# Ce Worktree

Set up isolated git worktrees, create a new branch for fresh work, or attach a...

- Repository: https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin (25818 stars)
- Category: Git and review
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin --skill ce-worktree -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin --skill ce-worktree -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin --skill ce-worktree -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin --skill ce-worktree -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin`

## Description

Set up isolated git worktrees, create a new branch for fresh work, or attach a worktree to an existing branch, PR, or commit. Use when starting isolated work or isolating an existing ref.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Worktree Isolation

Ensure the current work happens in an isolated workspace, without disturbing the user's main checkout. Most coding harnesses now create a worktree by default at session start, so the common case is that **isolation already exists**.

**Done when:** the caller is working in an isolated tree, existing or newly created, and its path and branch have been reported, or a blocker has been reported instead.

**Order of operations: detect existing isolation -> prefer a native worktree tool -> fall back to plain git.** Never create a worktree the harness cannot see.

**Two modes, set by the caller's need:**

- **New work (default).** No ref named, create a fresh branch from a base (trunk). This is what `ce-work` and `ce-code-review` use when the user picks the worktree option.
- **Isolate an existing ref.** The caller names a PR head, branch, or commit, attach the worktree to that ref instead of creating a new branch. **A branch can be checked out in only one worktree at a time.** If the named ref is already checked out anywhere (most commonly as the primary checkout's current branch), do **not** create a second worktree, report that it is already checked out at `<path>` and let the caller act (work there in place; or, only if a clean separate tree is essential, create a *detached* worktree at the same commit).

## Step 0: Detect existing isolation

Compare the **resolved absolute** git dir against the **resolved absolute** common git dir. Git mixes absolute and relative forms depending on the current directory (from a subdirectory of a normal checkout, `--git-dir` comes back absolute while `--git-common-dir` may be relative), so a raw string compare yields a false "already isolated":

```bash
git rev-parse --absolute-git-dir                     # absolute git dir for this worktree
(cd "$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir)" && pwd -P)   # absolute shared (common) git dir
```

**Equal** -> normal checkout; continue to Step 1.

The rest: https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin/blob/HEAD/skills/ce-worktree/SKILL.md