Git Worktree

Git Worktree Manager

Manage git worktrees for isolated parallel development with a simple, safe interface.

What It Does

Creates and manages git worktrees — separate working directories from the same repository that allow you to:

• Work on multiple branches simultaneously without stashing
• Review PRs in complete isolation from your current work
• Test features without switching branches in your main working directory
• Keep separate .env configurations per worktree

Critical Rule

ALWAYS use the manager script. NEVER use raw git worktree add directly.

The manager script provides:

• Automatic .env file copying
• .gitignore management
• Safety validations
• Consistent directory structure
• Color-coded output

Manager Script Location

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/git-worktree/scripts/worktree-manager.sh

Replace ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} with the actual plugin installation path.

Usage

create

Create a new worktree:

worktree-manager.sh create <branch-name> [from-branch]

Behavior:

• Creates worktree in .worktrees/<branch-name>/
• Branches from main by default (or specify from-branch)
• Copies all .env* files from main repo
• Adds .worktrees/ to .gitignore if missing
• Symlinks the main repo's .ruvector/ into the worktree if it exists (see ruvector DB Sharing below)
• Fails safely if worktree already exists

Examples:

# Create worktree for feature branch
worktree-manager.sh create feature-auth

# Create worktree from specific branch
worktree-manager.sh create hotfix-security develop

list / ls

List all worktrees:

worktree-manager.sh list
worktree-manager.sh ls

Output:

Worktrees:
  main            /home/user/repo (clean)
  feature-auth    /home/user/repo/.worktrees/feature-auth (modified)
  pr-review-123   /home/user/repo/.worktrees/pr-review-123 (clean)

switch / go

Switch to a worktree directory:

worktree-manager.sh switch <name>
worktree-manager.sh go <name>

Note: Prints cd command for shell evaluation:

# Use with eval or source
eval "$(worktree-manager.sh switch feature-auth)"

# Or create shell function
wtgo() { eval "$(worktree-manager.sh go "$1")"; }

copy-env

Copy .env files to a worktree:

worktree-manager.sh copy-env <name>

Copies all .env* files from main repo to specified worktree. Useful if you've updated environment configuration and need to sync. Also repairs a missing .ruvector/ symlink for worktrees created before that feature existed (see below).

ruvector DB Sharing

When a Claude Code session runs inside a worktree, the ruvector MCP server resolves ${PWD}/.ruvector/ against the worktree path. Because .ruvector/ is gitignored (**/.ruvector/), it is not present in a fresh worktree, so the MCP server and hook scripts would silently no-op (no recall, no session-start context, no post-edit indexing).

worktree-manager.sh create injects an absolute symlink ${worktree}/.ruvector -> ${main_repo}/.ruvector after the .env copy step, so MCP and hooks reach the project's shared DB. worktree-manager.sh copy-env applies the same fix retroactively.

Behavior:

• Skipped silently (with info) if the symlink already exists — idempotent.
• Skipped (with warning) if a real .ruvector/ directory already exists in the worktree — preserves the user's intentional isolated DB if they bypassed the manager script.
• Skipped (with warning) if the main repo has no .ruvector/ yet — no dangling symlinks.
• Removed safely on cleanup: [ -L ] check, then rm -- (no -r, no -f, no trailing slash). Cannot follow into the main repo's DB.

MCP-spawn-time qualifier: RUVECTOR_STORAGE_PATH is evaluated when Claude Code spawns the MCP server process for a session. The symlink only helps when Claude Code is launched (or re-launched) from inside the worktree directory. A pre-existing session started in main that later cds into a worktree continues to write to the main repo's DB directly.

Concurrent-write caveat: When two Claude Code sessions run simultaneously (one in main, one in a worktree, or two worktrees), both MCP server processes write to the same shared DB without cross-process locking. Avoid running simultaneous sessions with active hooks_remember / /ruvector:index operations on the same project. See plugins/yellow-ruvector/CLAUDE.md Known Limitations.

cleanup / clean

Remove inactive worktrees:

worktree-manager.sh cleanup
worktree-manager.sh clean

Behavior:

• Lists all worktrees
• Prompts for confirmation
• Removes worktrees one by one
• Skips currently active worktree
• Removes empty .worktrees/ directory if all cleaned up

When to Use

Code Review (/flow:review)

When reviewing a PR and you're not on the target branch:

# Workflow offers worktree option
/flow:review

# Choose worktree option
# Skill automatically creates worktree for PR branch
# You can review without affecting your current work

Parallel Feature Development (/flow:work)

When working on multiple features:

# Start feature 1
/flow:work
# Creates worktree for feature-1

# In another terminal, start feature 2
cd .worktrees/feature-2
/flow:work
# Both features developed independently

Manual Worktree Management

When you need direct control:

# Create worktree
worktree-manager.sh create experimental-refactor

# Switch to it
eval "$(worktree-manager.sh go experimental-refactor)"

# List all
worktree-manager.sh list

# Clean up when done
worktree-manager.sh cleanup

Workflow Examples

Example 1: Code Review with Worktree

# You're on feature-auth branch, working on authentication
$ git branch --show-current
feature-auth

# PR needs review on different branch
$ /flow:review pr-123

# Workflow detects branch mismatch, offers worktree option
# Select "Create worktree for isolated review"

# Worktree created automatically:
# - Branch: pr-review-123
# - Location: .worktrees/pr-review-123/
# - .env files copied
# - Ready for isolated review

