Dotclaude worktree

Use when starting new feature work that should happen in an isolated git worktree on its own branch.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/JHostalek/dotclaude

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/JHostalek/dotclaude "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/worktree" ~/.claude/skills/jhostalek-dotclaude-worktree && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/worktree/SKILL.md

source content

input = $ARGUMENTS

Branch Name

Derive from user input (ask if missing). Default format:

<type>/<kebab-description>

using conventional commit types (

feat

when ambiguous). Check
git branch
first — if the repo uses a different convention (e.g.,

feature/JIRA-123-desc

), match it.

Show the derived name before proceeding.

Worktree Location

{repo_root}/.claude/worktrees/{branch_slug}

where

branch_slug

replaces

with

```
repo_root
```
=
```
git rev-parse --show-toplevel
```
Ensure
```
.claude/worktrees/
```
exists and is in
```
.gitignore
```

Base Branch

Branch from the latest remote default, not from

HEAD

—

HEAD

can be stale or on an unrelated branch, silently seeding the worktree with the wrong history.

Detect default:

git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD | sed 's|refs/remotes/origin/||'

(fallback: try

main

, then

master

)

Fetch:
```
git fetch origin {default_branch}
```

Create:

git worktree add -b {branch} {directory} origin/{default_branch}

If the branch already exists:

git worktree add {directory} {branch}

(no

-b

After creation, symlink gitignored files so the worktree runs without a reinstall:

bash ~/.claude/skills/worktree/scripts/symlink-gitignored.sh {repo_root} {directory}

Submodules

git worktree add

on a parent repo does NOT initialize submodules — their directories will be empty. Each worktree gets its own independent submodule git dir at

.git/worktrees/{name}/modules/{submodule}

, so submodules can be on different branches without conflicting with the original checkout.

Inside the new worktree:

Initialize:

git -C {directory} submodule update --init

If the submodule needs a specific branch (not just the commit pinned by the parent):
```
git -C {directory}/{submodule} checkout {branch}
```

Symlink gitignored files per submodule:

bash ~/.claude/skills/worktree/scripts/symlink-gitignored.sh {repo_root}/{submodule} {directory}/{submodule}

Scope determination — before creating anything:

Single submodule only — worktree in that submodule alone
Parent + submodule(s) — parent worktree + submodule init inside it
Ambiguous — ask

Output

Show: worktree path,

claude --cwd {directory}

command, reminder to use

/worktree-clean

when done, and

git worktree list