Git Worktree Manager (wt)

🚀 A powerful, cross-platform Git worktree management tool with intelligent partial matching and tagging.

Features

• ✅ Cross-platform: Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (Git Bash/WSL)
• 🔍 Smart matching: Partial branch name matching with interactive selection
• 🏷️ Tagging system: Organize worktrees with custom tags/groups
• ⏰ Time machine: Create worktrees from specific dates
• 📊 Disk usage: Monitor storage usage with totals
• 🎯 Interactive menus: User-friendly selection for multiple matches
• 🔄 Smart sync: Auto-sync with origin/main using rebase/merge with stash management
• 📄 File copying: Copy configuration files when creating worktrees
• 🔍 Dry-run mode: Preview deletions with safety warnings before executing

Installation

npm install -g git-wt

Quick Start

# List all worktrees
wt list

# List worktrees matching pattern
wt list sms

# List only worktrees for current repository
wt list --current

# Create new branch + worktree
wt create feature/new-ui

# Create with config files copied
wt create feature/api --copy .env,.env.local

# Create with all claude files/directories copied
wt create test --copy "claude*"

# Switch to worktree (partial matching)
wt sw feat

# Sync with latest changes (auto-detects current branch if no argument)
wt sync
wt sync feat

# Preview deletion (dry-run)
wt delete test --dry-run

# Delete worktree (with interactive selection)
wt delete test

# Tag worktree for organization
wt tag feature ui

# Switch by tag
wt sg ui

Commands

Core Commands

• wt list | ls | l [pattern] [--current] - List all worktrees with status (optional pattern filter, --current shows only current repo worktrees)
• wt create | new <branch> [--copy <patterns>] - Create new branch + worktree (optionally copy files/dirs)
• wt checkout | co <branch> - Checkout existing branch in worktree
• wt switch | sw <partial> - Switch to worktree by partial branch name
• wt delete | rm <partial> [--dry-run] - Delete worktree (supports partial matching & dry-run)

Workflow Commands

• wt push - Commit all changes & push current worktree (creates origin if missing)
• wt sync [partial] - Sync worktree with origin/main (auto stash/unstash, auto-detects current branch)
• wt du - Show disk usage per worktree (with total)

Organization Commands

• wt tag <partial> <tag> - Tag a worktree with group label
• wt switchg | sg <tag> - Switch to worktree by tag

Advanced Commands

• wt time | tm <branch>@<YYYY-MM-DD> - Create detached worktree from specific date

Examples

Basic Workflow

# Create feature branch with config files
wt create feature/user-auth --copy .env,.env.local

# Work on feature, sync with latest main
wt sync feature/user-auth

# Work on feature, then push
wt push

# Switch to another feature (partial matching)
wt sw bug    # Matches "bugfix/login-issue"

# Preview deletion first
wt delete old-feature --dry-run

# Delete old worktree
wt delete old-feature

File Copying with Patterns

# Copy single file when creating worktree
wt create feature/api --copy .env

# Copy multiple files
wt create feature/ui --copy .env,.env.local,config.json

# Copy entire directories
wt create feature/docs --copy docs/

# Copy with glob patterns (use quotes to prevent shell expansion)
wt create test --copy "claude*"           # Copies claude.md, .claude/, claude-config.json
wt create api --copy ".env*"              # Copies .env, .env.local, .env.production
wt create setup --copy "config/,*.md"    # Copies config directory and all markdown files

Sync Operations

# Auto-detect current branch and sync
wt sync

# Sync specific branch with latest main
wt sync feature-branch

# Automatically handles:
# - Auto-detection of current branch (if no argument provided)
# - Fallback to local main/master if remote not available
# - Stashing uncommitted changes
# - Fetching latest origin/main (if remote exists)
# - Rebasing (or merging if rebase fails)
# - Restoring stashed changes

Safe Deletion

# Preview what would be deleted
wt delete feature --dry-run
# Shows: directory, branch, uncommitted changes, unpushed commits, disk usage

