Isolating agents with worktrees

When several agents modify code at the same time, they can collide — two agents editing the same file, or a test run picking up another agent’s half-finished changes. Git worktrees solve this cleanly. A worktree is a separate working directory backed by the same repository, with its own branch and its own checkout of the files. By giving each parallel agent its own worktree, you let them all write freely without ever stepping on one another.

Syntic Code can create a worktree for an agent automatically, run the agent inside it, and clean the worktree up afterward if nothing changed. The result is true parallel development: multiple agents implementing different features or fixes simultaneously, each in a sandbox that maps back to your real repository.

How isolation works

Under the hood, git worktree attaches an additional working directory to your existing repo. Each worktree checks out its own branch, so commits made by one agent are invisible to another until you choose to merge them. Nothing is duplicated at the object level — the worktrees share the same .git history — which keeps them cheap to create and tear down.

For an agent, this means its edits, its build artifacts, and its test runs are entirely its own. Two agents can both run the full test suite at once without contaminating each other’s results.

Working with worktree agents

The common pattern is to fan out a dynamic workflow or agent team across worktrees, one per independent unit of work. When an agent finishes, review its branch and merge it as you would any other contribution. A few practices keep this smooth:

• Scope each worktree to one clear task so its branch stays reviewable.
• Merge frequently to avoid long-lived branches drifting apart.
• Let unchanged worktrees be cleaned up automatically to keep your workspace tidy.
• Use the agent view to track which worktree each agent occupies.

With worktrees, parallel agents become a practical everyday tool rather than a source of merge chaos.