git-workspace is an opinionated git plugin that wraps git worktrees with a lifecycle system — so switching between branches feels like switching between projects, not shuffling stashes.
git stash, git switch, re-run your dev server, restore your editor tabs. Repeat twenty times a day.
With git-workspace, each branch lives in its own directory. You up into it, your environment is ready — dependencies installed, config files in place, hooks executed. You down out of it, your teardown scripts run. You come back tomorrow and everything is exactly where you left it.
Table of contents
- 🌳 Worktree-per-branch — every branch gets its own directory; no more dirty working trees
- 🪝 Lifecycle hooks — run scripts on setup, attach, detach, and teardown
- 🔗 Symlink injection — link dotfiles and config from a shared config repo into every worktree
- 📋 File copying — copy mutable config files that each worktree can edit independently
- 🔒 Override assets — replace tracked files with symlinks or copies without touching git history
- 📦 Variables — pass manifest-level and runtime variables into hooks as environment variables
- 🔏 Fingerprints — hash worktree files and expose the digest for further processing
- 🧭 CWD-aware — detects when you're already inside a workspace or worktree
- 🏗️ Detached mode — skip interactive hooks for headless, CI, or agent workflows
- 🧹 Stale worktree pruning — clean up old worktrees by age with dry-run preview
- 🩺 Workspace diagnostics — detect manifest errors, missing assets, broken hook references, and more
- 🎨 Rich terminal UI — styled output, progress bars, and sortable worktree tables
- 🗂️ Config as code — workspace configuration lives in its own git repo, versioned and shareable
A git-workspace workspace is a directory containing:
my-project/
├── .git/ ← bare git clone of your repository
├── .workspace/ ← clone of your config repository
│ ├── manifest.toml
│ ├── assets/ ← files to be linked or copied into worktrees
│ └── bin/ ← lifecycle hook scripts
├── main/ ← worktree for the main branch
├── feature/
│ └── my-feature/ ← worktree for feature/my-feature
└── ...
Each subdirectory is a fully functional git worktree. You work inside them like normal repositories.
Requires Python 3.14+.
With uv (recommended):
uv tool install git-workspace-cliWith pip:
pip install git-workspace-cliOnce installed, git workspace is available as a git subcommand.
Warning
Ensure your uv/pip install path is in $PATH, so Git can locate the git-workspace executable.
Start from an existing repository:
git workspace clone https://github.com/you/your-repo.git
cd your-repo
cd $(git workspace up hotfix/urgent -o)Start a brand new project:
mkdir my-project && cd my-project
git workspace init
cd $(git workspace up main -o)You're now inside my-project/main/ — a real git worktree on the main branch.
Tip
Use git workspace --help to explore all commands and flags in detail.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
git workspace init |
Initialize a new workspace in the current directory |
git workspace clone |
Clone an existing repository into workspace format |
git workspace up |
Open a worktree, creating it if it doesn't exist |
git workspace down |
Deactivate a worktree and run teardown hooks |
git workspace reset |
Reapply copies, links, and re-run setup hooks |
git workspace rm |
Remove a worktree (branch is preserved) |
git workspace ls |
List all active worktrees with branch, path, and age |
git workspace prune |
Remove stale worktrees by age (dry-run by default) |
git workspace doctor |
Inspect the workspace for inconsistencies; --fix applies safe remediations |
git workspace edit |
Open the workspace config in your editor |
git workspace compose |
Run docker compose against the workspace's shared compose file |
[branch] and --root let you operate on a workspace from anywhere in the file system, without needing to be inside it.
The manifest lives at .workspace/manifest.toml and controls everything. For example:
version = 1
base_branch = "main"
# Variables injected into every hook as GIT_WORKSPACE_VAR_*
[vars]
node-version = "22"
registry = "https://registry.npmjs.org"
# Lifecycle hooks (.workspace/bin/ scripts and inline commands)
[[hooks.on_setup]]
commands = ["install_deps", "docker build . -t myproj:latest"]
[[hooks.on_attach]]
commands = ["open_editor"]
[[hooks.on_detach]]
commands = ["save_state"]
[[hooks.on_teardown]]
commands = ["clean_cache"]
# Symlinks applied to every worktree
[[link]]
source = "vscode-settings.json"
target = ".vscode/settings.json"
# File copies — each worktree gets its own mutable version
[[copy]]
source = "config.local.yaml"
target = "config.local.yaml"Each hook entry can be a script in .workspace/bin/ or an inline shell command. If the entry matches a file in .workspace/bin/, it runs as a script; otherwise it's executed via the user shell.
