Clean Worktree Integration From Dirty Main

Clean Worktree Integration from Dirty Main

When to use

Use this when:

• the primary repo checkout on main has unrelated local changes
• one or more issues were implemented and validated in separate worktrees
• you need a clean landing path without disturbing the dirty main checkout
• you want a reproducible integration branch before push/closeout

Typical trigger:

• git status on the main checkout shows many unrelated modified/untracked files
• issue worktrees are clean and contain the validated commits you actually want to land

Why this pattern exists

Trying to land work directly from a dirty main checkout risks:

• mixing unrelated files into the landing set
• accidental staging of local audit/docs/session artifacts
• difficult rollback if cherry-pick/integration validation fails

A fresh integration worktree gives you a clean room for landing only the approved commits.

Workflow

1. Confirm issue worktrees are clean and validated

• In each issue worktree, ensure git status --short is clean.
• Record the exact implementation commits to land.
• If there are planning-marker commits in the issue worktree, do not include them in the final landing set unless they are intentionally repo-tracked deliverables.

2. Record the clean integration base

• Capture the intended base commit from the main repo:
  • git rev-parse HEAD
• Do this from the main checkout, not from an issue worktree.

Critical preflight: verify the landing set is still unlanded

Before you create an integration worktree, check the exact target file set you think needs landing.

Recommended pattern:

• git status --short -- <target files...>
• git diff --stat -- <target files...>

Interpretation rules:

• If both commands are empty for the target set, do not assume you still need a landing branch for those files. That often means the edits already landed on the current base via another session/commit.
• In that case, switch from landing mode to reconciliation mode:
  • identify which intended artifacts are already on HEAD
  • isolate any truly new files from this session (for example a new runbook or prompt pack)
  • create a worktree only for the still-unlanded residue, or skip the worktree entirely if nothing remains

Why this matters:

• in parallel agent sessions, plan/doc edits may be committed to main between drafting and integration
• creating a fresh worktree and copying files can reveal that the only remaining delta is a newly-created artifact, not the full landing set you expected
• this prevents duplicate commits for files that are already identical to the integration base

3. Create a fresh integration worktree

• Example:
  • git worktree add -b integration-<issue-set> /path/to/integration-worktree <base-commit>
• This avoids interference from the dirty main checkout.

4. Cherry-pick only the implementation/fix commits

• Cherry-pick the validated issue commits into the integration worktree in dependency order.
• Example pattern:
  • schema feature commit
  • schema fix commit(s)
  • resolver feature commit
  • resolver fix commit(s)
• Exclude local-only approval-marker commits unless they must land.

5. Run combined validation in the integration worktree

• Re-run the exact targeted tests for each issue.
• Also run a nearby regression set that covers touched consumers.
• Do not assume per-worktree validation is enough; the combined landing set needs its own green run.

6. Pre-landing already-landed check (critical) Before you prepare push/closeout artifacts or cherry-pick into the integration worktree, explicitly verify the issue has not already landed elsewhere.

Topology-aware validation after cherry-picks (critical)

After the integration worktree contains the intended commits, validate in layers instead of trusting the first failing command:

1. Run the targeted test suite for the landed surface.
2. If tests depend on generated/local fixture repos, explicitly bootstrap those fixtures before classifying failures as code defects.
3. Separate code/import validation from topology validation:
   • direct module invocation / package import health
   • wrapper/cron behavior in the intended runtime topology
4. Do not treat wrapper failures in a clean integration worktree as proof the feature code is broken if the wrapper begins with topology-sensitive commands like git pull --ff-only origin main.

Observed reusable pattern:

• In a clean integration worktree, ecosystem-sync tests initially failed because fixture repos under tests/.../fixtures/repos/ had not been built yet.
• After running the fixture builder, the full targeted suite passed, proving the failure was a fixture-bootstrap gap rather than a regression in the integrated code.
• The cron wrapper still failed in the integration worktree because git pull --ff-only origin main is expected to fail in a diverged landing branch/worktree; that is a topology issue, not necessarily an implementation issue.
• A direct uv run path/to/script.py ... invocation may fail with ModuleNotFoundError even when uv run python -m package.module ... works. When the landed script imports from the repo package root, verify both invocation styles before declaring the integration broken.

Practical rule:

• classify failures as one of:
  • fixture/bootstrap gap
  • import/invocation-path bug
  • topology-specific wrapper failure
  • real functional regression
• only the last category should automatically block the landing set as broken code.

Documentation-update guardrail learned in live use:

• when adjusting operator/docs artifacts inside the integration worktree, do NOT reconstruct whole files from line-numbered read_file output and then write_file them back; that can accidentally persist the line-number prefixes into the file contents.
• prefer targeted patch edits for command swaps or narrow wording fixes, especially in markdown/shell handoff artifacts.
• after any scripted doc rewrite, immediately sanity-check the first few lines of the file before committing.

