Worktree Management

Git worktrees let each agent or task operate on its own branch without interfering with the main working directory. Claude Code exposes this through EnterWorktree / ExitWorktree tools.

Why worktrees

A worktree is a second (or third, or tenth) checked-out copy of the same repository, each on its own branch. Agents working in separate worktrees:

• Cannot corrupt each other's in-progress changes
• Do not share unstaged edits or index state
• Can be abandoned cleanly if the task fails
• Leave main (or your feature branch) undisturbed

This project itself runs in a worktree at .claude/worktrees/<branch-name>.

Core commands

# Create a worktree for a task branch
git worktree add .claude/worktrees/<name> -b <branch>

# List all active worktrees
git worktree list

# Remove a worktree (branch must be merged or explicitly deleted)
git worktree remove .claude/worktrees/<name>
git worktree prune   # remove stale entries

Claude Code tools

EnterWorktree

Switches the agent's working context into an isolated worktree. Subsequent tool calls (Read, Write, Bash, etc.) run inside that worktree's directory.

{
  "tool": "EnterWorktree",
  "params": {
    "branch": "feat/my-task",
    "worktreePath": ".claude/worktrees/feat-my-task"
  }
}

If the branch does not exist, EnterWorktree creates it from the current HEAD. If the worktree directory already exists, the agent re-enters it.

ExitWorktree

Returns the agent to the main working directory. Always pair with EnterWorktree in the same task — leaving a worktree open wastes disk and can block git worktree remove.

{
  "tool": "ExitWorktree"
}

Isolation: automatic vs manual

The Agent tool's isolation: "worktree" parameter handles this automatically:

{
  "tool": "Agent",
  "params": {
    "isolation": "worktree",
    "prompt": "Implement the auth middleware changes on a clean branch."
  }
}

Claude Code creates the worktree, runs the sub-agent inside it, then either:

• Cleans it up if the agent made no changes
• Returns the worktree path and branch name so you can review and merge

Branch-per-worktree pattern

Each parallel task gets its own branch:

main
├── .claude/worktrees/feat-auth-refactor    ← branch: feat/auth-refactor
├── .claude/worktrees/fix-token-expiry      ← branch: fix/token-expiry
└── .claude/worktrees/docs-update-api       ← branch: docs/update-api

Name the worktree directory after the branch slug. This makes git worktree list readable and git worktree remove unambiguous.

Parallel agent coordination

Fan-out multiple agents across independent tasks:

Orchestrator (main worktree)
  │
  ├── Agent A → worktree/feat-part-1   (writes auth.ts)
  ├── Agent B → worktree/feat-part-2   (writes middleware.ts)
  └── Agent C → worktree/docs-update   (writes README.md)
  │
  └── Orchestrator merges or PRs each branch after completion

Send all three in a single Agent tool call (parallel launch). The orchestrator collects results and decides merge order.

Lifecycle protocol

1. Create — EnterWorktree or Agent isolation: worktree creates the worktree
2. Work — all edits are scoped to the worktree's branch
3. Commit — commit inside the worktree; the commit belongs to its branch, not main
4. Exit — ExitWorktree or natural agent completion
5. Merge or PR — from main, git merge or open a PR for the branch
6. Remove — git worktree remove + git branch -d after merge

Never leave worktrees open indefinitely. Stale worktrees accumulate disk usage and cause git worktree prune noise.

Safe removal checklist

Before git worktree remove <path>:

• Branch has been merged (or explicitly abandoned)
• No unstaged changes in the worktree (git -C <path> status)
• No open processes with the worktree as cwd
• Agent that created it has exited or been stopped

# Check worktree status before removal
git -C .claude/worktrees/<name> status
git worktree remove .claude/worktrees/<name>
git branch -d <branch>        # safe: refuses if unmerged
git branch -D <branch>        # force: use only if abandoning

Conflict avoidance

Worktrees share the same .git directory. Two agents cannot check out the same branch in different worktrees — git will refuse with fatal: '<branch>' is already checked out.

Rules:

• Every worktree must have a unique branch
• Agents should never write to files that another concurrent agent's worktree branch will also modify (merge conflicts on PR)
• Task decomposition should minimize file overlap between parallel branches

When to use worktrees vs subagents in main context

Situation	Use worktree	Use main context
Long-running tasks (>10 min)	✓
Tasks touching many files	✓
Parallel independent tasks	✓
Quick single-file fix		✓
Research-only (read-only)		✓
Task must share context with parent		✓

Integration with cc-orchestrate

The cc-orchestrate command uses isolation: "worktree" for any template that fans out to multiple implementation agents. Each agent gets its own branch. The orchestrator collects the branch names and opens PRs or merges in sequence.

See skills/agent-teams/SKILL.md for full multi-agent coordination patterns.