NAME

git-worktree - Manage multiple working trees

SYNOPSIS

  1. git worktree add [-f] [--detach] [--checkout] [--lock] [-b <new-branch>] <path> [<commit-ish>]
  2. git worktree list [--porcelain]
  3. git worktree lock [--reason <string>] <worktree>
  4. git worktree move <worktree> <new-path>
  5. git worktree prune [-n] [-v] [--expire <expire>]
  6. git worktree remove [-f] <worktree>
  7. git worktree unlock <worktree>

DESCRIPTION

Manage multiple working trees attached to the same repository.

A git repository can support multiple working trees, allowing you to checkout more than one branch at a time. With git worktree add a new workingtree is associated with the repository. This new working tree is called a"linked working tree" as opposed to the "main working tree" prepared by "gitinit" or "git clone". A repository has one main working tree (if it’s not abare repository) and zero or more linked working trees. When you are donewith a linked working tree, remove it with git worktree remove.

If a working tree is deleted without using git worktree remove, thenits associated administrative files, which reside in the repository(see "DETAILS" below), will eventually be removed automatically (seegc.worktreePruneExpire in git-config[1]), or you can rungit worktree prune in the main or any linked working tree toclean up any stale administrative files.

If a linked working tree is stored on a portable device or network sharewhich is not always mounted, you can prevent its administrative files frombeing pruned by issuing the git worktree lock command, optionallyspecifying —reason to explain why the working tree is locked.

COMMANDS

  • add []
  • Create <path> and checkout <commit-ish> into it. The new working directoryis linked to the current repository, sharing everything except workingdirectory specific files such as HEAD, index, etc. - may also bespecified as <commit-ish>; it is synonymous with @{-1}.

If is a branch name (call it <branch>) and is not found,and neither -b nor -B nor —detach are used, but there doesexist a tracking branch in exactly one remote (call it <remote>)with a matching name, treat as equivalent to:

  1. $ git worktree add --track -b <branch> <path> <remote>/<branch>

If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named bythe checkout.defaultRemote configuration variable, we’ll use thatone for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the <branch> isn’tunique across all remotes. Set it toe.g. checkout.defaultRemote=origin to always checkout remotebranches from there if <branch> is ambiguous but exists on theorigin remote. See also checkout.defaultRemote ingit-config[1].

If <commit-ish> is omitted and neither -b nor -B nor —detach used,then, as a convenience, the new worktree is associated with a branch(call it <branch>) named after $(basename <path>). If <branch>doesn’t exist, a new branch based on HEAD is automatically created asif -b <branch> was given. If <branch> does exist, it will bechecked out in the new worktree, if it’s not checked out anywhereelse, otherwise the command will refuse to create the worktree (unless—force is used).

  • list

  • List details of each worktree. The main worktree is listed first, followed byeach of the linked worktrees. The output details include if the worktree isbare, the revision currently checked out, and the branch currently checked out(or detached HEAD if none).

  • lock

  • If a working tree is on a portable device or network share whichis not always mounted, lock it to prevent its administrativefiles from being pruned automatically. This also prevents it frombeing moved or deleted. Optionally, specify a reason for the lockwith —reason.

  • move

  • Move a working tree to a new location. Note that the main working treeor linked working trees containing submodules cannot be moved.

  • prune

  • Prune working tree information in $GIT_DIR/worktrees.

  • remove

  • Remove a working tree. Only clean working trees (no untracked filesand no modification in tracked files) can be removed. Unclean workingtrees or ones with submodules can be removed with —force. The mainworking tree cannot be removed.

  • unlock

  • Unlock a working tree, allowing it to be pruned, moved or deleted.

OPTIONS

  • -f
  • —force
  • By default, add refuses to create a new working tree when<commit-ish> is a branch name and is already checked out byanother working tree, or if <path> is already assigned to someworking tree but is missing (for instance, if <path> was deletedmanually). This option overrides these safeguards. To add a missing butlocked working tree path, specify —force twice.

move refuses to move a locked working tree unless —force is specifiedtwice.

remove refuses to remove an unclean working tree unless —force is used.To remove a locked working tree, specify —force twice.

