Show HN: Workz – Zoxide for Git worktrees (auto node_modules and .env, AI-ready) (github.com)

2 points by rohansx 4mo ago ↗ HN

workz fixes the #1 pain with git worktrees in 2026:

When you spin up a new worktree for Claude/Cursor/AI agents you always end up: • Manually copying .env* files • Re-running npm/pnpm install (or cargo build) and duplicating gigabytes

workz does it automatically: • Smart symlinking of 22 heavy dirs (node_modules, target, .venv, etc.) with project-type detection • Copies .env*, .npmrc, secrets, docker overrides • Zoxide-style fuzzy switch: just type `w` → beautiful skim TUI + auto `cd` • `--ai` flag launches Claude/Cursor directly in the worktree • Zero-config for Node/Rust/Python/Go. Custom .workz.toml only if you want

Install: brew tap rohansx/tap && brew install workz # or cargo install workz

Demo in README → https://github.com/rohansx/workz

Feedback very welcome, especially from people running multiple AI agents in parallel!

1 comment

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ivannovazzi 4mo ago ↗

Smart ergonomics — the pain of keeping .env files in sync across worktrees is real. Every worktree ends up with slightly different secret values and nobody knows which is current.

The deeper fix I'd love to see is integration with a secrets manager that owns the canonical values, so worktrees pull from a shared encrypted store rather than each maintaining their own .env copy. We built KeyEnv (https://keyenv.dev) for exactly that: `keyenv run -- npm start` and the process gets injected secrets from the team store. No file duplication, no drift.

Does Workz support custom commands on worktree creation? Could imagine a hook that runs `keyenv pull` or similar to bootstrap without a .env at all.