Check all of:

• git fetch origin main --quiet
• git log --oneline origin/main -5
• gh issue view <issue> --json state,comments,labels,url
• if useful, git log --oneline --grep='#<issue>' origin/main

Interpretation rules:

• If origin/main already contains an implementation commit for the issue, treat the issue as potentially already landed.
• If the GitHub issue is already CLOSED with a landed-summary comment, treat that as strong evidence the work is already upstream.
• If your local isolated worktree re-implemented the same issue independently, stop before push and switch from landing mode to verification/reconciliation mode.

What to do if already landed upstream:

• do NOT push a duplicate implementation branch
• do NOT post duplicate closeout comments
• compare your local worktree against origin/main and determine whether it contains any extra learnings or fixes not upstream
• if your work is fully superseded, keep it as local evidence only and clean up the redundant worktree after documenting the discovery
• if your work contains additional value beyond upstream, create a fresh follow-up issue/branch for just that delta instead of re-landing the full issue

Why this matters:

• parallel agent execution can cause an issue to land on origin/main while your isolated worktree is still implementing
• a late cherry-pick conflict in the clean integration worktree is often the first signal that the issue was already landed elsewhere
• checking issue state + origin/main before landing avoids duplicate pushes and misleading second closeouts

7. Prepare landing artifacts before push Create:

• an integration runbook with:
  • issue links
  • commits included
  • validation commands/results
  • exact branch/worktree path
• closeout comment drafts with:
  • result
  • change summary
  • acceptance criteria mapping
  • validation evidence
  • git evidence
  • residual risk

8. Push/close only after user approval for side effects

• Pushing, posting GH comments, and closing issues are external side effects.
• If user approval for execution existed but not explicit approval for external landing side effects, stop and ask for final go-ahead.

Multi-wave landing rule (important)

If the isolated worktree contains more than one class of change, split the landing into waves instead of blindly cherry-picking everything at once.

Recommended order:

1. narrow repo-wide governance/enforcement fix first
2. core feature/implementation commits in dependency order
3. docs / handoff / operator artifacts last

Why:

• a small governance fix often has value beyond the feature branch that discovered it
• validating the narrow fix first reduces blame surface if later feature integration fails
• docs bundles should not be allowed to obscure whether code integration itself is healthy

Example trigger:

• a feature worktree contains both a verified enforcement-hook fix and a larger feature implementation
• the main checkout is dirty, so you need a clean integration worktree anyway

Validation rule by wave:

• after wave 1, run the targeted regression for the governance fix before continuing
• after wave 2, run the feature-targeted test suite before adding doc commits
• after wave 3, do a final status + regression pass

Also explicitly exclude planning-marker / approval-marker commits unless they are intentional repo-tracked deliverables.

Recommended command pattern

# from dirty main checkout
BASE=$(git rev-parse HEAD)

git worktree add -b integration-2151-2155 \
  /mnt/local-analysis/worktrees/workspace-hub-integration-2151-2155 \
  "$BASE"

# in integration worktree
# wave 1: narrow governance fix
# git cherry-pick <governance-fix-commit>
# run targeted validation

# wave 2: feature commits in dependency order
# git cherry-pick <issue1-commit-1> <issue1-commit-2> ... <issue2-commit-1>

# wave 3: docs / handoff commits
# git cherry-pick <docs-commit-1> <docs-commit-2>

uv run pytest \
  tests/analysis/test_readiness_bundle_schema.py \
  tests/workstations/test_machine_path_resolver.py \
  tests/analysis/test_provider_session_ecosystem_audit.py \
  tests/analysis/test_claude_session_ecosystem_audit.py \
  tests/workstations/test_registry.py \
  tests/workstations/test_dispatch.py \
  tests/cron/test_provider_session_ecosystem_audit_wrapper.py \
  -q

Selection rules for cherry-picks

Include:

• feature commits for the issue
• follow-up fix commits from adversarial review

Exclude by default:

• local approval-marker commits (chore(planning): approve issue #...) unless they are intentionally meant to be tracked in the final landing branch
• unrelated docs/planning/session artifacts

Dirty/diverged main with a valid local commit

If the active main checkout already contains a valid local implementation commit but cannot push because origin/main advanced and the checkout also has unrelated dirty/untracked files:

1. Do not rebase/reset/stash the dirty main checkout just to land the issue.
2. Record both SHAs:
   • local equivalent implementation commit (git rev-parse HEAD or the specific commit SHA)
   • current remote base (git ls-remote origin refs/heads/main or origin/main after fetch)
3. Create a temporary clean worktree directly from origin/main:
   • git worktree add /tmp/<repo>-<issue>-push origin/main
4. Cherry-pick only the scoped implementation/review commit(s) into that clean worktree.
5. Validate in the clean worktree, then push HEAD:main from there.
6. Treat the new remote commit SHA as canonical; the dirty main commit is only an equivalent local patch unless/until reconciled later.
7. After successful remote verification, remove the temporary worktree and explicitly report that the original checkout may still be dirty/diverged with an equivalent local commit.

