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git worktree is a built-in Git feature that lets you check out multiple branches simultaneously in separate directories, all sharing the same .git folder. Instead of stashing changes and losing context when switching branches, you can run parallel workspaces side by side. Practical use cases include keeping a long build running while coding a new feature, reviewing PR branches without touching your main workspace, and testing deployment scripts across branches at the same time. It requires no installation and is available in every Git installation, yet most developers never use it.

most devs ignore git worktree. heres why theyre wrong

George Ongoro

I don’t use worktrees because they don’t align with my workflow.
For practical reasons, my system only allows me to run one application at a time. Even if I set up multiple worktrees, I can only actively work in one at any given moment, which defeats the entire purpose of having separate worktrees in the first place. Since I can’t parallelize my work, the overhead of managing worktrees doesn’t provide any meaningful benefit for my setup.

I don’t like worktrees because if I’m trying to make a quick local change, I have to go find the correct local directory where it’s located.
That might seem small, but if I have 6 different projects I’m working on simultaneously, that little bit of additional overhead slows me down.
That said, I have definitely used worktrees in specific cases, and for those it has worked well. Just not my everyday methodology.

I keep learning new things, I like it ;)

I feel like worktree is only suitable when you are using AI to do many changes in parallel, and it is a lot of mental burden

This is great thanks!
I applied this to one of my repos already that had 4 feature branches.
Here’s how I laid it out:
~/repo/worktree
…. repo_name/
……… main/
……… feature_1/
……… feature_2/
……… feature_3/
This keeps everything clean and all directories are named the same as the branches. Only the container directory holds the repo name. :-)