gw

A bare-clone + worktree helper for Git. Keeps every branch in its own directory so you can switch contexts without git stash.

myrepo/
  .bare/          ← the actual git objects
  main/           ← worktree for main
  my-feature/     ← worktree for my-feature

Installation

Download a pre-built binary

Pick the right binary for your platform from the latest release:

Platform	Binary
macOS (Apple Silicon)	gw-aarch64-apple-darwin
macOS (Intel)	gw-x86_64-apple-darwin
Linux x86_64	gw-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Linux arm64	gw-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

# Example: macOS Apple Silicon
curl -Lo gw https://github.com/tkgalk/gw/releases/latest/download/gw-aarch64-apple-darwin
chmod +x gw
mv gw /usr/local/bin/

Build from source (requires Rust)

cargo install --git https://github.com/tkgalk/gw

Usage

Clone a repo

gw clone git@github.com:org/repo.git
# creates: repo/.bare/ and repo/<default-branch>/

Create a new repo

gw new myrepo
# creates: myrepo/.bare/ and myrepo/main/ (an empty worktree, no commits yet)

# Pick the initial branch name (defaults to git's init.defaultBranch, else "main")
gw new myrepo --branch trunk

Like git init, this leaves you with an empty worktree and no commits — add a remote yourself once you have one (git remote add origin <url>). Requires git ≥ 2.42 (for git worktree add --orphan).

Manage worktrees

# Add a new worktree (creates branch off default branch)
gw worktree add my-feature

# Add off a specific base
gw worktree add my-feature --base origin/main

# Check out an existing branch
gw worktree add main --existing

# List all worktrees
gw worktree list

# Remove a worktree
gw worktree remove my-feature

# Prune stale bookkeeping (dry-run first)
gw worktree prune --dry-run
gw worktree prune

Run from any directory inside a gw-managed repo — it walks up to find the .bare/ directory automatically.