This avoids destructive cleanup of unrelated session state while still producing a clean, auditable landing commit on top of the current remote branch.

Validation standard

Before declaring integration-ready, verify:

• integration worktree is clean after cherry-picks and tests
• all issue-targeted tests pass
• nearby regression tests pass
• no unrelated files were introduced
• if the landing set includes CLI/wrapper entrypoints, validate the real invocation mode, not just imported/unit-tested behavior

Additional runtime-entrypoint check learned from ecosystem-sync integration:

• distinguish three layers of validation:
  1. unit/integration tests
  2. direct runtime entrypoint invocation
  3. wrapper/topology invocation
• a clean integration worktree can reveal a real entrypoint bug even when tests are green. Example pattern:
  • tests pass
  • python -m package.module --doctor passes
  • wrapper or documented tool/path.py invocation fails because imports assume module/package context
• when this happens, record it as a real blocker, fix the invocation contract, and re-run tests before push
• separately, do not misclassify expected topology failures (for example wrapper git pull --ff-only origin main failing in a non-main integration worktree) as code regressions. Isolate entrypoint correctness from topology-specific behavior.

Output checklist

Before final push, prepare:

• integration worktree path
• integration branch name
• exact included commits
• exact validation commands and results
• draft GH closeout comments for each landed issue
• explicit note for any still-blocked issue

Example reusable outcome

This pattern worked well for landing two approved issues from isolated worktrees while the main checkout had many unrelated modified files:

• issue A: schema + contract fixes
• issue B: shared resolver + normalization fix
• integration branch created from clean base
• only implementation commits cherry-picked
• combined regression suite re-run successfully
• push/closeout artifacts prepared separately from the dirty main checkout

Pitfalls

• Do not cherry-pick from the dirty main checkout itself.
• Do not assume worktree-local green tests imply combined landing-set green tests.
• Do not silently include approval-marker commits.
• Do not push or close issues without explicit side-effect approval.
• If a blocked issue depends on missing upstream foundations, keep it open and document the blocker rather than forcing fixture work against an invented contract.
• Fresh integration worktrees may fail pre-push hooks for reasons unrelated to the landing commit. In workspace-hub, a clean worktree created outside the normal repo topology triggered repo-wide tier-1 checks that expected sibling repos at matching relative paths and failed before push. Practical recovery pattern:
  1. First try pushing from a topology-compatible checkout/worktree where the hook environment already matches the repo's assumptions.
  2. If the hook still fails only because of unrelated ecosystem debt (for example tier-1 quality failures in other repos) and the landing branch is a narrowly scoped docs-only or low-risk artifact change, consider an audited bypass push rather than mutating the clean worktree to satisfy unrelated checks.
  3. In this repo, GIT_PRE_PUSH_SKIP=1 git push ... is a soft bypass that logs to logs/hooks/pre-push-bypass.jsonl. Use it only when the branch scope is truly isolated and you can justify that the pre-push failures are unrelated to the landing artifact.
• Before bypassing, confirm the branch diff is exactly the intended scoped artifact set (for example a single docs runbook file) and preserve the clean non-bypass landing branch so you still have a normal-path provenance record.

Pre-push topology mismatch on clean worktrees (important live lesson)

A fresh integration worktree can still fail at push time even when the landing diff is correct, because workspace-level pre-push hooks may assume the full repo ecosystem exists at paths relative to that checkout.

Observed failure mode:

• a clean worktree contained only workspace-hub/
• git push triggered the repo pre-push hook
• the hook tried to run tier-1 checks for sibling repos like assetutilities, digitalmodel, worldenergydata, and assethold
• those paths did not exist under the clean worktree root, so the push failed before evaluating the actual landing diff
• a later attempt from the topology-compatible main checkout got past the path-mismatch but still failed because the same hook enforces unrelated tier-1 quality debt across the ecosystem

Practical rule

For docs-only or narrow governance landings in workspace-hub:

1. Validate the diff in the clean integration worktree first.
2. Before push, inspect the repo's pre-push hook assumptions:
   • does it expect sibling repos under the checkout root?
   • does it run ecosystem-wide tier-1 checks unrelated to the landing diff?
3. If yes, treat the clean worktree as a validation/integration room, not necessarily the final push location.
4. Recreate the landing commit in a topology-compatible checkout (for example the main workspace checkout where sibling repos exist) or cherry-pick it there.
5. If the push still fails only because of unrelated ecosystem-wide checks, consider an explicit audited bypass for the docs-only branch rather than mutating the clean worktree to fake the missing topology.

