🌳 Pi Worktree

Stop making your agents wait in line.

pi -w fix-auth

One command. A dedicated branch, a dedicated checkout, a dedicated Pi conversation. Fire off fix-auth, fix-pagination, and add-api-tests in parallel from the same repo — no stashing, no collisions, no waiting your turn.

🤔 Why worktrees

A single checkout can't hold two tasks at once — two Pi sessions in the same directory step on each other's edits. Git worktrees fix that natively, but the raw workflow (branch, create, cd, launch, track, clean up) is tedious. Pi Worktree collapses it into one command:

| Task | Pi Worktree | Manual workflow | | --- | --- | --- | | Start an isolated task | pi -w fix-auth | git worktree add -b worktree-fix-auth .pi/worktrees/fix-auth && cd .pi/worktrees/fix-auth && pi | | Move the active conversation | /worktree fix-auth | Create the worktree, launch a new session, re-establish context by hand | | Return to the primary checkout | /worktree-exit | Find the primary checkout and relaunch or resume Pi there | | See every managed task | /worktree-list | Combine git worktree list with manual status checks | | Remove a finished checkout | /worktree-remove fix-auth | Verify it's inactive and clean, then git worktree remove |

Branches are always kept, even after removal — Pi Worktree never force-removes a checkout or force-deletes a branch.

🚀 Install

Requirements: Pi (tested with 0.83.0), Node.js 22.19+, Git worktree support, a non-bare repo with at least one commit.

pi install npm:pi-worktree-extension

That immediately adds the /worktree commands to your session:

cd ~/code/my-project
pi

/worktree feature-auth

Pi extensions run with your user permissions — review the source before installing packages you don't trust.

Optional: enable pi -w from the shell

/worktree works out of the box. For the pi -w feature-auth shortcut, add a small dispatcher (Pi picks its startup directory before extensions load, so this can't be done from inside the extension):

command -v pi   # copy this path for the next step

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

export PI_WORKTREE_REAL_PI="/absolute/path/to/pi"   # from `command -v pi` above
export PI_WORKTREE_LAUNCHER="$HOME/.pi/agent/npm/node_modules/.bin/pi-worktree"

pi() {
  case "${1-}" in
    -w|--worktree)
      if (($# < 2)); then
        echo "usage: pi -w <name> [Pi args...]" >&2
        return 2
      fi
      shift
      command "$PI_WORKTREE_LAUNCHER" "$@"
      ;;
    *)
      command "$PI_WORKTREE_REAL_PI" "$@"
      ;;
  esac
}

source ~/.zshrc   # or ~/.bashrc
pi --version

git clone https://github.com/AjayPoshak/pi-worktree-extension.git
cd pi-worktree-extension
npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm test
pi install "$PWD"

Point the launcher at the cloned package instead:

export PI_WORKTREE_LAUNCHER="/absolute/path/to/pi-worktree-extension/bin/pi-worktree"

⚡ Quick start

Start isolated tasks from separate terminals:

pi -w feature-auth
pi -w fix-pagination
pi -w add-api-tests

Each one gets its own files, branch, and session history:

my-project/
├── primary checkout                 main
└── .pi/worktrees/
    ├── feature-auth/                worktree-feature-auth
    ├── fix-pagination/              worktree-fix-pagination
    └── add-api-tests/               worktree-add-api-tests

Running pi -w feature-auth again reopens that checkout and resumes its latest session.

Already mid-conversation? /worktree feature-auth moves it — full history included — into an isolated checkout instead of making you start over. /worktree-exit brings it back.

🎛️ Core commands

| Command | Description | | --- | --- | | pi -w <name> [Pi args...] | Create or reopen a task worktree and continue its latest session | | pi --worktree <name> [Pi args...] | Long form of pi -w | | /worktree <name> | Move the active conversation into a new or existing worktree | | /worktree-switch <name> | Move the active conversation into an existing worktree (never creates one) | | /worktree-list | List managed worktree names and branch names | | /worktree-exit | Move the active conversation back to the primary checkout | | /worktree-remove <name> | Remove an inactive, clean checkout and keep its branch |

Names match [a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]{0,47} — e.g. fix-auth, issue-123, prototype2. pi -w supplies --continue itself; forward other Pi arguments freely, but not another resume/continue selector.

🛡️ Safety by default

• New worktrees branch from local origin/HEAD (never fetched — falls back to HEAD with a warning if origin/HEAD isn't available). Prefer HEAD instead? Set { "base": "head" } in ~/.pi/agent/worktree.json or <repository>/.pi/worktree.json.
• Creating a worktree requires a clean source checkout. Removal is blocked by any tracked, untracked, or ignored files in the target, or while another Pi process is using it.
• Dirty worktrees can always be reopened — unfinished work is never stranded.
• Quitting Pi never removes a checkout. /worktree-remove never deletes the branch. There is no force mode.

Worktrees isolate files, not permissions — every Pi process still runs with your own user access against the same repository.

Not (yet) included: automatic fetch/remote branch management, automatic branch deletion or rename, copying ignored/dependency files into new worktrees. A hard crash can leave a conservative lock behind — safe to inspect once you've confirmed no Pi process holds that worktree.

🧹 Uninstall

/worktree-list   # review before removing anything

pi remove npm:pi-worktree-extension

Then drop the dispatcher function and the PI_WORKTREE_REAL_PI / PI_WORKTREE_LAUNCHER variables from your shell config. Uninstalling never touches existing worktrees or worktree-* branches.

🤝 Contributing

Issues and small friction reports are welcome: open an issue.

npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm pack --dry-run

📄 License

MIT