Hooks come in two pairs that map to the two lifetimes a worktree has:
-
Worktree lifetime —
on_setupandon_teardownbracket the full existence of the worktree directory. -
Coding Session lifetime —
on_attachandon_detachbracket each interactive session inside it.Event When it runs on_setupAfter a worktree is first created, or on reseton_attachOn upin interactive mode (skipped with--detached)on_detachOn downand at the start ofrmon_teardownOn rm, afteron_detach, before the directory is deleted
Warning
Implement on_attach and on_detach hooks as idempotent operations. git-workspace treats these lifecycle events as potentially repeatable rather than strictly linear, accounting for edge cases where a session is interrupted before completion.
Environment variables
The following environment variables are available during hook execution:
| Variable | Value |
|---|---|
GIT_WORKSPACE_ROOT |
Absolute path to the workspace root |
GIT_WORKSPACE_NAME |
Workspace root directory name |
GIT_WORKSPACE_WORKTREE |
Absolute path to the current worktree |
GIT_WORKSPACE_BRANCH |
Current branch name |
GIT_WORKSPACE_EVENT |
The lifecycle event that triggered the hook |
GIT_WORKSPACE_VAR_* |
All manifest and runtime variables |
GIT_WORKSPACE_FINGERPRINT_* |
Content hashes computed from [[fingerprint]] file sets |
Conditional execution
Each hook event can have multiple [[hooks.<event>]] groups. A group only runs when its conditions block matches the effective branch. Groups with no conditions always run. Groups are evaluated top-to-bottom in manifest order.
| Key | Behaviour |
|---|---|
if_branch_matches |
Run only when the branch matches the glob pattern |
if_branch_not_matches |
Run only when the branch does not match the glob pattern |
Both conditions use POSIX glob syntax (*, ?, [...]). When both keys are present they are AND-ed: the group runs only when both hold.
Example:
# Always runs — no conditions
[[hooks.on_setup]]
commands = ["npm install"]
# Only on your own branches
[[hooks.on_setup]]
conditions = { if_branch_matches = "gabriel/*" }
commands = ["tmux attach -t MYSESSION"]
# Only on other branches
[[hooks.on_setup]]
conditions = { if_branch_not_matches = "gabriel/*" }
commands = ["echo not my branch"]
# Only on gabriel/* but not wip branches (AND)
[[hooks.on_setup]]
conditions = { if_branch_matches = "gabriel/*", if_branch_not_matches = "gabriel/wip-*" }
commands = ["start_long_running_task"]All hook-running commands (up, down, reset, rm) accept -a/--as <branch> to override which branch is used when evaluating hook conditions. The real GIT_WORKSPACE_BRANCH environment variable and git state are not affected.
# Run hooks as if this were a gabriel/* branch, even though the real branch is feat/my-feature
git workspace up feat/my-feature --as gabriel/my-featureThis is useful when a shared feature branch should trigger the same hooks as a personal branch, or when scripting against a branch that doesn't exist yet.
Fingerprints let you compute a short content hash over a set of files in the worktree and expose it as an environment variable. This gives hooks a cheap way to detect whether their inputs have changed — for example, only re-run npm install when package-lock.json changes, or only rebuild a Docker image when the Dockerfile or dependency files change.
Declare fingerprints as [[fingerprint]] blocks in the manifest:
[[fingerprint]]
name = "docker-deps"
files = [
"Dockerfile",
"package.json",
"package-lock.json",
]
algorithm = "sha256" # optional; default: sha256
length = 12 # optional; default: 12Each fingerprint is exposed as GIT_WORKSPACE_FINGERPRINT_<NORMALIZED_NAME> (same normalization as vars — uppercase, non-alphanumeric replaced by _). The above example produces GIT_WORKSPACE_FINGERPRINT_DOCKER_DEPS.
Fingerprints are recomputed on every up, reset, down, and rm invocation. Files are looked up relative to the worktree root; a missing or unreadable file contributes its path and the literal marker NULL to the hash rather than failing.
Usage example
#!/bin/sh
state_file="$GIT_WORKSPACE_ROOT/.fingerprint-docker-deps"
current="$GIT_WORKSPACE_FINGERPRINT_DOCKER_DEPS"
previous=$(cat "$state_file" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
if [ "$current" != "$previous" ]; then
docker build . -t myapp
echo "$current" > "$state_file"
fiAssets let you inject shared files — dotfiles, editor configs, secrets — into every worktree from your config repository. They live in .workspace/assets/ and are applied automatically on up and reset.
Symbolic links from .workspace/assets into the worktree. The source asset is shared across all worktrees — editing the link edits the original.
[[link]]
source = "env.local"
target = ".env.local"File copies from .workspace/assets into the worktree. Each worktree gets its own independent file. Copies are idempotent — reset overwrites them with a fresh copy from the source.
[[copy]]
source = "config.local.yaml"
target = "config.local.yaml"Overwrite control
Set overwrite = false to seed the file once and preserve local edits across resets. The file is still created on the first up, but subsequent reset calls leave it untouched.