  • -b
  • -B

  • With add, create a new branch named <new-branch> starting at<commit-ish>, and check out <new-branch> into the new working tree.If <commit-ish> is omitted, it defaults to HEAD.By default, -b refuses to create a new branch if it alreadyexists. -B overrides this safeguard, resetting <new-branch> to<commit-ish>.

  • —detach

  • With add, detach HEAD in the new working tree. See "DETACHED HEAD"in git-checkout[1].

  • —[no-]checkout

  • By default, add checks out <commit-ish>, however, —no-checkout canbe used to suppress checkout in order to make customizations,such as configuring sparse-checkout. See "Sparse checkout"in git-read-tree[1].

  • —[no-]guess-remote

  • With worktree add <path>, without <commit-ish>, insteadof creating a new branch from HEAD, if there exists a trackingbranch in exactly one remote matching the basename of <path>,base the new branch on the remote-tracking branch, and markthe remote-tracking branch as "upstream" from the new branch.

This can also be set up as the default behaviour by using theworktree.guessRemote config option.

  • —[no-]track

  • When creating a new branch, if <commit-ish> is a branch,mark it as "upstream" from the new branch. This is thedefault if <commit-ish> is a remote-tracking branch. See"—track" in git-branch[1] for details.

  • —lock

  • Keep the working tree locked after creation. This is theequivalent of git worktree lock after git worktree add,but without race condition.

  • -n

  • —dry-run

  • With prune, do not remove anything; just report what it wouldremove.

  • —porcelain

  • With list, output in an easy-to-parse format for scripts.This format will remain stable across Git versions and regardless of userconfiguration. See below for details.

  • -q

  • —quiet

  • With add, suppress feedback messages.

  • -v

  • —verbose

  • With prune, report all removals.

  • —expire

  • With prune, only expire unused working trees older than

  • —reason

  • With lock, an explanation why the working tree is locked.

  • Working trees can be identified by path, either relative orabsolute.

If the last path components in the working tree’s path is unique amongworking trees, it can be used to identify worktrees. For example ifyou only have two working trees, at "/abc/def/ghi" and "/abc/def/ggg",then "ghi" or "def/ghi" is enough to point to the former working tree.

REFS

In multiple working trees, some refs may be shared between all workingtrees, some refs are local. One example is HEAD is different for allworking trees. This section is about the sharing rules and how to accessrefs of one working tree from another.

In general, all pseudo refs are per working tree and all refs startingwith "refs/" are shared. Pseudo refs are ones like HEAD which aredirectly under GIT_DIR instead of inside GIT_DIR/refs. There is oneexception to this: refs inside refs/bisect and refs/worktree is notshared.

Refs that are per working tree can still be accessed from anotherworking tree via two special paths, main-worktree and worktrees. Theformer gives access to per-worktree refs of the main working tree,while the latter to all linked working trees.

For example, main-worktree/HEAD or main-worktree/refs/bisect/goodresolve to the same value as the main working tree’s HEAD andrefs/bisect/good respectively. Similarly, worktrees/foo/HEAD orworktrees/bar/refs/bisect/bad are the same asGIT_COMMON_DIR/worktrees/foo/HEAD andGIT_COMMON_DIR/worktrees/bar/refs/bisect/bad.

To access refs, it’s best not to look inside GIT_DIR directly. Insteaduse commands such as git-rev-parse[1] or git-update-ref[1]which will handle refs correctly.

CONFIGURATION FILE

By default, the repository "config" file is shared across all workingtrees. If the config variables core.bare or core.worktree arealready present in the config file, they will be applied to the mainworking trees only.

In order to have configuration specific to working trees, you can turnon "worktreeConfig" extension, e.g.:

  1. $ git config extensions.worktreeConfig true

In this mode, specific configuration stays in the path pointed by gitrev-parse —git-path config.worktree. You can add or updateconfiguration in this file with git config —worktree. Older Gitversions will refuse to access repositories with this extension.

Note that in this file, the exception for core.bare and core.worktreeis gone. If you have them in $GIT_DIR/config before, you must movethem to the config.worktree of the main working tree. You may alsotake this opportunity to review and move other configuration that youdo not want to share to all working trees:

  • core.worktree and core.bare should never be shared

  • core.sparseCheckout is recommended per working tree, unless youare sure you always use sparse checkout for all working trees.

