git-paw

Parallel AI Worktrees — orchestrate multiple AI coding CLI sessions across git worktrees from a single terminal using tmux.

Demo

$ git paw

  🐾 git-paw — Parallel AI Worktrees

  ? Select mode:
  > Same CLI for all branches
    Different CLI per branch

  ? Select branches (space to toggle, enter to confirm):
  > [x] feat/auth
    [x] feat/api
    [ ] fix/typo
    [ ] main

  ? Select AI CLI:
  > claude
    codex
    gemini

  ✔ Creating worktrees...
    ../myproject-feat-auth/
    ../myproject-feat-api/

  ✔ Launching tmux session: paw-myproject
    Pane 1: feat/auth → claude
    Pane 2: feat/api → claude

  Attaching to tmux session...

What It Does

git-paw lets you run multiple AI coding assistants in parallel, each in its own git worktree and tmux pane. Pick your branches, pick your AI CLI(s), and git-paw handles the rest — creating worktrees, launching a tmux session, and wiring everything together. Stop and resume sessions at will; your worktrees and uncommitted work are preserved.

Features

• Parallel AI sessions — run Claude, Codex, Gemini, or any AI CLI across multiple branches simultaneously
• Git worktree isolation — each branch gets its own working directory, no stashing or switching needed
• Smart session management — reattach to active sessions, auto-recover after crashes or reboots
• Interactive or scripted — fuzzy branch picker and CLI selector, or pass --cli and --branches flags
• Per-branch CLI assignment — use Claude on one branch and Gemini on another in the same session
• Presets — save branch + CLI combos in config for one-command launches
• Custom CLI support — register any AI CLI with git paw add-cli
• Session persistence — state saved to disk, survives tmux crashes and system reboots
• Dry run — preview the session plan before executing with --dry-run
• Mouse-friendly tmux — click to switch panes, drag borders to resize, scroll with mouse wheel
• Spec-driven launch — auto-discover specs and launch sessions with --from-specs
• AGENTS.md integration — auto-inject session context into worktree AGENTS.md files
• Session logging — capture raw terminal output per pane for later review
• Replay — view session logs with ANSI stripping or colored output via less -R
• Project init — git paw init bootstraps .git-paw/, config, and gitignore
• Standards-based — uses AGENTS.md following the Linux Foundation standard for AI agent instructions

Tip: git-paw uses AGENTS.md as the standard agent instruction file. If your AI CLI reads a different file (e.g., CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md), you can symlink it:

ln -s AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md   # Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md
ln -s AGENTS.md GEMINI.md   # Gemini reads GEMINI.md

Add these symlinks to .gitignore so they stay local to each developer.

Platform Support

Why no native Windows? git-paw relies on tmux for terminal multiplexing, which is not available natively on Windows. WSL provides a full Linux environment where git-paw works perfectly.

Quick Start: Same CLI

Use the same AI CLI across all branches:

# Interactive — pick branches and CLI from prompts
git paw

# Non-interactive — specify everything upfront
git paw start --cli claude --branches feat/auth,feat/api

This creates:

• A worktree for each branch (../yourproject-feat-auth/, ../yourproject-feat-api/)
• A tmux session with one pane per branch, each running claude

Quick Start: Per-Branch CLI

Use different AI CLIs on different branches:

# Interactive mode — select "Different CLI per branch"
git paw
# → Pick branches: feat/auth, feat/api
# → Pick CLI for feat/auth: claude
# → Pick CLI for feat/api: gemini

Result: a tmux session where feat/auth runs Claude and feat/api runs Gemini, side by side.

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install git-paw

Homebrew

brew install bearicorn/tap/git-paw

Shell installer

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/bearicorn/git-paw/releases/latest/download/git-paw-installer.sh | sh

Windows (WSL)

Install WSL, then use any of the Linux installation methods above inside your WSL environment:

# Inside WSL
sudo apt install tmux
cargo install git-paw

Prerequisites

• tmux — terminal multiplexer
• Git — with worktree support (2.5+)

git paw vs git-paw

Once installed to your PATH, git-paw works as a git subcommand:

git paw start    # git finds `git-paw` on PATH automatically

You can also call the binary directly — useful during development or if it's not on PATH:

git-paw start    # equivalent
cargo run -- start  # during development

All examples below use git paw, but git-paw works identically.

