Worktree List

Worktree List

List all active worktrees with rich context: branch, status, sync state, and staleness detection.

User input: $ARGUMENTS

Step 1 — Gather worktree data

git worktree list --porcelain

Parse the output to extract for each worktree:

• Path (worktree )
• HEAD commit (HEAD )
• Branch (branch refs/heads/) or (detached HEAD)

Identify the main working tree (first entry) and label it as such.

If there are no worktrees beyond the main working tree, report:

> No additional worktrees found. Use /empire-git:worktree-open to create one.

Then stop.

Step 2 — Enrich each worktree

For each worktree, gather the following:

Clean/dirty status

git -C "" status --porcelain 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' '

• 0 → "clean"
• >0 → report count of modified files

Ahead/behind remote

git -C "" rev-list --left-right --count @{upstream}...HEAD 2>/dev/null

Output format: \t. If no upstream is set, note "no remote".

Last commit

git -C "" log -1 --format="%cr|%s" 2>/dev/null

This gives relative time and subject (e.g., 2 hours ago|add JWT validation).

Staleness check

git -C "" log -1 --format="%ct" 2>/dev/null

Compare the commit timestamp to now. Flag as stale if the last commit is 3 or more days old. This is the informational threshold; worktree-cleanup uses a stricter 7-day threshold for actual removal. The two thresholds differ on purpose: list is a soft warning, cleanup is the action.

Port offset

printf '%s' "" | cksum | awk '{print $1 % 100}'

worktree-setup.sh derives the offset from the worktree's absolute path with this exact formula. Feed the raw absolute path straight from the worktree porcelain line (Step 1), not the shortened relative path shown in the Step 3 examples, and don't run it through realpath or append a trailing slash. Any difference in the string changes the cksum and yields a wrong offset; match it exactly and the recompute is deterministic. Show it in the listing and use it for the collision check in Step 4.

Step 3 — Format the output

Present each worktree as a block, for example:

Active worktrees:

  main (main working tree)
    /path/to/repo
    Clean | Last commit: 1h ago "update deps"

  feat/auth
    .claude/worktrees/feat-auth-1a2b3c4d
    Clean | 2 ahead | Last commit: 2h ago "add JWT validation"
    Ports: offset 17

  feat/billing
    .claude/worktrees/feat-billing-5e6f7a8b
    1 modified file | 0 ahead | Last commit: 20m ago "wip: invoice model"
    Ports: offset 42

  fix/typo-header
    .claude/worktrees/fix-typo-header-9c0d1e2f
    Clean | 1 ahead | Last commit: 3d ago "fix typo in header"
    Ports: offset 91
    ⚠ Stale (no commits in 3+ days)

If $ARGUMENTS contains --stale, only show worktrees flagged as stale.

Step 4 — Recommendations

After the listing, add actionable suggestions for any issues found:

• Stale worktrees: "Consider closing stale worktrees with /empire-git:worktree-close to keep your workspace tidy."
• Dirty worktrees: "Worktree ` has uncommitted changes. Consider committing with /commit`."
• Behind remote: "Worktree `` is behind its remote. Consider pulling."
• Port offset collisions: If two worktrees share the same port offset, warn about potential port conflicts.

Guiding principles

This is a read-only command — it reports state but never changes it. The user is asking "what do I have?" not "fix things for me." If a worktree is in a broken state (missing on disk, detached HEAD, etc.), report what you can and skip what you can't rather than erroring out. Suggest git worktree prune for missing directories so the user can clean up on their own terms.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: marcoskichel
• Source: marcoskichel/empire
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.