wt

A single Bash script for creating and managing Git worktrees. Customize it directly-no build step required.

Installation

Requires Bash and Git. Clone the repository and link the script:

git clone https://github.com/ilcm96/wt.git
cd wt
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
ln -s "$PWD/wt.sh" "$HOME/.local/bin/wt"

Add the following to your shell configuration (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

wt() {
  if [[ "${1:-}" == "switch" ]]; then
    shift
    local target_dir
    target_dir="$(command wt switch --print-path "$@")" || return
    cd -- "$target_dir"
  else
    command wt "$@"
  fi
}

Open a new terminal to start using wt. The function lets wt switch change the current shell's directory. Without it, the script only displays information about the target worktree.

Usage

Run commands from inside a Git repository.

wt list
wt new feature/login main
wt new feature/existing
wt switch feature/login
wt rename feature/login feature/sign-in
wt sync

Command	Description
wt list	Show each worktree's branch, status, and path
wt switch <target>	Change to a worktree
wt new <branch> [base-branch]	Create a worktree for an existing local branch, or create a new branch
wt track <branch> [remote]	Create a new local tracking branch and worktree; remote defaults to origin
wt rename <target> <new-branch>	Rename the local branch without moving its directory
wt remove [--force] <target>	Remove a worktree and its local branch
wt sync	Copy matching files from the current worktree to other worktrees
wt code <target>	Open in VS Code; requires the code command
wt codex <target>	Open in the Codex app; macOS only
wt -h / wt -v	Show help / version

A <target> can be a branch name, a worktree directory name, or a full path.

wt new feature/existing uses the existing local branch and preserves its commits. If the branch does not exist, wt new creates it from the current branch or the supplied base branch. A base branch cannot be supplied for an existing branch, and a branch already checked out in another worktree must be switched away from first.

New worktrees are created next to the main repository as <repo>-<branch>. Characters outside A–Z, a–z, 0–9, ., _, and - are replaced with -. For example, feature/login in my-app becomes my-app-feature-login.

remove deletes the local branch even if it has not been merged. --force also allows removing a worktree with modified or untracked files. The current and main worktrees cannot be removed.

File sync settings

Edit the arrays at the top of wt.sh:

SYNC_FILE_PATTERNS=(
  '.env'
  '.env.*'
  'AGENTS.override.md'
  'secret.yaml'
)

new and track copy files to the newly created worktree. sync copies them to all other worktrees.

• Matches file names recursively and preserves relative paths.
• Overwrites existing files at the same path. Files missing from the source are not deleted from the destination.
• Skips files whose relative paths contain sample, regardless of case.
• Skips directories listed in SYNC_EXCLUDE_DIRS at any depth.

The exclusion list includes .git, node_modules, .venv, .gradle, target, and build, among others. Adjust it for your project. Run wt -h to see the current settings.

Completion

Add the appropriate snippet to your shell configuration:

# Zsh: skip the first line if compinit is already configured.
autoload -Uz compinit && compinit
eval "$(wt completion zsh)"

# Bash 4 or later
eval "$(wt completion bash)"

License

MIT