Git Worktrees

Core Principle

Main repo stays on main/master — never edit directly. Every branch gets its own worktree. All worktrees for a project live under one per-project root directory, <project>.worktrees/, a sibling of the main repo. Delete the worktree and its branch after the PR merges.

Think of a worktree as a disposable branch folder, not a long-lived parallel environment.

Exception: Trivial one-liner commits on a solo project can go directly on main to avoid ceremony overhead.

Workflow

Check repo state before creating a worktree. Any worktree workflow description must name this dirty-state check before git worktree add:

git status --short
git branch --show-current
git worktree list