# Actually delete
wt delete feature

Organization with Tags

# Tag worktrees by project area
wt tag frontend ui
wt tag backend api
wt tag feature/auth ui

# Switch to any UI-related worktree
wt sg ui

Time Machine

# Create worktree from main branch 30 days ago
wt time main@2024-01-01

# Investigate bug from specific date
wt time develop@2024-06-15

Pattern Filtering

# List only worktrees matching "sms" 
wt list sms
wt l api      # Short alias
wt ls test    # Alternative alias

# List only worktrees for current repository
wt list --current

# Combine current repo filter with pattern
wt list --current feature

# Pattern matches branch names, project names, and paths
wt list feature    # Shows all feature branches
wt list ui         # Shows UI-related worktrees

Configuration

Worktrees are stored in ~/.worktrees/ by default. On Windows, uses %USERPROFILE%/.worktrees/.

Folder Structure

Here's how your worktrees are organized:

~/
└── .worktrees/
    ├── main/
    ├── feature-user-auth/
    ├── bugfix-login-issue/
    ├── develop/
    ├── hotfix-security-patch/
    └── feature-api/

Each folder contains a complete working directory for that branch. Branch names with / are converted to - for folder names.

Key Benefits:

• 🔄 Switch instantly between branches without git checkout delays
• 🏃‍♂️ Run multiple branches simultaneously (dev server, tests, etc.)
• 🛡️ Isolated changes - no risk of mixing uncommitted work
• 💾 Preserved state - each branch maintains its own working directory

Options

• -f, --force - Force operations (overwrite/remove)
• --copy <patterns> - Copy files/directories matching patterns to worktree (create only)
• --current - Show only worktrees for current repository (list only)
• --dry-run - Show what would be deleted without doing it (delete only)
• -h, --help - Show help

Interactive Selection

When multiple worktrees match your partial input, you'll see an interactive menu:

❯ wt delete test
Multiple worktrees match 'test':
  test-feature (/Users/you/.worktrees/test-feature)
  test-bugfix (/Users/you/.worktrees/test-bugfix)
  testing-ui (/Users/you/.worktrees/testing-ui)

Select branch:
1) test-feature
2) test-bugfix  
3) testing-ui
Select option (1-3): 

Requirements

• Git (with worktree support)
• Bash shell (available on all platforms via Git Bash on Windows)

Platform Support

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (wt create feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (wt push)
4. Open a Pull Request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Changelog

v1.0.4

• 🐛 FIXED: --current flag now properly implemented and functional
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Improved argument parsing to handle --current flag correctly
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Better repository matching logic for current repo filtering

v1.0.3

• ✨ NEW: --current flag for list command - Filter worktrees to show only those from current repository
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Better repository filtering - Uses origin URL to match worktrees from same repository
• 📚 DOCS: Updated README with --current flag examples and usage

v1.0.2

• ✨ NEW: wt l alias for list command - Quick listing with wt l
• ✨ NEW: Pattern filtering for list command - wt list <pattern> to filter results
• ✨ NEW: Auto-detection for sync command - wt sync without arguments detects current branch
• ✨ NEW: Enhanced copy patterns - Support for glob patterns like "claude*" to copy files and directories
• ✨ NEW: Smart origin creation for push - Automatically creates GitHub remote when missing
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Improved sync fallback - Uses local main/master when remote branches not available
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Better glob pattern support - Hidden files, directories, and symlinks
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Rsync integration for directory copying (when available)
• 🐛 FIXED: Unbound variable error in find_matching_worktrees function
• 🐛 FIXED: Git directory exclusion during file copying operations
• 🔒 SECURITY: Automatic .git directory exclusion in copy operations

v1.0.1

• ✨ NEW: wt sync command - Smart sync with origin/main using rebase/merge
• ✨ NEW: --copy option for create command - Copy files from main directory to worktree
• ✨ NEW: --dry-run option for delete command - Preview deletions with safety warnings
• 🎨 IMPROVED: Enhanced help layout with better formatting and emojis
• 🐛 FIXED: Removed unnecessary D* column from worktree list output
• 🔧 ENHANCED: Better detection of uncommitted changes including untracked files

v1.0.0

• Initial release
• Cross-platform support (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Partial matching with interactive selection
• Tagging system for worktree organization
• Time machine functionality
• Disk usage monitoring with totals