# Apple Browsers: Git worktrees

A Git worktree is another checkout of the same repository. It lets you keep `main` and feature branches in separate folders, work on them independently, and share one Git history instead of cloning the repo again. In this setup, `apple-browsers.git/.git` stores that shared history; `main/` and feature folders are the worktrees.

## First-time setup

```sh
mkdir -p ~/DuckDuckGo/apple-browsers.git
git clone --bare https://github.com/duckduckgo/apple-browsers.git ~/DuckDuckGo/apple-browsers.git/.git
cd ~/DuckDuckGo/apple-browsers.git
git config remote.origin.fetch '+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*'
git fetch origin
git worktree add main main
```

## Work on a branch

From `~/DuckDuckGo/apple-browsers.git`:

```sh
git fetch origin
git worktree add -b yourname/my-feature my-feature origin/main
cd my-feature
git submodule update --init --recursive
open DuckDuckGo.xcworkspace
```

The `git worktree add -b` command creates `my-feature/` on a new branch based on `origin/main`. Edit, build, commit, and push inside that folder. For an existing local branch, use `git worktree add <folder> <branch>`; for a remote branch, use `git worktree add --track -b <branch> <folder> origin/<branch>` if you have not created it locally.

Use `git worktree list` to find checkouts. After checking that a checkout has no work to keep, run `git worktree remove <folder>` from the container directory. The branch remains available.