool $force = false ): array {
     $result = [
         'ok'            => true,
         'created'       => [],
@@ -177,7 +277,7 @@ function oribi_sync_run( bool $dry_run = false ): array {
         $git_sha        = $entry['sha'] ?? '';
         $stored_git_sha = $existing ? get_post_meta( $existing->ID, '_oribi_sync_git_sha', true ) : '';
 
-        if ( $existing && ! empty( $git_sha ) && $git_sha === $stored_git_sha ) {
+        if ( ! $force && $existing && ! empty( $git_sha ) && $git_sha === $stored_git_sha ) {
             $result['skipped'][] = $slug . ' (unchanged)';
             if ( ! $dry_run ) {
                 update_post_meta( $existing->ID, '_oribi_sync_last_run', current_time( 'mysql' ) );
@@ -209,6 +309,9 @@ function oribi_sync_run( bool $dry_run = false ): array {
             $content = $raw_content;
         }
 
+        // Clean any corruption from previous syncs (e.g. \u0026amp; artefacts)
+        $content = oribi_sync_clean_block_content( $content );
+
         // Checksum based on raw source — used as fallback for providers without tree SHA
         $checksum = hash( 'sha256', $raw_content );
 
@@ -238,11 +341,11 @@ function oribi_sync_run( bool $dry_run = false ): array {
                 }
             }
 
-            $update_result = wp_update_post( [
+            $update_result = oribi_sync_save_post( [
                 'ID'           => $existing->ID,
                 'post_content' => $content,
                 'post_status'  => 'publish',
-            ], true );
+            ] );
 
             if ( is_wp_error( $update_result ) ) {
                 $result['errors'][] = $slug . ': ' . $update_result->get_error_message();
@@ -261,13 +364,13 @@ function oribi_sync_run( bool $dry_run = false ): array {
             // Create new page
             $title = oribi_sync_slug_to_title( $slug );
 
-            $post_id = wp_insert_post( [
+            $post_id = oribi_sync_save_post( [
                 'post_title'   => $title,
                 'post_name'    => $slug,
                 'post_status'  => 'publish',
                 'post_type'    => 'page',
                 'post_content' => $content,
-            ], true );
+            ] );
 
             if ( is_wp_error( $post_id ) ) {
                 $result['errors'][] = $slug . ': ' . $post_id->get_error_message();
@@ -624,14 +727,16 @@ function oribi_sync_pull_page_from_repo( int $post_id ): array {
             }
 
             if ( $content !== null ) {
+                // Clean any corruption from previous syncs
+                $content  = oribi_sync_clean_block_content( $content );
                 $checksum = hash( 'sha256', $raw_content );
                 $git_sha  = $target_entry['sha'] ?? '';
 
-                $update = wp_update_post( [
+                $update = oribi_sync_save_post( [
                     'ID'           => $post->ID,
                     'post_content' => $content,
                     'post_status'  => 'publish',
-                ], true );
+                ] );
 
                 if ( is_wp_error( $update ) ) {
                     $result['errors'][] = $slug . ': ' . $update->get_error_message();