Git Worktrees: Stop Stashing and Stop Breaking Your Flow

If you’re still using git stash every time an urgent code review interrupts your workflow, you’re leaving productivity and sanity on the table. Moving away from the “stash dance” isn’t just a minor optimization, it’s a fundamental shift in how we handle context switching and environment stability.

As a code reviewer, I’ve seen how context switching can destroy momentum. Here is the blueprint for how you should be handling urgent PRs.

The 3-Phase Workflow Evolution

Phase 1: Bypassing the Stash Dance

We’ve finally moved past the era of waiting for our IDEs to re-index. When you stash and switch branches, your local server crashes, your node_modules/dependencies often get confused, and your mental model breaks. Worktrees fix this by letting you check out a branch into a completely isolated directory.

The Old Way (The Stash Dance):

# ❌ Old & Disruptive
git stash push -m "WIP: halfway through feature"
git checkout urgent-pr-branch
# ... Wait for IDE to freeze and re-index ...
npm install # Oops, dependencies changed
# ... Do review ...
git checkout feature-branch
git stash pop

The New Way (Parallel Universes):

# ✅ Standard
git worktree add ../urgent-pr-review urgent-pr-branch
# Open ../urgent-pr-review in a second IDE window. 
# Original workspace remains 100% untouched.

💡

Pro Tip

Pro Tip: By using ../, you place the new directory right next to your current project folder, keeping your workspace organized without accidentally nesting git repositories.

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Phase 2: True Isolation vs. The Alternatives

For years, if we wanted isolation, we either cloned the repo a second time (which wastes disk space and time) or just suffered through stashing. Worktrees share the same hidden .git folder under the hood, meaning they are incredibly fast and lightweight.

The Comparison:

Method	Context Loss	Speed to Setup	Best Use Case
Git Stash	High (IDE re-indexes)	Fast	Pausing to pull updates on the same branch
Second Clone	None	Slow	Completely isolated client projects
Git Worktree	None	Instant	Urgent PR reviews & hotfixes

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Phase 3: The Teardown

When you are done with a stash, you have to worry about merge conflicts when you pop it back. With a worktree, when the review is over, you simply throw the temporary desk in the trash.

Implementation:

# 1. You finished the review in the second IDE window.
# 2. Close that window.
# 3. From your original, untouched terminal:
git worktree remove ../urgent-pr-review

⚠️

Warning

Critical: Never put a worktree folder inside your current project directory unless it is explicitly added to your .gitignore. Otherwise, your primary IDE will try to index the nested project, causing massive lag.

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Critical Lessons for 2026

The jump to Git Worktrees is about isolation and maintaining flow state. If you’re reviewing code today, don’t let someone else’s urgent PR break your local environment.

My New Review Protocols:

1. Never Stash for PRs: I strictly reserve git stash for minor tweaks or pulling changes on my current branch. If the branch name changes, I use a worktree.
2. Keep It Sibling: Always use relative paths (../folder-name) to spawn the worktree as a sibling to your main project, not a child.
3. Prune Regularly: If you accidentally delete a worktree folder using your file explorer instead of the git command, run git worktree prune to clean up Git’s internal tracking.