| name | git-cow-worktree |
| description | Create a git worktree, using copy-on-write reflinks when the volume supports it. Use whenever adding a git worktree. |
| user-invocable | true |
git-cow-worktree
Create a git worktree via a bundled file-based C# app. It behaves like
git worktree add, but on a copy-on-write volume (Windows ReFS/Dev Drive,
Linux Btrfs/XFS/ZFS, macOS APFS) it seeds the new worktree with reflink clones
of an existing worktree so unchanged files share on-disk blocks. Off a CoW
volume it does a regular checkout. The result is identical either way.
Running It
Pass app args after --:
dotnet run "<skill-dir>\app\git-cow-worktree.cs" -- <path> [<commit-ish>] [options]
<skill-dir> is this folder. Run with --help for all options; the common
ones are -b <branch> (new branch), --source <dir> (worktree to reflink
from, defaults to the current worktree), and -v. Only the handful of
git worktree add flags listed in --help are accepted; for anything else
use git worktree add directly.
The app pins itself to net10.0; that runtime plus git must be installed.
Workflow
- Resolve the repo (default cwd), worktree path, and branch/commit (use
-b for a new branch).
- Run the app.
- Report where the worktree landed, the branch, and whether files were reflinked or it was a regular checkout.
Guardrails
- Let
git worktree add reject an existing path; never delete to make room.
- Never modify the source worktree; a dirty source is fine (
git checkout -f HEAD fixes any mismatch).
- A regular (non-CoW) checkout is a correct result, not a failure.
