Overview
Worktrees are the foundation for reliable multi-task and multi-agent workflows in ctx.
Without worktree isolation, many sessions share one checkout and changes blend together. That lowers review quality and increases rework.
What goes wrong without worktrees
- It becomes hard to tell which task introduced which edits.
- Context switching between tasks is noisy and error-prone.
- Reverting one bad attempt can affect unrelated work.
- Validation results become harder to trust per task.
What improves with worktrees
- Each task has an isolated change set.
- Diffs map directly to one task outcome.
- Parallel execution is safer.
- Cleanup is simple: revise or discard by task.
When a single worktree is enough
If you are running one small task at a time, a single worktree flow can be fine.
As soon as you run parallel tasks or longer sessions, dedicated worktrees become the safer default.
Recommended baseline
- Use isolated worktrees for normal task execution.
- Keep task scope narrow so each worktree diff stays reviewable.
- Use bootstrap settings so new worktrees start with consistent setup.