st0nefish/worktree-parallel-work

When the user wants to work on something in parallel, in isolation, or without disturbing the current branch — or when the new request is clearly unrelated to in-progress uncommitted changes — propose a git worktree. A worktree gives a second fully-functional checkout under .github/worktrees/<slug> (auto-gitignored): no stashing, no branch switching, no context loss.

When to trigger

Explicit signals: the user says "in parallel", "without touching my current branch", "run tests in a clean checkout", "background task", "separate branch for this", or similar.

Implicit context mismatch: ALL of the following hold:

1. git status --short shows uncommitted/staged changes, AND
2. The new request is clearly unrelated (different feature area, different issue, hotfix on top of in-progress work), AND
3. Completing the new request would interleave unrelated changes into the same branch.

In implicit cases, pause and surface the worktree suggestion first.

Response

1. One-sentence observation: "I see uncommitted changes on this branch related to X — your new request looks unrelated."

2. Offer to create the worktree using the direct git worktree add flow described by the worktree-create skill: derive the worktree base directory from the repo root, slug the suggested branch name, and create the worktree without relying on plugin-root environment variables inside Bash.

3. Once created, run commands in the worktree via cd <path> && ....

4. After the work is done, suggest cleanup: remove the worktree with the same direct git worktree remove flow described by the worktree-remove skill, and optionally delete the branch with git branch -d.

Rules

• Skip if the user is already in a worktree (git worktree list shows >1).
• Skip trivial single-step or read-only tasks.
• Don't silently start unrelated work on the current branch — surface the suggestion first.