auto-worktree

A bash tool for safely running AI agents in isolated git worktrees. Create separate workspaces for each task, issue, or PR review - keeping your main branch pristine.

Features

• Isolated Workspaces: Each task gets its own worktree - no branch conflicts or stashed changes
• Issue Tracking Integration: Work on GitHub issues, GitLab issues, JIRA tickets, or Linear issues with automatic branch naming
• GitHub PR Reviews: Review pull requests in isolated worktrees
• Interactive TUI: Beautiful menus powered by gum
• Auto-cleanup: Detects merged PRs, closed issues, resolved JIRA tickets, and completed Linear issues
• Random Names: Generates memorable branch names like work/coral-apex-beam
• Tab Completion: Full zsh completion for commands, issues, and PRs
• AI Agent Support: Integrates with Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Gemini CLI

Safety Warning: Concurrent Git Operations

IMPORTANT: While git worktrees safely isolate branches and working directories, git itself is not designed for concurrent operations. Running multiple git commands simultaneously across different worktrees can cause repository corruption.

What's Safe vs. Unsafe

Safe - Worktrees prevent these problems:

• Multiple branches checked out at once (each in its own worktree)
• Working on different features simultaneously in separate directories
• Switching context without stashing or committing incomplete work

Unsafe - Concurrent git commands can corrupt your repository:

# Running git operations in parallel across worktrees
cd worktree1 && git commit -m "change" &
cd worktree2 && git rebase main &
cd worktree3 && git push &

Why This Matters

Git shares critical data across all worktrees:

• .git/objects/ - Object database
• .git/refs/ - References
• .git/config - Configuration
• .git/hooks/ - Hooks
• Pack files and garbage collection

Running concurrent git commands can corrupt this shared data, even though each worktree has its own branch and working directory.

Safe Practices

Run git operations sequentially:

cd worktree1 && git commit -m "change"
cd worktree2 && git commit -m "change"
cd worktree3 && git rebase main

When using AI agents:

• Only run one agent at a time per repository
• Pause or stop other agents before starting git operations
• Disable background git status checks in your IDE/tools
• See AGENTS.md for detailed guidance

For more information:

• docs/BEST_PRACTICES.md - Detailed safety guidelines and patterns
• AGENTS.md - AI agent coordination strategies

Installation

Prerequisites

Required

brew install gum jq

• gum - Terminal UI components
• jq - JSON processor

Optional (based on what you use)

For GitHub:

brew install gh
gh auth login

For GitLab:

brew install glab
glab auth login

For JIRA:

brew install ankitpokhrel/jira-cli/jira-cli
jira init

For Linear:

brew install schpet/tap/linear
# Or via Deno: deno install -A --reload -f -g -n linear jsr:@schpet/linear-cli
# Then set your API key:
export LINEAR_API_KEY=your_key_here  # Get from https://linear.app/settings/account/security

For AI agents (choose one):

• Claude Code: brew install claude or npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
• Codex CLI: npm install -g @openai/codex-cli
• Gemini CLI: See gemini-cli

Setup

Add to your ~/.zshrc:

source /path/to/auto-worktree/aw.sh

This provides both the full auto-worktree command and a convenient aw shorthand alias that is worktree-aware:

• When developing auto-worktree itself, aw automatically uses your local changes
• In other repositories, aw uses the globally-installed version
• Both commands work identically - aw is just shorter to type

Usage

Use either the full auto-worktree command or the shorter aw alias:

aw                             # Interactive menu
aw new                         # Create new worktree
aw issue [id]                  # Work on an issue (GitHub #123, GitLab #456, JIRA PROJ-123, or Linear TEAM-123)
aw pr [num]                    # Review a GitHub PR or GitLab MR
aw list                        # List existing worktrees
aw settings                    # Configure per-repo settings
aw doctor                      # Run repository diagnostics (check for lock files, etc.)
aw help                        # Show help

Note: aw and auto-worktree work identically. All examples below use aw for brevity.

Create a New Worktree

aw new

Enter a branch name or leave blank for a random name like work/mint-code-flux.

Work on Issues

The first time you run aw issue, you'll be prompted to choose between GitHub, GitLab, JIRA, or Linear for this repository. This preference is stored in git config.

GitHub Issues:

aw issue                   # Select from open issues
aw issue 42                # Work on issue #42 directly

Creates a branch like work/42-fix-login-bug and launches your AI agent.

GitLab Issues:

aw issue                   # Select from open GitLab issues
aw issue 42                # Work on issue #42 directly

Creates a branch like work/42-fix-login-bug and launches your AI agent.

JIRA Issues:

aw issue                   # Select from open JIRA issues
aw issue PROJ-123          # Work on JIRA-123 directly

Creates a branch like work/PROJ-123-implement-feature and launches your AI agent.

Linear Issues:

aw issue                   # Select from open Linear issues
aw issue TEAM-123          # Work on Linear issue TEAM-123 directly

Creates a branch like work/TEAM-123-implement-feature and launches your AI agent.

Review a Pull Request

aw pr                      # Select from open PRs
aw pr 123                  # Review PR #123 directly

Checks out the PR in a new worktree and shows the diff stats.

List Worktrees

aw list

Shows all worktrees with:

• Age indicators (green: recent, yellow: few days, red: stale)
• Merged PR/issue detection (GitHub and JIRA)
• Cleanup prompts for merged, resolved, or stale worktrees

Configuration

Issue provider settings are stored per-repository using git config. Use the interactive Settings menu (or aw settings) to view and update project-specific preferences.

