diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 1601369b37..cc5ea7878c 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ Initial setup to install dependencies for Vite+:
 just init
 ```
 
+`just init` bootstraps the pinned `rolldown` and `vite` source trees needed for local development, then installs workspace dependencies.
+
 ### Windows
 
 You'll need the following tools installed on your system. You can use [winget](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/).
@@ -43,6 +45,8 @@ Initial setup to install dependencies for Vite+:
 just init
 ```
 
+`just init` bootstraps the pinned `rolldown` and `vite` source trees needed for local development, then installs workspace dependencies.
+
 **Note:** Run commands in PowerShell or Windows Terminal. Some commands may require elevated permissions.
 
 ## Build Vite+ and upstream dependencies
diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 67dd2e2203..48350043b6 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ _clean_dist:
 
 init: _clean_dist
   cargo binstall watchexec-cli cargo-insta typos-cli cargo-shear dprint taplo-cli -y
-  node packages/tools/src/index.ts sync-remote
+  node packages/tools/src/index.ts sync-remote --clone-only
   pnpm install
   pnpm -C docs install
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ build:
   pnpm --filter=@voidzero-dev/vite-plus-core build
   pnpm --filter=@voidzero-dev/vite-plus-test build
   pnpm --filter=@voidzero-dev/vite-plus-prompts build
-  pnpm --filter=vite-plus build
+  node packages/tools/src/with-curl-http1.ts pnpm --filter=vite-plus build
 
 ready:
   git diff --exit-code --quiet
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 98018d0aad..bf644252b5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
     "build": "pnpm -F @voidzero-dev/* -F vite-plus build",
-    "bootstrap-cli": "pnpm build && cargo build -p vite_global_cli -p vite_trampoline --release && pnpm install-global-cli",
+    "bootstrap-cli": "just build && node packages/tools/src/with-curl-http1.ts cargo build -p vite_global_cli -p vite_trampoline --release && pnpm install-global-cli",
     "bootstrap-cli:ci": "pnpm install-global-cli",
     "install-global-cli": "tool install-global-cli",
     "tsgo": "tsgo -b tsconfig.json",
diff --git a/packages/tools/src/sync-remote-deps.ts b/packages/tools/src/sync-remote-deps.ts
index edf8e6bb29..21b8c7bbe6 100755
--- a/packages/tools/src/sync-remote-deps.ts
+++ b/packages/tools/src/sync-remote-deps.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,46 @@ function execCommand(command: string, cwd?: string): string {
   }
 }
 
+function normalizeGithubRepoUrl(repoUrl: string): string {
+  const httpsMatch = repoUrl.match(/^https:\/\/github\.com\/([^/]+)\/([^/]+?)(?:\.git)?\/?$/);
+  if (httpsMatch) {
+    return `github:${httpsMatch[1]}/${httpsMatch[2]}`;
+  }
+
+  const sshMatch = repoUrl.match(/^git@github\.com:([^/]+)\/([^/]+?)(?:\.git)?$/);
+  if (sshMatch) {
+    return `github:${sshMatch[1]}/${sshMatch[2]}`;
+  }
+
+  return repoUrl;
+}
+
+function toGithubSshUrl(repoUrl: string): string {
+  const match = repoUrl.match(/^https:\/\/github\.com\/([^/]+)\/([^/]+?)(?:\.git)?\/?$/);
+  if (!match) {
+    return repoUrl;
+  }
+
+  return `git@github.com:${match[1]}/${match[2]}.git`;
+}
+
+function resolveRepoUrl(repoUrl: string, cwd?: string): string {
+  if (!repoUrl.startsWith('https://github.com/')) {
+    return repoUrl;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const originUrl = execCommand('git remote get-url origin', cwd);
+    if (originUrl.startsWith('git@github.com:')) {
+      return toGithubSshUrl(repoUrl);
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Fall back to the configured upstream URL when git metadata is unavailable.
+  }
+
+  return repoUrl;
+}
+
 function cloneOrResetRepo(repoUrl: string, dir: string, branch: string = 'main', hash?: string) {
   log(`Processing ${dir}...`);
 
@@ -84,10 +124,12 @@ function cloneOrResetRepo(repoUrl: string, dir: string, branch: string = 'main',
 
       // Check remote URL
       const remoteUrl = execCommand('git remote get-url origin', dir);
-      if (remoteUrl !== repoUrl) {
-        log(`${dir} has wrong remote (${remoteUrl} vs ${repoUrl}), removing and re-cloning...`);
+      if (normalizeGithubRepoUrl(remoteUrl) !== normalizeGithubRepoUrl(resolveRepoUrl(repoUrl, dir))) {
+        log(
+          `${dir} has wrong remote (${remoteUrl} vs ${resolveRepoUrl(repoUrl, dir)}), removing and re-cloning...`,
+        );
         rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
-        cloneRepo(repoUrl, dir, branch, hash);
+        cloneRepo(resolveRepoUrl(repoUrl, dir), dir, branch, hash);
         return;
       }
 
@@ -125,10 +167,10 @@ function cloneOrResetRepo(repoUrl: string, dir: string, branch: string = 'main',
         `Failed to reset ${dir} (${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}), removing and re-cloning...`,
       );
       rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
-      cloneRepo(repoUrl, dir, branch, hash);
+      cloneRepo(resolveRepoUrl(repoUrl, dir), dir, branch, hash);
     }
   } else {
-    cloneRepo(repoUrl, dir, branch, hash);
+    cloneRepo(resolveRepoUrl(repoUrl, dir), dir, branch, hash);
   }
 }
 
@@ -624,6 +666,9 @@ export async function syncRemote() {
       clean: {
         type: 'boolean',
       },
+      'clone-only': {
+        type: 'boolean',
+      },
       'update-hashes': {
         type: 'boolean',
       },
@@ -671,6 +716,11 @@ export async function syncRemote() {
     upstreamVersions['vite'].hash,
   );
 
+  if (values['clone-only']) {
+    log('Clone-only mode enabled, skipping workspace merge and dependency sync.');
+    return;
+  }
+
   // Dynamically import dependencies after git clone
   let parseYaml: typeof import('yaml').parse;
   let stringifyYaml: typeof import('yaml').stringify;
diff --git a/packages/tools/src/with-curl-http1.ts b/packages/tools/src/with-curl-http1.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e4c92a219c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/tools/src/with-curl-http1.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import { chmodSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { delimiter, join } from 'node:path';
+
+const [command, ...args] = process.argv.slice(2);
+
+if (!command) {
+  console.error('Usage: node packages/tools/src/with-curl-http1.ts <command> [args...]');
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+let tempDir: string | undefined;
+const env = { ...process.env };
+
+if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
+  tempDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'vite-plus-curl-'));
+  const curlPath = join(tempDir, 'curl');
+  writeFileSync(curlPath, '#!/bin/sh\nexec /usr/bin/curl --http1.1 "$@"\n');
+  chmodSync(curlPath, 0o755);
+  env.PATH = env.PATH ? `${tempDir}${delimiter}${env.PATH}` : tempDir;
+}
+
+const result = spawnSync(command, args, {
+  env,
+  stdio: 'inherit',
+});
+
+if (tempDir) {
+  rmSync(tempDir, { force: true, recursive: true });
+}
+
+if (result.error) {
+  throw result.error;
+}
+
+process.exit(result.status ?? 1);
\ No newline at end of file