[[copy]]
source = "config.local.yaml"
target = "config.local.yaml"
overwrite = falseTemplating
Files in .workspace/assets/ whose name ends in .j2 are rendered as Jinja2 templates. Files without .j2 are copied verbatim. For top-level copies the target path is whatever you write in the manifest — the .j2 suffix is not stripped automatically, so use an explicit target if you want a different output name:
[[copy]]
source = "config.local.yaml.j2"
target = "config.local.yaml"Every GIT_WORKSPACE_* variable available to hooks — base, manifest, runtime, and fingerprint vars — is exposed by name inside the template:
# .workspace/assets/config.local.yaml.j2
branch: {{ GIT_WORKSPACE_BRANCH }}
worktree: {{ GIT_WORKSPACE_WORKTREE }}
env: {{ GIT_WORKSPACE_VAR_ENV }}
After git workspace up feature/my-feature -v env=staging, the copied file becomes:
branch: feature/my-feature
worktree: /path/to/workspace/feature/my-feature
env: stagingBeyond simple substitution, you also get conditionals, loops, and filters — useful when a single asset needs to differ across branches:
{% if GIT_WORKSPACE_BRANCH == "main" %}
log_level: warn
{% else %}
log_level: debug
{% endif %}
Unknown variables are left verbatim (e.g. {{ GIT_WORKSPACE_TYPO }} is written as-is so typos are obvious). Only GIT_WORKSPACE_* keys are exposed — the host process environment is not. Plain (non-.j2) files — text or binary — are copied byte-for-byte. In a directory copy, each file is rendered or copied based on its own suffix, and the trailing .j2 is stripped from rendered files (e.g. vscode/settings.json.j2 becomes .vscode/settings.json); plain files keep their on-disk name. git workspace doctor flags unknown variables and template syntax errors in .j2 files.
By default, asset targets are added to .git/info/exclude so they stay invisible to git. Set override = true to replace a tracked file instead — the target is marked with git update-index --skip-worktree before the asset is applied.
[[link]] # or [[copy]]
source = "vscode-settings.json"
target = ".vscode/settings.json"
override = trueOver time, worktrees accumulate. The prune command removes the ones you're no longer using:
# preview what would be removed (default)
git workspace prune --older-than-days 14
# actually remove them
git workspace prune --older-than-days 14 --applyPruning force-removes worktrees directly and does not run lifecycle hooks. Configure defaults in the manifest so you can just run git workspace prune:
[prune]
older_than_days = 30
exclude_branches = ["main", "develop"]Drop a compose file under .workspace/ to define services that are shared across all worktrees — databases, caches, message queues, anything that doesn't need a branch-specific checkout:
# .workspace/compose.yml
services:
db:
image: postgres:16
environment:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secret
redis:
image: redis:7Then use git workspace compose to manage them from anywhere inside (or outside via -r) the workspace:
# start services in the background
git workspace compose up -d
# tail logs
git workspace compose logs -f
# stop everything
git workspace compose down
# from outside the workspace
git workspace -r ~/projects/my-workspace compose psThe project name is automatically derived from the workspace directory name (slugified to match docker compose naming rules), so services from different workspaces never collide.
Supported compose file names (in precedence order): compose.yaml, compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml, docker-compose.yml.
For CI pipelines, automation, or agent workflows where you don't want interactive hooks to fire:
git workspace up main --detachedThis runs on_setup (on first creation only) but skips on_attach. Combine with -o for fully machine-readable output:
WORKTREE=$(git workspace up main --detached -o)git workspace doctor inspects the workspace configuration and reports anything that would cause commands to fail or behave unexpectedly.
git workspace doctorIf everything is in order:
✓ Workspace is healthy.
Otherwise it lists findings by severity:
✗ Link source 'dotfile' does not exist in assets/
⚠ Script 'bin/old_script.sh' is not referenced by any hook
⚠ base_branch 'develop' does not resolve to any local or remote ref
Errors (✗) indicate problems that will break up, reset, or hooks. Warnings (⚠) indicate configuration that is suspicious but may be intentional — for example, a hook entry that looks like a bin script name but has no matching file (it may be an ad-hoc inline command).
The command exits 1 if any errors are found, 0 if the workspace is clean or has warnings only.
Automatic fixes
Pass --fix to apply remediations alongside the findings:
git workspace doctor --fixSafe fixes are applied silently. Destructive fixes (deleting files) prompt for confirmation first:
⚠ Hook script 'bin/on_setup' exists but is not executable
→ Fixed: Make bin/on_setup executable
⚠ Asset 'old_config.json' is not referenced by any link or copy
→ Delete unreferenced asset old_config.json? [y/N] y
→ Fixed: Delete unreferenced asset old_config.json
⚠ base_branch 'develop' does not resolve to any local or remote ref
✓ 1 fixed, 0 skipped → 1 remaining
Pass --yes (or -y) to skip all prompts — useful in CI:
git workspace doctor --fix --yesNOTE: Not all problems can be fixed automatically. Issues requiring manual judgment (e.g. clashing asset targets, unsupported manifest version, missing asset sources) are reported but left untouched.