DETAILS

Each linked working tree has a private sub-directory in the repository’s$GIT_DIR/worktrees directory. The private sub-directory’s name is usuallythe base name of the linked working tree’s path, possibly appended with anumber to make it unique. For example, when $GIT_DIR=/path/main/.git thecommand git worktree add /path/other/test-next next creates the linkedworking tree in /path/other/test-next and also creates a$GIT_DIR/worktrees/test-next directory (or $GIT_DIR/worktrees/test-next1if test-next is already taken).

Within a linked working tree, $GIT_DIR is set to point to this privatedirectory (e.g. /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next in the example) and$GIT_COMMON_DIR is set to point back to the main working tree’s $GIT_DIR(e.g. /path/main/.git). These settings are made in a .git file located atthe top directory of the linked working tree.

Path resolution via git rev-parse —git-path uses either$GIT_DIR or $GIT_COMMON_DIR depending on the path. For example, in thelinked working tree git rev-parse —git-path HEAD returns/path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next/HEAD (not/path/other/test-next/.git/HEAD or /path/main/.git/HEAD) while gitrev-parse —git-path refs/heads/master uses$GIT_COMMON_DIR and returns /path/main/.git/refs/heads/master,since refs are shared across all working trees, except refs/bisect andrefs/worktree.

See gitrepository-layout[5] for more information. The rule ofthumb is do not make any assumption about whether a path belongs to$GIT_DIR or $GIT_COMMON_DIR when you need to directly access somethinginside $GIT_DIR. Use git rev-parse —git-path to get the final path.

If you manually move a linked working tree, you need to update the gitdir filein the entry’s directory. For example, if a linked working tree is movedto /newpath/test-next and its .git file points to/path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next, then update/path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next/gitdir to reference /newpath/test-nextinstead.

To prevent a $GITDIR/worktrees entry from being pruned (whichcan be useful in some situations, such as when theentry’s working tree is stored on a portable device), use thegit worktree lock command, which adds a file named_locked to the entry’s directory. The file contains the reason inplain text. For example, if a linked working tree’s .git file pointsto /path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next then a file named/path/main/.git/worktrees/test-next/locked will prevent thetest-next entry from being pruned. Seegitrepository-layout[5] for details.

When extensions.worktreeConfig is enabled, the config file.git/worktrees/<id>/config.worktree is read after .git/config is.

LIST OUTPUT FORMAT

The worktree list command has two output formats. The default format shows thedetails on a single line with columns. For example:

  1. $ git worktree list
  2. /path/to/bare-source            (bare)
  3. /path/to/linked-worktree        abcd1234 [master]
  4. /path/to/other-linked-worktree  1234abc  (detached HEAD)

Porcelain Format

The porcelain format has a line per attribute. Attributes are listed with alabel and value separated by a single space. Boolean attributes (like bare_and _detached) are listed as a label only, and are only present if and onlyif the value is true. The first attribute of a worktree is always worktree,an empty line indicates the end of the record. For example:

  1. $ git worktree list --porcelain
  2. worktree /path/to/bare-source
  3. bare
  4.  
  5. worktree /path/to/linked-worktree
  6. HEAD abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234abcd1234
  7. branch refs/heads/master
  8.  
  9. worktree /path/to/other-linked-worktree
  10. HEAD 1234abc1234abc1234abc1234abc1234abc1234a
  11. detached

EXAMPLES

You are in the middle of a refactoring session and your boss comes in anddemands that you fix something immediately. You might typically usegit-stash[1] to store your changes away temporarily, however, yourworking tree is in such a state of disarray (with new, moved, and removedfiles, and other bits and pieces strewn around) that you don’t want to riskdisturbing any of it. Instead, you create a temporary linked working tree tomake the emergency fix, remove it when done, and then resume your earlierrefactoring session.

  1. $ git worktree add -b emergency-fix ../temp master
  2. $ pushd ../temp
  3. # ... hack hack hack ...
  4. $ git commit -a -m 'emergency fix for boss'
  5. $ popd
  6. $ git worktree remove ../temp

BUGS

Multiple checkout in general is still experimental, and the supportfor submodules is incomplete. It is NOT recommended to make multiplecheckouts of a superproject.

GIT

Part of the git[1] suite