Workforest

Git worktree forest management: one main checkout plus any number of disposable, per-branch worktrees in a predictable location — created, set up, opened, and cleaned up with one command.

~/dev/
├── api/                  # main checkout
└── worktrees/
    └── api/
        ├── feature-x/    # wf create feature-x
        └── fix-y/

• Create a worktree for any branch (local, remote, or brand new) and have it set up automatically: symlinks for untracked assets (node_modules, .env, …) and project-defined setup scripts.
• Open it in your editor — in the current shell, or in a new terminal window via a configurable command template.
• Run named project scripts with well-known WF_* environment variables.
• Delete worktrees safely, or checkout: collapse one back into the main checkout.
• Drive everything from an interactive fzf TUI (wf with no arguments).

Install

# Arch Linux
yay -S workforest        # AUR

# anywhere else
uv tool install workforest   # or: pipx install workforest

This installs two commands: workforest and its alias wf. Then add one line to your ~/.bashrc / ~/.zshrc:

eval "$(workforest shell-init)"

This upgrades wf to a shell function (needed so wf open can change your shell's directory — a plain binary cannot) and registers completions. Without it everything still works, but "open in current shell" prints the cd command instead of performing it.

Requirements: Linux, git ≥ 2.36, Python ≥ 3.14. Optional: fzf for the TUI.

Quick start

wf create feature/login     # create worktree + run hooks + open in $EDITOR
wf list                     # what's in the forest
wf open login -o 'lazygit'  # open with any command instead
wf run test                 # run a named script from config
wf run make check -j2       # extra args are appended to the script command
wf checkout login           # fold the branch back into the main checkout
wf delete fix-y             # remove a worktree (asks about dirty changes)
wf                          # interactive TUI (fzf)

Any unknown first word is an opener shortcut: wf edit api ≡ wf open api -o edit.

Configuration

Layered, YAML or JSON; later layers override earlier ones:

Scalars and lists replace; the scripts/openers mappings merge per key (null removes an entry). workforest config shows the merged result and where each layer came from; workforest init scaffolds a project file (--local for a personal one).

All keys, with defaults:

worktrees_dir: "$WF_MAIN/../worktrees/$WF_NAME"  # where the forest lives
opener: ""              # default opener; "" → $VISUAL → $EDITOR
openers: {}             # name -> command template, e.g. edit: "$EDITOR {target}"
window_command: ""      # "" → current shell; or e.g.
                        # "kitty --title {title} --directory {worktree} $WF_COMMAND"
symlinks: []            # untracked assets linked from main into new worktrees
setup_scripts: []       # shell snippets run in a fresh worktree
scripts: {}             # name -> snippet for `wf run NAME`

Openers and window_command are command templates sharing one variable family, which the launched process (and every script) also receives as environment variables:

In templates, $WF_X (like any $ENV variable) inserts raw text that word-splits into multiple arguments, while {x} — {worktree}, {target}, {title}, … — inserts the shell-quoted value as exactly one argument. Openers run with the worktree root as working directory; in window_command the resolved opener command is additionally available as $WF_COMMAND (spliced into argv words) or {command} (one argument, for $SHELL -c wrappers).

Fully commented reference configs: config.yaml (user/system) and .workforest.yaml (project) — installed to /usr/share/doc/workforest/examples/ by the Arch package.

Script environment

setup_scripts, scripts, and hooks run via $SHELL -c with:

worktrees_dir is a template using the same naming pattern: $WF_MAIN and $WF_NAME (plus regular environment variables like $HOME) expand there — the per-worktree variables don't, since no worktree exists yet when the base directory is resolved.

Example project config

# .workforest.yaml — committed to the repo
symlinks: [node_modules, .env]
setup_scripts:
  - npm install --prefer-offline
scripts:
  test: npm test
  migrate: npm run db:migrate

Commands

workforest create [BRANCH] [-o OPENER] [-p PATH] [--no-hooks] [--no-open]
workforest open   [NAME]   [-o OPENER] [-p PATH]
workforest list   [--porcelain]
workforest delete NAME...  [--force] [--delete-branch | --keep-branch]
workforest checkout NAME   [--force]
workforest run    SCRIPT [ARGS...]
workforest tui    [MODE]
workforest init   [--local]
workforest config [--json]
workforest shell-init [bash|zsh]

Exit codes: 0 ok · 1 error · 2 usage · 3 cancelled · 4 config error. Human messages go to stderr; stdout carries only machine output (cd directives for the wf wrapper, --porcelain listings, dumps).

Development

uv sync           # venv + dev dependencies (uv.lock)
make check        # ruff + mypy --strict + pytest (coverage gate ≥ 90%)
make install      # install this checkout as a uv tool (~/.local/bin/workforest)
make uninstall    # remove it again

Packaging recipes live under packaging/ (one directory per package manager; currently packaging/AUR/). Release: bump __version__, tag, update sha256sums in packaging/AUR/PKGBUILD, regenerate .SRCINFO (makepkg --printsrcinfo > .SRCINFO inside packaging/AUR/), push to AUR.

License

MIT