# View current configuration
git config --get auto-worktree.issue-provider   # github, gitlab, jira, or linear

# Manual configuration for JIRA
git config auto-worktree.issue-provider jira
git config auto-worktree.jira-server https://your-company.atlassian.net
git config auto-worktree.jira-project PROJ      # Optional: default project filter

# Manual configuration for GitLab
git config auto-worktree.issue-provider gitlab
git config auto-worktree.gitlab-server https://gitlab.example.com  # Optional: for self-hosted
git config auto-worktree.gitlab-project group/project  # Optional: default project filter

# Manual configuration for Linear
git config auto-worktree.issue-provider linear
git config auto-worktree.linear-team TEAM       # Optional: default team filter

# Manual configuration for AI and auto-select
git config auto-worktree.ai-tool claude         # claude, codex, gemini, jules, skip
git config auto-worktree.issue-autoselect true  # true/false
git config auto-worktree.pr-autoselect true     # true/false

Different repositories can use different issue providers and AI tool configurations.

How It Works

Worktrees

1. Worktrees are stored in ~/worktrees/<repo-name>/
2. Each worktree is a full copy of your repo on its own branch
3. Claude Code launches with --dangerously-skip-permissions for uninterrupted work
4. When done, use list to clean up merged worktrees and branches

Example Workflows

GitHub Workflow

# Start work on a GitHub issue
cd my-project
aw issue 42

# AI agent opens in ~/worktrees/my-project/work-42-add-feature/
# Make changes, commit, push, create PR

# Later, check for cleanup
aw list
# Shows "[merged #42]" indicator, prompts to clean up

JIRA Workflow

# First time setup
cd my-work-project
aw issue
# Choose "JIRA" from the menu
# Enter JIRA server URL and project key

# Start work on a JIRA ticket
aw issue PROJ-456

# AI agent opens in ~/worktrees/my-work-project/work-PROJ-456-add-auth/
# Make changes, commit, push

# Later, when JIRA ticket is marked as Done
aw list
# Shows "[resolved PROJ-456]" indicator, prompts to clean up

Linear Workflow

# First time setup
cd my-product-project
aw issue
# Choose "Linear Issues" from the menu
# Optionally enter default team key

# Start work on a Linear issue
aw issue TEAM-789

# AI agent opens in ~/worktrees/my-product-project/work-TEAM-789-add-feature/
# Make changes, commit, push

# Later, when Linear issue is marked as Done
aw list
# Shows "[completed TEAM-789]" indicator, prompts to clean up

Tab Completion

The tool includes full zsh completion for both aw and auto-worktree:

aw <TAB>                   # Shows: new, issue, pr, list, settings, help
aw issue <TAB>             # Shows open issues from GitHub
aw pr <TAB>                # Shows open PRs from GitHub

Development

Code Quality and Validation

This project uses ShellCheck to validate shell scripts and catch common bugs, portability issues, and code quality problems.

Running ShellCheck Locally

To validate all shell scripts in the repository:

ci/validate.sh

This will check all .sh files and report any issues found.

Pre-commit Hook (Optional)

Install the pre-commit hook to automatically validate shell scripts before each commit:

ci/install_pre_commit_hook.sh

The hook will run ShellCheck on staged .sh files and prevent commits if issues are found. To bypass the hook for a single commit (not recommended):

git commit --no-verify

To uninstall the hook:

rm .git/hooks/pre-commit

CI/CD Validation

ShellCheck validation runs automatically on all pull requests via GitHub Actions. PRs must pass validation before they can be merged.

ShellCheck Configuration

The .shellcheckrc file configures which checks are enabled. Currently, many warnings are disabled to allow gradual improvement. As issues are fixed, warnings will be progressively enabled.

Installing ShellCheck

macOS:

brew install shellcheck

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install shellcheck

Other platforms: See ShellCheck installation instructions

Troubleshooting

Stale Git Lock Files

When using auto-worktree with AI agents like Claude Code, background git operations can sometimes leave stale lock files that interfere with worktree operations.

Symptoms

fatal: Unable to create '.git/index.lock': File exists.

Another git process seems to be running in this repository...

Solutions

1. Run the doctor command:

aw doctor --check-locks

This will detect and report any stale lock files. To automatically remove them:

aw doctor --check-locks --remove-locks

2. Automatic detection:

Auto-worktree now includes:

• Retry logic: Git operations automatically retry up to 3 times when encountering lock file errors
• Startup detection: Lock files are detected during startup and warnings are displayed
• Process verification: Lock files are only considered stale if their owning process no longer exists

3. Manual cleanup:

If needed, you can manually remove all lock files:

find .git -name '*.lock' -type f -delete

Prevention

The lock file handling is designed to work seamlessly with AI agents:

• Operations wait briefly for locks to clear before failing
• Clear warnings are shown when stale locks are detected
• Lock files are never removed if the process is still running

For more information, see Issue #175.

Why Worktrees?

• No context switching: Keep multiple tasks in progress without stashing
• Clean isolation: Claude Code changes won't affect other branches
• Easy cleanup: Delete the folder and branch when done
• Parallel work: Run multiple Claude Code sessions on different tasks

License

MIT