diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/_output.py b/src/vcspull/cli/_output.py
index c2add1d2..77c72eed 100644
--- a/src/vcspull/cli/_output.py
+++ b/src/vcspull/cli/_output.py
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ class PlanRenderOptions:
     """Rendering options for human plan output."""
 
     show_unchanged: bool = False
+    has_explicit_patterns: bool = False
     summary_only: bool = False
     long: bool = False
     verbosity: int = 0
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py b/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
index fadf6e93..ea9bf7d1 100644
--- a/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
+++ b/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@
 PLAN_TIP_MESSAGE = (
     "Tip: run without --dry-run to apply. Use --show-unchanged to include ✓ rows."
 )
+PLAN_TIP_MESSAGE_FILTERED = "Tip: run without --dry-run to apply."
 
 DEFAULT_PLAN_CONCURRENCY = max(1, min(32, (os.cpu_count() or 4) * 2))
 ANSI_ESCAPE_RE = re.compile(r"\x1b\[[0-9;]*m")
@@ -395,7 +396,8 @@ def _render_plan(
                 entry.name.lower(),
             ),
         ),
-        show_unchanged=render_options.show_unchanged,
+        show_unchanged=render_options.show_unchanged
+        or render_options.has_explicit_patterns,
     )
 
     if not display_entries:
@@ -468,7 +470,12 @@ def _render_plan(
                     formatter.emit_text(f"    {colors.muted(msg)}")
 
     if dry_run:
-        formatter.emit_text(colors.muted(PLAN_TIP_MESSAGE))
+        tip = (
+            PLAN_TIP_MESSAGE_FILTERED
+            if render_options.has_explicit_patterns
+            else PLAN_TIP_MESSAGE
+        )
+        formatter.emit_text(colors.muted(tip))
 
 
 def _emit_plan_output(
@@ -494,7 +501,8 @@ def _emit_plan_output(
 
     display_entries = _filter_entries_for_display(
         plan.entries,
-        show_unchanged=render_options.show_unchanged,
+        show_unchanged=render_options.show_unchanged
+        or render_options.has_explicit_patterns,
     )
 
     for entry in display_entries:
@@ -659,6 +667,7 @@ def sync(
     verbosity_level = clamp(verbosity, 0, 2)
     render_options = PlanRenderOptions(
         show_unchanged=show_unchanged,
+        has_explicit_patterns=not sync_all and bool(repo_patterns),
         summary_only=summary_only,
         long=long_view,
         verbosity=verbosity_level,
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 3c932e45..f35bf959 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1622,6 +1622,7 @@ class DryRunPlanFixture(t.NamedTuple):
     plan_entries: list[PlanEntry] | None = None
     plan_summary: PlanSummary | None = None
     set_no_color: bool = True
+    xfail: bool = False
 
 
 DRY_RUN_PLAN_FIXTURES: list[DryRunPlanFixture] = [
@@ -1646,6 +1647,12 @@ class DryRunPlanFixture(t.NamedTuple):
         pre_sync=True,
         expected_contains=["Plan: 0 to clone (+)", "✓ my_git_repo"],
     ),
+    DryRunPlanFixture(
+        test_id="unchanged-implicit-filter",
+        cli_args=["sync", "--dry-run", "my_git_repo"],
+        pre_sync=True,
+        expected_contains=["Plan: 0 to clone (+)", "✓ my_git_repo"],
+    ),
     DryRunPlanFixture(
         test_id="long-format",
         cli_args=["sync", "--dry-run", "--long", "repo-long"],
@@ -1724,14 +1731,22 @@ def test_sync_dry_run_plan_human(
     plan_entries: list[PlanEntry] | None,
     plan_summary: PlanSummary | None,
     set_no_color: bool,
+    xfail: bool,
     tmp_path: pathlib.Path,
     capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
     monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+    request: pytest.FixtureRequest,
     user_path: pathlib.Path,
     config_path: pathlib.Path,
     git_repo: GitSync,
 ) -> None:
     """Validate human-readable plan output variants."""
+    if xfail:
+        request.applymarker(
+            pytest.mark.xfail(
+                reason="explicit filter patterns do not yet auto-show unchanged repos",
+            ),
+        )
     if set_no_color:
         monkeypatch.setenv("NO_COLOR", "1")