Git Worktree Commands

Git Worktree Commands

Create Worktrees for All Open PRs

This command fetches all open pull requests using GitHub CLI, then creates a git worktree for each PR's branch in the ./tree/<BRANCH_NAME> directory.

# Ensure GitHub CLI is installed and authenticated
gh auth status || (echo "Please run 'gh auth login' first" && exit 1)

# Create the tree directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ./tree

# List all open PRs and create worktrees for each branch
gh pr list --json headRefName --jq '.[].headRefName' | while read branch; do
  # Handle branch names with slashes (like "feature/foo")
  branch_path="./tree/${branch}"
  
  # For branches with slashes, create the directory structure
  if [[ "$branch" == */* ]]; then
    dir_path=$(dirname "$branch_path")
    mkdir -p "$dir_path"
  fi

  # Check if worktree already exists
  if [ ! -d "$branch_path" ]; then
    echo "Creating worktree for $branch"
    git worktree add "$branch_path" "$branch"
  else
    echo "Worktree for $branch already exists"
  fi
done

# Display all created worktrees
echo "\nWorktree list:"
git worktree list

Example Output

Creating worktree for fix-bug-123
HEAD is now at a1b2c3d Fix bug 123
Creating worktree for feature/new-feature
HEAD is now at e4f5g6h Add new feature
Worktree for documentation-update already exists

Worktree list:
/path/to/repo                      abc1234 [main]
/path/to/repo/tree/fix-bug-123     a1b2c3d [fix-bug-123]
/path/to/repo/tree/feature/new-feature e4f5g6h [feature/new-feature]
/path/to/repo/tree/documentation-update d5e6f7g [documentation-update]

Cleanup Stale Worktrees (Optional)

You can add this to remove stale worktrees for branches that no longer exist:

# Get current branches
current_branches=$(git branch -a | grep -v HEAD | grep -v main | sed 's/^[ *]*//' | sed 's|remotes/origin/||' | sort | uniq)

# Get existing worktrees (excluding main worktree)
worktree_paths=$(git worktree list | tail -n +2 | awk '{print $1}')

for path in $worktree_paths; do
  # Extract branch name from path
  branch_name=$(basename "$path")
  
  # Skip special cases
  if [[ "$branch_name" == "main" ]]; then
    continue
  fi
  
  # Check if branch still exists
  if ! echo "$current_branches" | grep -q "^$branch_name$"; then
    echo "Removing stale worktree for deleted branch: $branch_name"
    git worktree remove --force "$path"
  fi
done

Create New Branch and Worktree

This interactive command creates a new git branch and sets up a worktree for it:

#!/bin/bash

# Ensure we're in a git repository
if ! git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Error: Not in a git repository"
  exit 1
fi

# Get the repository root
repo_root=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)

# Prompt for branch name
read -p "Enter new branch name: " branch_name

# Validate branch name (basic validation)
if [[ -z "$branch_name" ]]; then
  echo "Error: Branch name cannot be empty"
  exit 1
fi

if git show-ref --verify --quiet "refs/heads/$branch_name"; then
  echo "Warning: Branch '$branch_name' already exists"
  read -p "Do you want to use the existing branch? (y/n): " use_existing
  if [[ "$use_existing" != "y" ]]; then
    exit 1
  fi
fi

# Create branch directory
branch_path="$repo_root/tree/$branch_name"

# Handle branch names with slashes (like "feature/foo")
if [[ "$branch_name" == */* ]]; then
  dir_path=$(dirname "$branch_path")
  mkdir -p "$dir_path"
fi

# Make sure parent directory exists
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$branch_path")"

# Check if a worktree already exists
if [ -d "$branch_path" ]; then
  echo "Error: Worktree directory already exists: $branch_path"
  exit 1
fi

# Create branch and worktree
if git show-ref --verify --quiet "refs/heads/$branch_name"; then
  # Branch exists, create worktree
  echo "Creating worktree for existing branch '$branch_name'..."
  git worktree add "$branch_path" "$branch_name"
else
  # Create new branch and worktree
  echo "Creating new branch '$branch_name' and worktree..."
  git worktree add -b "$branch_name" "$branch_path"
fi

echo "Success! New worktree created at: $branch_path"
echo "To start working on this branch, run: cd $branch_path"

Example Usage

$ ./create-branch-worktree.sh
Enter new branch name: feature/user-authentication
Creating new branch 'feature/user-authentication' and worktree...
Preparing worktree (creating new branch 'feature/user-authentication')
HEAD is now at abc1234 Previous commit message
Success! New worktree created at: /path/to/repo/tree/feature/user-authentication
To start working on this branch, run: cd /path/to/repo/tree/feature/user-authentication

Creating a New Branch from a Different Base

If you want to start your branch from a different base (not the current HEAD), you can modify the script:

read -p "Enter new branch name: " branch_name
read -p "Enter base branch/commit (default: HEAD): " base_commit
base_commit=${base_commit:-HEAD}

# Then use the specified base when creating the worktree
git worktree add -b "$branch_name" "$branch_path" "$base_commit"

This will allow you to specify any commit, tag, or branch name as the starting point for your new branch.