Recommended sequence for this case

1. Create and validate the clean worktree landing commit.
2. Create a topology-compatible branch in the real workspace checkout.
3. Commit or cherry-pick the same narrow landing there.
4. Attempt a normal push once.
5. If the only remaining blocker is unrelated repo-wide pre-push debt, use the repo's audited bypass mechanism (for example GIT_PRE_PUSH_SKIP=1) for the narrow docs-only branch.
6. Record that the bypass was environmental/governance-driven, not required by the change itself.

This avoids wasting time debugging a perfectly good clean worktree that simply lacks the filesystem topology expected by repo hooks.

• In workspace-hub, a brand-new clean worktree may NOT be push-ready even for docs-only branches. Pre-push hooks can assume the full tier-1 repo topology exists relative to the current checkout (for example sibling dirs like assetutilities/, digitalmodel/, worldenergydata/, assethold/) and may also require local Python deps such as yaml for config-drift checks. A skeletal worktree containing only workspace-hub can therefore fail pre-push despite a clean, valid commit.
• The topology-compatible fallback can still fail for unrelated reasons: even in the real workspace checkout, pre-push may run cross-repo quality gates across tier-1 repos and block your docs-only branch on unrelated failures (observed: assetutilities ruff/mypy failures blocked a push for a one-file runbook branch).
• Practical rule: before planning to push from a fresh integration worktree, do a real push probe (with side-effect approval) or inspect the pre-push hook assumptions. If hooks expect multi-repo topology, prefer one of three paths: (1) cherry-pick the clean commit into a topology-compatible checkout/worktree where hooks already pass, (2) recreate the expected sibling-repo layout for that worktree, or (3) use an explicit user-approved bypass for the docs-only push.
• Workspace-hub's current pre-push hook supports an audited soft bypass via GIT_PRE_PUSH_SKIP=1. It logs a JSONL record to logs/hooks/pre-push-bypass.jsonl and exits 0 before running the heavy tier-1 checks. For isolated docs/plans branches that are clean and intentionally low-risk, this can be the fastest safe landing path once the user approves the bypass. Example:
  • GIT_PRE_PUSH_SKIP=1 git push -u origin <branch>
• When using that bypass, capture in your landing notes: the exact branch pushed, the exact commit SHA, and the bypass log path. This preserves auditability and keeps the bypass scoped to the already-validated low-risk branch rather than normalizing bypass use for broader implementation work.
• In workspace-hub, a brand-new clean worktree may NOT be push-ready even for docs-only branches. Pre-push hooks can assume the full tier-1 repo topology exists relative to the current checkout (for example sibling dirs like assetutilities/, digitalmodel/, worldenergydata/, assethold/) and may also require local Python deps such as yaml for config-drift checks. A skeletal worktree containing only workspace-hub can therefore fail pre-push despite a clean, valid commit.
• The topology-compatible fallback can still fail for unrelated reasons: even in the real workspace checkout, pre-push may run cross-repo quality gates across tier-1 repos and block your docs-only branch on unrelated failures (observed: assetutilities ruff/mypy failures blocked a push for a one-file runbook branch).
• Practical rule: before planning to push from a fresh integration worktree, do a real push probe (with side-effect approval) or inspect the pre-push hook assumptions. If hooks expect multi-repo topology, prefer one of three paths: (1) cherry-pick the clean commit into a topology-compatible checkout/worktree where hooks already pass, (2) recreate the expected sibling-repo layout for that worktree, or (3) use an explicit user-approved bypass for the docs-only push.
• Workspace-hub's current pre-push hook supports an audited soft bypass via GIT_PRE_PUSH_SKIP=1. It logs a JSONL record to logs/hooks/pre-push-bypass.jsonl and exits 0 before running the heavy tier-1 checks. For isolated docs/plans branches that are clean and intentionally low-risk, this can be the fastest safe landing path once the user approves the bypass. Example:
  • GIT_PRE_PUSH_SKIP=1 git push -u origin <branch>
• When using that bypass, capture in your landing notes: the exact branch pushed, the exact commit SHA, and the bypass log path. This preserves auditability and keeps the bypass scoped to the already-validated low-risk branch rather than normalizing bypass use for broader implementation work.