max-sixty__worktrunk/README.md

  Worktrunk

September 2026: Worktrunk was released at the start of the year, and has quickly become the most popular git worktree manager. It's built with love (there's no slop!). Please let me know any frictions at all; I'm intensely focused on continuing to make Worktrunk excellent, and the biggest help is folks posting problems they perceive.

Worktrunk is a CLI for git worktree management, designed for running AI agents in parallel.

Worktrunk's three core commands make worktrees as easy as branches. Plus, Worktrunk has a bunch of quality-of-life features to simplify working with many parallel changes, including hooks to automate local workflows.

A quick demo:

📚 Full documentation at worktrunk.dev 📚

Context: git worktrees

AI agents like Claude Code and Codex can handle longer tasks without supervision, such that it's possible to manage 5-10+ in parallel. Git's native worktree feature give each agent its own working directory, so they don't step on each other's changes.

But the git worktree UX is clunky. Even a task as small as starting a new worktree requires typing the branch name three times: git worktree add -b feat ../repo.feat, then cd ../repo.feat.

Worktrunk makes git worktrees as easy as branches

Worktrees are addressed by branch name; paths are computed from a configurable template. Commands that take a branch also accept the path of the worktree it is checked out in.

Start with the core commands

Core commands:

Task	Worktrunk	Plain git
Switch worktrees	wt switch feat	cd ../repo.feat
Create + start Claude	wt switch -c -x claude feat	git worktree add -b feat ../repo.feat && \ cd ../repo.feat && \ claude
Clean up	wt remove	cd ../repo && \ git worktree remove ../repo.feat && \ git branch -d feat
List with status	wt list	git worktree list (paths only)

Expand into the more advanced commands as needed

Workflow automation:

• Hooks — run commands on create, pre-merge, post-merge, etc
• LLM commit messages — generate commit messages from diffs
• Merge workflow — squash, rebase, merge, clean up in one command
• Interactive picker — browse worktrees with live diff and log previews
• Copy build caches — skip cold starts by sharing target/, node_modules/, etc between worktrees
• wt list --full — CI status and AI-generated summaries per branch
• PR checkout — wt switch pr:123 to jump straight to a PR's branch
• Dev server per worktree — hash_port template filter gives each worktree a unique port
• Aliases & per-branch variables — custom wt <name> commands and branch-scoped state for hook templates
• ...and lots more

Multiple parallel agents, same simple commands:

Install

Homebrew (macOS & Linux):

brew install worktrunk && wt config shell install

Shell integration allows commands to change directories.

Cargo:

cargo install worktrunk && wt config shell install

Windows & other

Windows. wt defaults to Windows Terminal's command, so Winget additionally installs Worktrunk as git-wt to avoid the conflict:

winget install max-sixty.worktrunk
git-wt config shell install

Alternatively, disable Windows Terminal's alias (Settings → Apps → Advanced app settings → App execution aliases → "Terminal"/"Terminal Preview") to use wt directly.

Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation — policy.

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S worktrunk && wt config shell install

Conda / Pixi (community-maintained feedstock):

conda install -c conda-forge worktrunk && wt config shell install

Or with Pixi: pixi global install worktrunk && wt config shell install.

Quick start

Create a worktree for a new feature:

$ wt switch --create feature-auth
✓ Created branch feature-auth from main and worktree @ ~/repo.feature-auth

This creates a new branch and worktree, then switches to it. Do your work, then check all worktrees with wt list:

$ wt list
  Branch        Status        HEAD±    main↕     main…±  Remote⇅  Commit   Age   Message
@ feature-auth  +   ↑      +27   -8   ↑1       +31                4bc72dc  2h    Add authenticati…
^ main              ^⇡                                    ⇡1      0e631ad  1d    Initial commit

○ Showing 2 worktrees, 1 with changes, 1 ahead, 1 column hidden

The @ marks the current worktree. + means staged changes, ↑1 means 1 commit ahead of main, ⇡ means unpushed commits.

When done, either:

PR workflow — commit, push, open a PR, merge via GitHub/GitLab, then clean up:

wt step commit                    # commit staged changes
gh pr create                      # or glab mr create
wt remove                         # after PR is merged

Local merge — squash, rebase onto main, fast-forward merge, clean up:

$ wt merge main
◎ Generating commit message and committing changes... (2 files, +53, no squashing needed)
  Add authentication module
✓ Committed changes @ a1b2c3d
◎ Merging 1 commit to main @ a1b2c3d (no rebase needed)
  * a1b2c3d Add authentication module
   auth.rs | 51 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
   lib.rs  |  2 ++
   2 files changed, 53 insertions(+)
✓ Merged to main (1 commit, 2 files, +53)
◎ Removing feature-auth worktree & branch in background (same commit as main, _)
○ Switched to worktree for main @ ~/repo

For parallel agents, create multiple worktrees and launch an agent in each:

wt switch -x claude -c feature-a -- 'Add user authentication'
wt switch -x claude -c feature-b -- 'Fix the pagination bug'
wt switch -x claude -c feature-c -- 'Write tests for the API'

The -x flag runs a command after switching; arguments after -- are passed to it. Configure post-start hooks to automate setup (install deps, start dev servers).

Next steps

• Learn the core commands: wt switch, wt list, wt merge, wt remove
• Set up hooks for automated setup
• Explore LLM commit messages, interactive picker, Claude Code integration, CI status & PR links
• Browse tips & patterns for recipes: aliases, dev servers, databases, agent handoffs, and more
• Extending Worktrunk — customize workflows with hooks & aliases
• Run wt --help or wt <command> --help for quick CLI reference

Further reading

• Claude Code: Best practices for agentic coding — Anthropic's official guide, including the worktree pattern
• Shipping faster with Claude Code and Git Worktrees — incident.io's workflow for parallel agents
• Git worktree pattern discussion — Community discussion in the Claude Code repo
• @DevOpsToolbox's video on Worktrunk
• git-worktree documentation — Official git reference

Contributing

• ⭐ Star the repo
• Tell a friend about Worktrunk
• Open an issue — feedback, feature requests, even a small friction or imperfect user message, or a worktree pain not yet solved
• Share: X · Reddit · LinkedIn

📚 Full documentation at worktrunk.dev 📚

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