diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 0ebe24477ef5d..9ce106590e8a5 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -217,33 +217,21 @@ step-gclient-sync: &step-gclient-sync
           $GCLIENT_EXTRA_ARGS \
           "$CIRCLE_REPOSITORY_URL"
 
-        if ! gclient sync --with_branch_heads --with_tags; then
-          python src/electron/script/reset_patched_repos.py
-          if ELECTRON_USE_THREE_WAY_MERGE_FOR_PATCHES=1 gclient sync -f --with_branch_heads --with_tags; then
-            # Re-export all the new patches now that they've been nicely 3-way
-            # merged
-            python src/electron/script/export_all_patches.py src/electron/patches/config.json
-            # Make a git commit with the updated patches
-            git -C src/electron add patches
-            GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="Electron Bot" GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="anonymous@electronjs.org" git commit -m "update patches" --author="Electron Bot <anonymous@electronjs.org>"
-            # Export it
-            mkdir -p patches
-            git -C src/electron am -1 --stdout --keep-subject --no-stat --full-index > patches/update-patches.patch
-            # Upload it to artifacts
-            echo
-            echo "======================================================================"
-            echo "Sync failed with non-3way patch application, but succeeded with 3way."
-            echo "Check the CI artifacts for a patch you can apply to fix it."
-            echo "======================================================================"
-            echo
-          else
-            echo
-            echo "======================================================================"
-            echo "Sync failed even with 3way patch application. You'll need to resolve"
-            echo "this conflict locally."
-            echo "======================================================================"
-            echo
-          fi
+        ELECTRON_USE_THREE_WAY_MERGE_FOR_PATCHES=1 gclient sync --with_branch_heads --with_tags
+        # Re-export all the patches to check if there were changes.
+        python src/electron/script/export_all_patches.py src/electron/patches/config.json
+        if ! git diff-index --quiet HEAD --; then
+          # There are changes to the patches. Make a git commit with the updated patches
+          git -C src/electron add patches
+          GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="Electron Bot" GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="anonymous@electronjs.org" git commit -m "update patches" --author="Electron Bot <anonymous@electronjs.org>"
+          # Export it
+          mkdir -p patches
+          git -C src/electron am -1 --stdout --keep-subject --no-stat --full-index > patches/update-patches.patch
+          echo
+          echo "======================================================================"
+          echo "There were changes to the patches when applying."
+          echo "Check the CI artifacts for a patch you can apply to fix it."
+          echo "======================================================================"
           exit 1
         fi
       fi
diff --git a/script/reset_patched_repos.py b/script/reset_patched_repos.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 848264b6343e8..0000000000000
--- a/script/reset_patched_repos.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-
-import argparse
-import json
-import subprocess
-
-
-def reset_patched_repos(dirs):
-  for patch_dir, repo in dirs.iteritems():
-    args = ['git', '-C', repo, 'am', '--abort']
-    subprocess.call(args) # ignore failure
-    args = ['git', '-C', repo, 'checkout', 'refs/patches/upstream-head']
-    subprocess.call(args) # ignore failure
-
-
-def parse_args():
-  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Reset patched repos')
-  parser.add_argument('config', nargs='+',
-                      type=argparse.FileType('r'),
-                      help='patches\' config(s) in the JSON format')
-  return parser.parse_args()
-
-
-def main():
-  configs = parse_args().config
-  for config_json in configs:
-    reset_patched_repos(json.load(config_json))
-
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-  main()