Checks
| Level | Check | Description | --fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| error | Manifest not readable / invalid TOML | The manifest file cannot be opened or parsed | — |
| error | Unsupported manifest version | version is higher than this tool supports |
— |
| error | Missing asset source | A [[link]] or [[copy]] source file does not exist in assets/ |
prompt |
| error | Clashing asset targets | Two entries share the same target path |
— |
| error | Escaping asset target | A target path traverses outside the worktree root (e.g. ../../) |
— |
| error | Variable name collision | Two [vars] keys normalize to the same GIT_WORKSPACE_VAR_* name |
— |
| error | Fingerprint name collision | Two [[fingerprint]] names normalize to the same GIT_WORKSPACE_FINGERPRINT_* name |
— |
| error | Empty fingerprint name | A [[fingerprint]] has an empty or whitespace-only name |
— |
| error | Escaping fingerprint file | A files entry traverses outside the worktree root (e.g. ../../) |
— |
| error | Unsupported fingerprint algorithm | algorithm is not sha256 or md5 |
— |
| error | Invalid fingerprint length | length is zero or negative |
— |
| warning | Missing bin script | A whitespace-free hook entry has no matching file in bin/ |
prompt |
| warning | Non-executable bin script | A matching bin/ file exists but is not executable |
auto |
| warning | Empty hook entry | A hook list contains an empty or whitespace-only string | auto |
| warning | Duplicate hook entry | The same entry appears more than once in the same hook event | auto |
| warning | Empty hook group | A [[hooks.X]] block has no commands |
auto |
| warning | Orphaned bin script | A file in bin/ is not referenced by any hook |
prompt |
| warning | Orphaned asset | A file in assets/ is not referenced by any [[link]] or [[copy]] |
prompt |
| warning | Unknown copy placeholder | A {{ GIT_WORKSPACE_* }} placeholder in a copy asset is not a base variable, manifest var, or fingerprint |
— |
| warning | Unknown base branch | base_branch does not resolve to any local or remote ref |
— |
| warning | Stale worktree | A git-registered worktree's directory no longer exists on disk | auto |
| warning | Fingerprint/var name overlap | A [[fingerprint]] name and a [vars] key normalize the same (different env prefixes, but may be confusing in templates) |
— |
| warning | Empty fingerprint files list | A [[fingerprint]] has no entries in files |
— |
| warning | Duplicate fingerprint file | The same file path appears more than once within one [[fingerprint]] |
auto |
| warning | Fingerprint length exceeds digest | length is larger than the algorithm's full digest size; the full digest is used |
— |
auto = applied silently; prompt = asks for confirmation (--yes skips the prompt); — = no automatic fix available.
Set GIT_WORKSPACE_LOG_LEVEL to get diagnostic output on stderr:
GIT_WORKSPACE_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG git workspace up mainSupported levels: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR. Logging is silent by default.
Clone and set up:
git clone https://github.com/ewilazarus/git-workspace.git
cd git-workspace
uv sync
uv run pre-commit installRun the tests:
uv run pytestThe test suite includes both unit tests and integration tests. Integration tests spin up real git repositories in temporary directories — no mocking.
Lint and type check
uv run ruff check src/ tests/
uv run ruff format --check src/ tests/
uv run ty check src/Project layout
src/git_workspace/
├── cli/commands/ ← one file per command
├── assets.py ← symlink and copy management
├── doctor.py ← workspace diagnostic checks
├── env.py ← GIT_WORKSPACE_* environment variable construction
├── errors.py ← exception hierarchy
├── fingerprint.py ← worktree file hashing and fingerprint env var computation
├── git.py ← subprocess wrappers for git
├── hooks.py ← hook logic and execution
├── manifest.py ← manifest parsing
├── operations.py ← lifecycle orchestration
├── ui.py ← ui-related logic
├── utils.py ← general logic that doesn't fit elsewhere
├── workspace.py ← top-level workspace model
└── worktree.py ← worktree model
I built git-workspace because it fits my way of working. The worktree-per-branch model, the hook lifecycle, the asset injection — these are the exact primitives I was missing.
If it turns out to be useful to you too, consider supporting the project. Contributions and feedback are welcome!
Note
Developed and verified on macOS. Linux support is expected but untested. Windows is not supported.
Built with Typer, Rich, Jinja2, and a deep appreciation for git worktrees.