Meta Worktree Skill

Manage isolated git worktree sets for multi-repo tasks. Each worktree set creates parallel working directories with feature branches, perfect for:

• Working on multiple features simultaneously
• CI/CD pipelines needing isolated environments
• Code reviews requiring clean checkouts
• Ephemeral testing environments

When to Use Worktrees

Create a worktree when:

• Working on a feature that spans multiple repos and you need isolation
• Running CI checks or tests that shouldn't affect the primary workspace
• Reviewing a PR in a clean environment
• Investigating an incident at a specific version (tag, SHA, branch)
• Multiple tasks need to proceed in parallel without branch conflicts

Skip worktrees for:

• Quick single-file fixes in one repo
• Read-only exploration or research
• Operations you'll complete in the current session without switching context

Core Concept

A "worktree set" is a named collection of git worktrees, one per repo, all sharing a branch or task name:

.worktrees/
  auth-fix/           # task name
    backend/          # git worktree → main repo's backend/
    frontend/         # git worktree → main repo's frontend/

Creating Worktrees

# Create worktree set with specific repos
meta worktree create auth-fix --repo backend --repo frontend

# Create with all repos in the workspace
meta worktree create full-task --all

# Specify branch name (default: task name)
meta worktree create my-task --repo api --branch feature/my-feature

# Per-repo branch override
meta worktree create review --repo api:main --repo worker:develop

# Start from a specific tag/SHA/branch
meta worktree create incident-42 v2.3.1 --repo api

# Start from a GitHub PR's head branch
meta worktree create review --from-pr org/api#42 --repo api

Agent/CI Features

For headless and multi-agent environments:

# Mark as ephemeral (for automatic cleanup)
meta worktree create ci-check --all --ephemeral

# Set TTL for automatic expiration
meta worktree create ci-check --all --ttl 1h

# Store custom metadata
meta worktree create ci-check --all --meta agent=review-bot --meta run_id=abc123

# Atomic create + run + destroy
meta worktree exec --ephemeral lint-check --all -- make lint

TTL Formats

• 30s - seconds
• 5m - minutes
• 1h - hours
• 2d - days
• 1w - weeks

Managing Worktrees

# List all worktree sets
meta worktree list
meta worktree list --json

# Show detailed status of a worktree
meta worktree status auth-fix

# Show diff vs base branch
meta worktree diff auth-fix --base main

# Add a repo to existing worktree
meta worktree add auth-fix --repo another-service

Executing Commands

# Run command in all repos of a worktree set
meta worktree exec auth-fix -- cargo test

# Filter repos
meta worktree exec auth-fix --include backend -- make build
meta worktree exec auth-fix --exclude legacy -- npm test

# Run in parallel
meta worktree exec auth-fix --parallel -- cargo build

Context Detection

When your cwd is inside a .worktrees/<name>/ directory, meta automatically scopes commands to the worktree's repos with full feature support:

cd .worktrees/auth-fix/backend
meta exec -- cargo test       # runs in auth-fix's repos, not primary checkout
meta git status               # plugin dispatch works in worktrees
meta --tag cli exec -- pwd    # tag filtering works in worktrees
meta --parallel exec -- build # parallel execution works in worktrees

Include root repo for full features: When creating worktrees, include --repo . to ensure the .meta.yaml config is available inside the worktree. This gives full meta features (tags, plugins, parallel, ignore list) without needing to walk up to the primary checkout:

meta worktree create auth-fix --repo . --repo backend --repo frontend

If root repo is not in the worktree, meta will still find config by walking up to the primary checkout directory.

Override with --primary: Use --primary to bypass worktree context detection and operate on the primary checkout:

meta exec --primary -- cargo test  # uses primary checkout paths

Cleanup

# Destroy a worktree set
meta worktree destroy auth-fix

# Force destroy (even with uncommitted changes)
meta worktree destroy auth-fix --force

# Prune expired/orphaned worktrees
meta worktree prune
meta worktree prune --dry-run  # preview without removing

Lifecycle Hooks

Configure hooks in .meta to integrate with external systems:

{
  "worktree": {
    "hooks": {
      "post-create": "harmony worktree on-create",
      "post-destroy": "harmony worktree on-destroy",
      "post-prune": "harmony worktree on-prune"
    }
  }
}

Hooks receive the worktree entry as JSON on stdin. Hook failures print warnings but don't block operations.

Centralized Store

All worktree metadata is stored at ~/.meta/worktree.json:

• Tracks worktrees across all projects on the machine
• Stores ephemeral/TTL status, custom metadata
• Used by prune to detect expired worktrees
• Store is optional—commands fall back to filesystem discovery if missing

GitHub Actions Example

steps:
  - name: Review PR
    run: |
      meta worktree exec --ephemeral review-${{ github.run_id }} \
        --from-pr ${{ github.repository }}#${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} \
        --all --json \
        --meta agent=review-bot \
        -- make check

Command Reference

Create Options

Exec Options

Efficiency Tips

• Always commit before destroying: Uncommitted changes in worktree repos are lost on destroy
• Include root repo: --repo . gives full meta features (tags, plugins, parallel, ignore list) inside the worktree
• Ephemeral for CI: meta worktree exec --ephemeral creates, runs, and destroys in one atomic operation