Using git worktrees

Skill Yco-0314/strata/skills/l3-execution/using-git-worktrees

Strata — a self-measuring skills framework for Claude Code & Codex: best-of-breed engineering skills stacked by altitude, where every skill has to prove it moves a measured number.

Install

npx -y skills add Yco-0314/strata --skill using-git-worktrees

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Use when starting feature work that needs isolation, or before executing implementation plans — creates an isolated git worktree with smart directory selection, ignore-safety verification, and a clean test baseline. Called by subagent-driven-development to bind isolation into the dispatch step.

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SKILL.md

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Using git worktrees — L3 isolation primitive

Worktrees give each task/agent its own checkout sharing one repo, so parallel work can't collide. Announce: "Setting up an isolated worktree."

Directory selection (priority order)

.worktrees/ exists → use it (wins over worktrees/).
worktrees/ exists → use it.
grep -i "worktree.*director" CLAUDE.md → use the stated preference, don't ask.
None → ask: .worktrees/ (project-local, hidden) or a global location.

Safety (project-local dirs only)

Verify the dir is git-ignored before creating anything:

git check-ignore -q .worktrees || git check-ignore -q worktrees

Not ignored? Add it to .gitignore, commit, then proceed — otherwise worktree contents get tracked. (Global dirs outside the repo need no check.)

Create → setup → verify baseline

project=$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)")
git worktree add "$LOCATION/$BRANCH" -b "$BRANCH" && cd "$LOCATION/$BRANCH"

Then auto-detect setup (package.json→npm install, Cargo.toml→cargo build, pyproject.toml→poetry install, go.mod→go mod download) and run the project's tests to confirm a clean baseline. Tests fail at baseline → report and ask before proceeding (you can't tell new bugs from pre-existing ones otherwise). Then report: path, test count, ready.

Worktree-bound fan-out (the borrow)

When a parent skill dispatches N parallel agents over independent domains, create N worktrees as part of the spawn step — one per agent — so isolation is an invariant of the fan-out, not a thing the caller must remember to pair. This fuses parallel-dispatch and isolation into one operation: parallel agents can never touch the same tree.

Windows / sandboxes: git worktree may need privilege — fall back to separate clones if worktree add fails.

Red flags

Never create a project-local worktree without verifying it's ignored. Never skip the baseline test. Never proceed past failing baseline tests without asking. Pairs with finishing-a-development-branch (L4) for cleanup.

What ships with it

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Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.