What is Worktrunk?
Worktrunk, by Maximilian Roos, is a command-line tool (wt) for managing git worktrees. It is not an AI tool itself; it exists because running several coding agents such as Claude Code or Codex at once needs each one in its own working directory, and git's own worktree commands are clumsy. Worktrees are addressed by branch name, and wt switch -c -x claude feat creates the branch and worktree and starts an agent in it in one step.
Around the three core commands (switch, list, remove) it adds hooks on create and merge, LLM-written commit messages, a one-command squash-rebase-merge, PR checkout, CI status in wt list, and copy-on-write sharing of build caches such as node_modules and target/ between worktrees.
The repo is dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0, written in Rust, with about 9,700 GitHub stars. Version 0.81.0 shipped on 20 October 2026, and the crate has about 41,000 downloads on crates.io.
Is Worktrunk worth it?
Worktrunk solves a narrow problem well, and the problem has become common. Once a coding agent can work unsupervised for half an hour, running five or ten at a time is the obvious next step, and git worktrees are the standard way to stop them overwriting each other. Native git makes that tedious: creating one worktree and an agent inside it means typing the branch name three times across git worktree add, cd and the agent command, and cleaning up takes three more. Worktrunk turns each into one command and computes paths from a template, so worktrees behave like branches.
What lifts it above a shell alias is the layer around the core. wt list shows every worktree with staged changes, commits ahead of main, unpushed work and, in full mode, CI status and an AI summary per branch. Hooks run dependency installs or start a dev server when a worktree is created, and a hash_port filter gives each worktree its own port. On APFS, btrfs and XFS it shares node_modules and target/ by copy-on-write, so ten worktrees do not mean ten cold builds, which is the cost most people underestimate. wt merge squashes, rebases, merges and removes the worktree in one go.
The design choice that matters is that Worktrunk stays out of the agent's way. Unlike claude-squad or orca, it does not wrap agents in its own terminal or desktop UI; it only manages directories and branches, so it works with any agent and any terminal multiplexer. The cost of that choice is that it does nothing to coordinate the agents themselves: merge conflicts between parallel branches, and the review load of ten diffs, are still yours.
The project is young and moves quickly, at version 0.81 after about a year, with 62 open issues and one principal maintainer. Pre-1.0 numbering means flags and config can still change. On Windows, wt clashes with Windows Terminal's own command, so winget installs it as git-wt. None of that outweighs how little it asks: a binary, a shell integration line, and git.
Where it earns its place
A solo developer running three Claude Code sessions on one Rust repo
Start each agent on its own branch without the cd and worktree boilerplate
wt switch -x claude -c feature-a -- 'Add user authentication', repeated per task; a post-start hook runs installs and target/ is shared copy-on-write on APFS. Free; saves the cold build per worktree.
A tech lead on a six-person web team trialling parallel agents
See at a glance which agent branches are ahead, dirty or failing CI
wt list --full shows staged changes, commits ahead of main, unpushed work and CI status per worktree; wt switch pr:123 jumps to a teammate's PR. No licence cost, only the review time the extra branches create.
A front-end developer whose agents each need a running dev server
Run several dev servers side by side without port collisions
Use the hash_port template filter in a hook so each worktree gets a stable unique port, then wt merge main squashes, rebases and removes the worktree when the task lands.
Before you commit
- Setup
- brew install worktrunk or cargo install worktrunk, then wt config shell install so wt can change directories; also on winget, pacman and conda-forge. A first worktree takes under a minute.
- Integrations
- Launches any agent through -x (Claude Code integration is documented), reads PRs and CI status from GitHub and GitLab, and runs under any terminal or multiplexer such as Zellij or tmux.
- Data and privacy
- A local binary that drives git; LLM commit messages and branch summaries call whichever model command you configure. Dual MIT or Apache-2.0 licence; no security advisories published.
- Cost at scale
- No paid edition. The real costs are disk for each worktree, cut by copy-on-write cache sharing on supported filesystems, and reviewer time for the parallel branches.
- Limits
- 62 open issues and pre-1.0 versioning; copy-on-write cache sharing needs APFS, btrfs or XFS; it manages directories, not agents, so it has no view of what each agent is doing.
What’s good
- One command creates a worktree and starts an agent in it
- Copy-on-write sharing of node_modules and target/ between worktrees
- wt list shows changes, ahead/behind and CI status per branch
- Works with any agent; no UI or runtime of its own
What’s not
- Pre-1.0 with fast releases; flags and config can change
- Does nothing about conflicts between parallel branches
- Name clash with Windows Terminal; installed as git-wt there
- Cache sharing only on APFS, btrfs and XFS
Best for
Developers running several coding agents in parallel on one repo who want worktrees handled without adopting a whole agent dashboard.
Worktrunk alternatives
Worktrunk: common questions
- Is Worktrunk worth it?
- Plain git worktrees with the friction removed, and for anyone running agents in parallel that friction was the whole problem. We rate it 4.4 out of 5.
- How much does Worktrunk cost?
- Free and open source (MIT or Apache-2.0).
- What are the downsides of Worktrunk?
- Pre-1.0 with fast releases; flags and config can change; does nothing about conflicts between parallel branches; name clash with Windows Terminal; installed as git-wt there; cache sharing only on APFS, btrfs and XFS.
- Who is Worktrunk best for?
- Developers running several coding agents in parallel on one repo who want worktrees handled without adopting a whole agent dashboard.
- How much does Worktrunk cost for a team or in production?
- No paid edition. The real costs are disk for each worktree, cut by copy-on-write cache sharing on supported filesystems, and reviewer time for the parallel branches.
- Is Worktrunk safe for company data?
- A local binary that drives git; LLM commit messages and branch summaries call whichever model command you configure. Dual MIT or Apache-2.0 licence; no security advisories published.
- What are the best Worktrunk alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Claude Squad, Orca and Vibe Kanban.
Answers checked Oct 31, 2026.
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