Usage

init — Initialize project

git paw init

Creates .git-paw/ directory with default config and sets up .gitignore for logs.

start — Launch or reattach

# Interactive launch
git paw start

# Specify CLI and branches
git paw start --cli claude --branches feat/auth,feat/api

# Launch from spec files (OpenSpec or Markdown)
git paw start --from-specs
git paw start --from-specs --cli claude

# Use a preset from config
git paw start --preset backend

# Preview without executing
git paw start --dry-run

Smart behavior:

• Active session exists → reattaches
• Stopped/crashed session → auto-recovers (reuses worktrees, relaunches CLIs)
• No session → full interactive launch

stop — Pause session

git paw stop

Kills the tmux session but preserves worktrees and state. Run git paw start later to pick up where you left off.

purge — Remove everything

# With confirmation prompt
git paw purge

# Skip confirmation
git paw purge --force

Removes the tmux session, all worktrees, and session state.

status — Check session state

git paw status

Shows session name, branches, CLIs, and status (active/stopped/no session).

list-clis — Show available CLIs

git paw list-clis

Lists auto-detected and custom AI CLIs with their source.

add-cli — Register a custom CLI

# With absolute path
git paw add-cli my-agent /usr/local/bin/my-agent

# With display name
git paw add-cli my-agent my-agent --display-name "My Agent"

remove-cli — Unregister a custom CLI

git paw remove-cli my-agent

Only custom CLIs can be removed — auto-detected CLIs cannot.

replay — View session logs

# List available log sessions
git paw replay --list

# View a branch's log (ANSI stripped)
git paw replay feat/auth

# View with colors via less -R
git paw replay feat/auth --color

# Replay from a specific session
git paw replay feat/auth --session paw-myproject

Requires session logging to be enabled in config.

Configuration

Per-repo config (.git-paw/config.toml)

# Pre-select a CLI in the interactive picker
default_cli = "my-cli"
mouse = true

# Bypass picker entirely for --from-specs mode
default_spec_cli = "my-cli"

# Prefix for spec-derived branches (default: "spec/")
branch_prefix = "spec/"

# Spec scanning
[specs]
dir = "specs"
type = "openspec"  # or "markdown"

# Session logging
[logging]
enabled = true

[presets.backend]
branches = ["feat/api", "fix/db"]
cli = "my-cli"

Global config (~/.config/git-paw/config.toml)

default_cli = "my-cli"
mouse = true

[clis.my-agent]
command = "/usr/local/bin/my-agent"
display_name = "My Agent"

[clis.local-llm]
command = "ollama-code"
display_name = "Local LLM"

[presets.backend]
branches = ["feat/api", "fix/db"]
cli = "my-cli"

Per-repo config overrides global config for overlapping fields.

Supported AI CLIs

Don't see your CLI? Register it:

git paw add-cli my-cli /path/to/my-cli --display-name "My CLI"

How It Works

git paw start
    │
    ├─ 1. Validate git repo
    ├─ 2. Load config (global + repo)
    ├─ 3. Detect AI CLIs on PATH + custom
    ├─ 4. Interactive selection (or use flags)
    ├─ 5. Create git worktrees
    │      ../project-feat-auth/
    │      ../project-feat-api/
    ├─ 6. Create tmux session (paw-project)
    │      ┌─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
    │      │ feat/auth        │ feat/api         │
    │      │ → claude         │ → claude         │
    │      │                  │                  │
    │      └─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
    ├─ 7. Save session state to disk
    └─ 8. Attach to tmux session

git paw stop   → kills tmux, keeps worktrees + state
git paw start  → auto-recovers from saved state
git paw purge  → removes everything

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT — Copyright 2026 bearicorn