Git Worktrees: Work on Multiple Branches at Once

The Problem with Context Switching

Every developer knows the pain: you are mid-way through a feature on branch A, and someone asks you to urgently fix a bug on branch B. You stash your changes, switch branches, fix the bug, switch back, and pop your stash. This workflow is error-prone and interrupts your flow.

**Git worktrees solve this** by letting you check out multiple branches into separate directories — all sharing the same repository.

What is a Worktree?

A worktree is an additional working directory linked to your repository. Each worktree has its own working directory, staging area, and HEAD pointer, but they all share the same object database, refs, and configuration. This means no extra disk space for duplicate objects.

# Add a worktree for a feature branch

git worktree add ../feature-login feature-login

# Now you have two directories:

# ./my-project (on main)

# ../feature-login (on feature-login)

Common Workflows

**Bug fix while working on a feature:**

# While on feature branch in ./my-project

git worktree add ../hotfix main

cd ../hotfix

# Fix the bug, commit, and push

git checkout -b hotfix-critical

git commit -m "Fix critical authentication bug"

git push origin hotfix-critical

cd ../my-project

# Resume your feature work — no stashing needed

**Review a pull request locally:**

git worktree add ../pr-review origin/feature/new-api

cd ../pr-review

# Explore, test, and review the code

Managing Worktrees

# List all worktrees

git worktree list

# Remove a worktree when done

git worktree remove ../feature-login

# Prune stale worktree references (if you deleted the directory manually)

git worktree prune

Important Rules

1. You cannot check out the same branch in two worktrees

2. Always run `git worktree remove` instead of deleting the directory manually

3. Worktrees share the same remote configuration — pushing from one affects all

4. Each worktree has its own reflog — lost commits in one won't appear in another

Worktrees are one of Git's most underused features. Once you start using them, you will wonder how you managed without them.