worktree-aid

This is a Linux command line tool to conveniently add, remove, and change directories for git worktrees. A fuzzy finder is used to show current worktrees and prompt user for the name if not given.

After following the instructions in the Installation and Setup sections below, an wt shell command/alias is available to use to manage git worktrees. There are 3 commands typically used:

• wt add (or wt a) to add a new worktree + branch and automatically cd to it. If you don't specify a worktree name, a new unique name will be automatically created for you.

• wt cd (or wt c) to change directory to a specified worktree. You can use / as a shortcut to the toplevel repository directory. If you don't specify a worktree name, then a fuzzy finder will prompt you with a list of worktrees to select from and be cd'd to.

• wt rm (or wt r) to remove a worktree + branch. If you don't specify a worktree name, then a fuzzy finder will prompt you with a list of worktrees to select from. The current worktree is first in the list and is the default selection to remove. If you delete the current worktree then you will be automatically cd'd to the toplevel repository directory.

There are some other options and commands available, as described in later sections. Type wt to see an overall help/usage summary, or wt <command> -h to see specific help/usage for any individual command.

The project homepage and latest documentation is at https://github.com/bulletmark/worktree-aid.

Usage

Type wt or wt -h to view the usage summary:

usage: wt [-B BASEDIR] [-R] [-U] [-F FUZZY] [-h] [-v]
                       {add,a,rm,r,cd,c,ls,l,init} ...

Linux command line tool to conveniently add, remove, and change directories
for git worktrees. Prompts user to select worktree using fuzzy finder if no
worktree name is given.

options:
  -B, --basedir BASEDIR
                        base directory for newly added worktrees,
                        default="../worktrees/{repo}".
  -R, --relative        display worktree paths relative instead of absolute
  -U, --no-user         do not substitute "~" for home directory
  -F, --fuzzy FUZZY     fuzzy finder program, default="fzf"
  -h, --help            show help message and exit
  -v, --version         show program version and exit

Commands:
  {add,a,rm,r,cd,c,ls,l,init}
    add (a)             Add new worktree + branch.
    rm (r)              Remove worktree + branch.
    cd (c)              Change worktree directory.
    ls (l)              List worktrees.
    init                Output shell initialization code.

Type wt <command> -h to see specific help/usage for any individual command:

Command add

usage: wt add [-h] [-d] [-c] [worktree]

Add new worktree + branch.

positional arguments:
  worktree      new worktree + branch to add. A name is automatically created
                if not specified.

options:
  -h, --help    show help message and exit
  -d, --detach  add detached worktree only, i.e. without adding a new branch
  -c, --no-cd   do not change directory to new worktree after adding it

aliases: a

Command rm

usage: wt rm [-h] [-k] [-f] [worktree ...]

Remove worktree + branch.

positional arguments:
  worktree           worktree + branch name to remove. If not specified then
                     fuzzy finder will prompt with a list of worktrees, with
                     the current worktree as the default selection.

options:
  -h, --help         show help message and exit
  -k, --keep-branch  remove worktree but keep branch
  -f, --force        force removal of worktree + branch even if untracked or
                     unmerged changes exist.

aliases: r

Command cd

usage: wt cd [-h] [worktree]

Change worktree directory.

positional arguments:
  worktree    Worktree name to change directory to. "/" is a shortcut to the
              toplevel repository. If not specified then fuzzy finder will
              prompt with a list of worktrees.

options:
  -h, --help  show help message and exit

aliases: c

Command ls

usage: wt ls [-h]

List worktrees.

options:
  -h, --help  show help message and exit

aliases: l

Command init

usage: wt init [-h] [command]

Output shell initialization code. Must be invoked using `source <(worktree-
aid)` in your shell `~/.bashrc` or `~/.zshrc` initialization file to create
the shell alias/function by which you invoke this program.

positional arguments:
  command     alternative command name, and optional default arguments,
              default="wt"

options:
  -h, --help  show help message and exit

Installation or Upgrade

Python 3.10 or later is required. Install using uv tool:

$ uv tool install worktree-aid

# To upgrade:
$ uv tool upgrade worktree-aid

# To uninstall:
$ uv tool uninstall worktree-aid

Or, on Arch Linux:

$ yay -S worktree-aid  # or your preferred AUR helper

You also need to install a fuzzy finder program such as fzf which is the default used by worktree-aid. See fuzzy finder installation instructions for possible alternatives.

Setup

A user who wants to use worktree-aid must add the following line to their ~/.bashrc (bash user) or ~/.zshrc (zsh user). Ensure it is added after where your PATH is set up so that the command worktree-aid can be found. This creates the wt wrapper command in your interactive shell session as a tiny function.

source <(worktree-aid init)

Then log out and back in again to be able to use the new wt function in your shell.

Alternative Command Name

You can use an alternative command name instead of the default wt if you prefer. To do this, simply append your desired command name as the first argument to the worktree-aid init option in your shell initialization code.

E.g, to use the command name wx rather than the default wt, use the following in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file:

source <(worktree-aid init wx)

Then log out/in, and then use wx command instead of the default wt.

Default Options

You can also set default worktree-aid options by appending options in the shell initialization code, e.g:

source <(worktree-aid init "wt -R")

The above sets -R (for relative display of worktree directories) as default for your wt command.

The following options are sensible candidates to set as default options: -B/--basedir, -R/--relative, -U/--no-user, -F/--fuzzy.

Worktree Base Directory

The -B/--basedir option allows you to specify a base directory for newly added worktrees. It is set to a default as below but you can change this to any directory you like. It can be absolute or relative where relative paths are relative to base repository directory.

• Default is -B ../worktrees/{repo} which is the same as the Zed editor uses by default.
• E.g. can use -B ../{repo}.worktrees which is same as VS Code uses by default.
• E.g. can use -B ~/worktrees/{repo} to put all worktrees in a subdirectory of your home directory.

The following place-markers can be used in the definition of the base directory:

• {repo}: Substituted with the base name of the repository.
• {user}: Substituted with the name of the user.
• {home}: Substituted with the home directory of the user (also can use ~ at start of a path).

Most likely if you want to set a custom base directory then you will set -B as a default option.

Display as Relative Worktree Directories

The git worktree list command displays absolute directory paths, and worktree-aid does also by default, but many users prefer them displayed as shorter relative paths. The Git worktree command does not provide this but you can enable it in worktree-aid by adding the -R/--relative option, e.g:

$ wt l
../worktrees/worktree-aid/development 9796714 [development]
../worktrees/worktree-aid/milestone1  bc921b8 [milestone1]
../worktrees/worktree-aid/test        e6d965a [test]
                                      f76b8e0 [main]

Most likely you will want to set -R as a default option.

Fuzzy Finder Integration

fzf is the default fuzzy finder used by worktree-aid, but you can use any of the popular other command line fuzzy search finders such as sk, tv, or fzy.

E.g. to use sk, put this in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file:

source <(worktree-aid init "wt -F sk")

You can also get fancy and add preview options etc to your fuzzy finder command line. Most likely you will want to set -F as a default option.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later.