Worktrees

Create isolated worktrees for parallel development — each gets its own branch and working directory.

Create

jig create feature-auth        # Create worktree
jig create feature-auth -o     # Create and cd into it

The -o flag can be placed anywhere:

jig -o create feature-auth
jig create -o feature-auth

List

jig list                       # Worktrees in current repo
jig list -g                    # Global — all repos
jig list --all                 # Include the base repo

Open

jig open feature-auth          # cd into an existing worktree

Remove

jig remove feature-auth        # Remove exact match
jig remove 'test*'             # Glob pattern
jig remove 'feature/*'         # Remove all under feature/
jig remove feature-auth -f     # Force remove

Exit

jig exit                       # Remove current worktree and cd to repo root

Home

jig home                       # cd to base repository root

Nested paths

Branch names with slashes create nested directories:

jig create feature/auth/oauth -o
# Creates .jig/feature/auth/oauth/

Branch resolution

jig create <branch> resolves the starting commit in this order:

1. Local branch exists — checks it out as-is.
2. origin/<branch> exists — creates a local branch from the remote and tracks it. The configured base is ignored. This is the common case when an agent already pushed the branch (e.g. via jig spawn).
3. Neither — forks a new branch from the configured base ([worktree] base in jig.toml, or --base).

So jig create feat/xyz will automatically check out a daemon-created branch if it exists on origin, rather than creating a disconnected fork.

# Agent pushed feat/xyz — you get the real branch, not a fork
jig create feat/xyz -o

# Branch doesn't exist anywhere — forks from origin/main (default base)
jig create my-new-feature -o

# Override base for a genuinely new branch
jig create my-feature --base origin/develop -o

How it works

Worktrees are stored in .jig/ inside your repo (auto-added to .git/info/exclude):

my-repo/
├── .jig/
│   ├── feature-a/
│   ├── feature-b/
│   └── feature/
│       └── auth/
│           └── oauth/
├── src/
└── ...

Each worktree is a full checkout of your repo on its own branch. Changes in one worktree don’t affect others until you merge.

Parallel sessions

Each worktree is independent. Run multiple agent sessions side by side:

Terminal 1:

jig create feature-auth -o
your-agent

Terminal 2:

jig create fix-bug-123 -o
your-agent

Both work independently with their own branches. For managed parallel sessions with monitoring and daemon supervision, use jig spawn instead — see Spawning.