Give every git worktree its own database.

The problem

You use git worktree to work on several branches at once. But every worktree points at the same local dev database. The moment one branch runs a migration, it changes the schema the others rely on — so concurrent branches with diverging migrations step on each other.

A fresh worktree is also missing everything git ignores: your .env / .dev.vars, your node_modules. So it isn't even runnable until you copy things across by hand.

What wtdb does

When you create a worktree, wtdb automatically:

1. Copies your dev database into a new one named after the worktree (Postgres, via a near-instant CREATE DATABASE ... TEMPLATE).
2. Copies your env file into the worktree and rewrites the database URL to point at the new database.
3. Copies the paths you list (e.g. node_modules) using fast copy-on-write clones.

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/willhackett/wtdb/main/install.sh | sh

(Homebrew coming later, maybe.)

Enable it in a repo

Add a .wtdb.json to the repo root:

{
  "envFile": ".dev.vars",
  "dbEnvVar": "DATABASE_URL",
  "pathsToCopy": ["node_modules"]
}

• envFile — the env file to copy and rewrite (.env, .dev.vars, …).
• dbEnvVar — the variable in that file holding your postgres://… connection URL.
• pathsToCopy — gitignored dirs/files to bring into each new worktree.

Then install the git hook (once per repo):

wtdb init      # writes a starter .wtdb.json if you don't have one
wtdb install   # installs the post-checkout git hook

Usage

Just use git as normal:

git worktree add ../myapp-feature
# -> wtdb copies the db, writes the env file, clones node_modules

When you remove a worktree, reclaim its database:

git worktree remove ../myapp-feature
wtdb prune     # drops databases whose worktrees are gone

Other commands:

wtdb sync      # provision the current worktree manually
wtdb status    # list worktrees and their databases

Adapters

wtdb ships with a PostgreSQL adapter. The database layer is an interface (internal/db), so support for other databases can be added by implementing Copy / Drop for a connection-URL scheme and registering it. PRs welcome.

License

MIT