# After review, cleanup:
$ worktree-manager.sh cleanup

Example 2: Parallel Feature Development

# Main repo: working on feature A
$ pwd
/home/user/myproject

# Need to quickly prototype feature B
$ worktree-manager.sh create feature-b
Created worktree: .worktrees/feature-b

$ eval "$(worktree-manager.sh go feature-b)"
$ pwd
/home/user/myproject/.worktrees/feature-b

# Work on feature B
$ nvim src/feature-b.ts
$ git commit -m "feat: prototype feature B"

# Switch back to main repo
$ cd /home/user/myproject

# Both features isolated, no stashing needed

Integration with Workflows

/flow:review Integration

When /flow:review detects you're not on the target branch:

1. Offers worktree option
2. Calls this skill: /git-worktree create pr-review-<number>
3. Switches to worktree
4. Proceeds with review in isolation

/flow:work Integration

When starting feature work:

1. Asks if you want isolated environment
2. Calls: /git-worktree create <branch-name>
3. Copies .env files automatically
4. Starts feature work in worktree

Auto-Trust mise/direnv After Worktree Creation

If your project uses mise (.mise.toml, .tool-versions) or direnv (.envrc), the new worktree directory starts untrusted — the tool refuses to load configs until the user explicitly opts in. This breaks the principle of least surprise: you create a worktree, cd in, and tooling silently fails to load.

The fix is to auto-trust the new worktree directory at creation time. The manager script handles common cases; the patterns below show how to do it explicitly when needed (e.g., a CI runner creating a throwaway worktree).

mise:

# After: worktree-manager.sh create feature-auth
cd .worktrees/feature-auth

# Trust the worktree's mise config
mise trust 2>/dev/null || true

# Or trust without cd (mise --cwd is supported on recent versions)
mise --cwd .worktrees/feature-auth trust 2>/dev/null || true

direnv:

# direnv requires both `allow` and a load on entry
cd .worktrees/feature-auth
direnv allow 2>/dev/null || true

# Or non-interactively
direnv allow .worktrees/feature-auth 2>/dev/null || true

Suppress on absent tools: 2>/dev/null || true keeps the trust step quiet when neither mise nor direnv is installed. Do not drop the redirect — without it, missing-binary stderr leaks into worktree creation logs.

Why this is per-worktree: mise and direnv key trust on the absolute path of the directory containing the config. A worktree at .worktrees/feature-auth/ is a different absolute path from the main repo, even when the .mise.toml content is identical.

.git-Is-a-File Detection (Submodule and Worktree Cases)

In a normal repo, .git is a directory. But in two important cases it is a plain file containing a gitdir: <path> pointer:

1. Inside a submodule: the submodule's .git is a file pointing at <superproject>/.git/modules/<submodule-name>.
2. Inside an existing worktree: the worktree's .git is a file pointing at <main-repo>/.git/worktrees/<worktree-name>.

Naive scripts that do [ -d .git ] to detect a git repo will misclassify both cases as "not a git repo" and fail in confusing ways.

Detection pattern:

# Correct: handles both directory and file forms
is_git_repo() {
    [ -e .git ] && git rev-parse --git-dir >/dev/null 2>&1
}

# Or check the type explicitly
git_dir_kind() {
    if [ -d .git ]; then
        echo "directory"   # main repo
    elif [ -f .git ]; then
        # Read the gitdir pointer to know whether it's a worktree or submodule
        case "$(head -n 1 .git)" in
            "gitdir: "*/.git/worktrees/*) echo "worktree" ;;
            "gitdir: "*/.git/modules/*)   echo "submodule" ;;
            "gitdir: "*)                  echo "linked" ;;
            *)                            echo "unknown" ;;
        esac
    else
        echo "none"
    fi
}

Worktree creation inside a submodule: Avoid creating a worktree inside a directory whose .git is the submodule pointer file — git worktree add from a submodule treats the submodule's gitdir as the parent, which lands the new worktree under <superproject>/.git/modules/<sub>/worktrees/, far from where users expect. Always run worktree commands from the superproject root, or explicitly pass -C <superproject-root> to git worktree add.

Why this matters for the manager script: the helper resolves get_repo_root via git rev-parse --show-toplevel, which already returns the correct top-level whether .git is a file or directory. But any caller that pre-checks [ -d .git ] before invoking the helper will short-circuit incorrectly. Use git rev-parse --git-dir (which handles both forms) instead.

Troubleshooting

See troubleshooting.md for common issues and solutions.

Design Principles

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

• One script does everything
• Clear command names
• No complex configuration
• Fails fast with clear errors

Opinionated Defaults

• Worktrees always in .worktrees/ directory
• Always branch from main (unless specified)
• Always copy .env files
• Branch name = worktree name (1:1 mapping)

Safety First

• Never overwrites existing worktrees
• Requires confirmation for cleanup
• Adds .gitignore automatically
• Color-coded warnings and errors

Reference

Git worktree documentation:

man git-worktree

Common git worktree commands:

git worktree list                    # List worktrees
git worktree remove <path>           # Remove specific worktree
git worktree prune                   # Clean up stale references

But use the manager script instead for consistent, safe operations.