Today I Learned
How does git worktree work
By default, when you do git worktree add <path> it will create a folder in the path you specified, checkout in a branch with its name as the folder, and any changes you commit in that workspace/branch will sync with your main local repo. So you can delete that worktree folder later or remove it by doing git worktree remove <path> and you won’t lose your committed changes.
Why is this useful?
- Isolated duplicate local repo. You could for instance have the same app running in two places with different changes.
- Isolated repo allows you to test different changes without disrupting a possible uncommitted working tree. Sure you can always git stash but that can get out of hand easy.
Main commands to know:
git worktree add <path>
Creates a copy of your main working tree in the path you specified without the gitignored files, so you will need to install dependencies again.
git worktree remove <path>
Removes the working tree in the path. However, any committed changes are always sync back to the main local repo.
git worktree add <path> <branch>
Checkouts as an existing branch. This will create another working tree in the path you specified but this time checked out with the branch you specified.
git worktree prune
Cleans up any stale worktrees.
A tip is to always put your different worktrees outside the main repo for it not to be included in your Git changes.