git-env

Copies untracked env files to your worktrees

Example

cd ~/repos/myproject                         # primary worktree, has .env
git worktree add ~/worktrees/my-feature      # create a linked worktree
cd ~/worktrees/my-feature
git env sync                                 # copies .env from the primary

$ git env sync
synced  .env
2 files synced, 0 unchanged, 0 conflicts skipped

Run it again later to pick up any changes made in the primary. By default, sync won't clobber a file that has diverged locally — pass --force if you want the primary's copy to win.

Installation

uv tool install git-env

Or, with pipx:

pipx install git-env

This installs a git-env executable on your PATH, which git picks up automatically as the env subcommand:

git env --version

Syncing

git env sync copies env files from the primary worktree into the linked worktree you're standing in. The primary worktree is the original clone — the one whose .git is a real directory, not a file. sync locates it via git rev-parse --git-common-dir.

Files are matched by glob against the entire primary worktree tree. .gitignore is not consulted (env files are normally gitignored, which is the point), but a .envsyncignore file at the primary root is. A file that doesn't exist at the destination is copied. A file that's byte-identical is skipped silently. A file that differs is skipped with a warning and a one-line diff summary, unless --force is given.

Writes are atomic: each file is written to <dest>.envsync.tmp then renamed over the destination. Mode bits (including the executable bit) are preserved; mtimes are not, so a synced file's timestamp tells you when it was synced.

sync must run from a linked worktree — it refuses to run from the primary itself, and refuses on bare repositories.

git env sync [--dry-run] [--force] [--verbose | --quiet]
             [--pattern <glob>]... [--path <subdir>]

Flag	Short	Meaning
--dry-run	-n	Print what would happen; change nothing.
--force	-f	Overwrite local files that differ from the primary, backing up the previous content first.
--verbose	-v	Print every file considered, including skips.
--quiet	-q	Suppress non-error output.
--pattern <glob>		Override configured patterns for this run. Repeatable.
--path <subdir>		Restrict the sync to a subdirectory of the worktree.

--verbose and --quiet are mutually exclusive.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success, or dry-run with nothing to change.
1	Sync completed but one or more files were skipped due to conflicts.
2	Refused to run (not a git worktree, bare repo, invoked from the primary worktree, or the primary has uncommitted changes to tracked env files).
3	Usage error (bad flag, unknown or reserved subcommand).
4	I/O error while copying.

These codes are part of the contract — scripts can rely on them.

Configuration

All keys live under env.sync.* and are read with standard git config precedence (system → global → local → worktree):

Key	Type	Default	Meaning
env.sync.patterns	multi-value	.env	Globs to sync. Multi-value, so additional git config --add calls append rather than replace.
env.sync.exclude	multi-value	.env.example, .env.sample, .env.template	Patterns never synced, even if they match patterns (typically committed templates).
env.sync.followSymlinks	bool	false	Follow symlinked env files instead of skipping them.
env.sync.maxFileSize	int (bytes)	1048576	Files larger than this are skipped with a warning.
env.sync.onConflict	enum	skip	skip, overwrite, or prompt.
env.sync.backup	bool	true	Whether --force writes a <dest>.envsync.bak backup before overwriting.

Set per-repo in the primary worktree's .git/config, or per-worktree in that worktree's own config:

git config env.sync.onConflict overwrite
git config --add env.sync.patterns ".env.local"

.envsync

An optional key=value file at the primary worktree root, for pinning patterns into version control so the whole team gets the same defaults without everyone running git config. Same keys as above, minus the env.sync. prefix:

patterns=.env
exclude=.env.example
followSymlinks=false

Repeated keys accumulate (for multi-value settings). git config values, if set, always take precedence over .envsync.

.envsyncignore

A gitignore-syntax file at the primary worktree root. Paths it matches are excluded from sync regardless of env.sync.patterns — use it to opt a specific file or directory out without changing the glob patterns themselves.

Shell completion

git env --install-completions bash   # print a snippet for your rc file
git env --install-completions zsh --write   # install the completion file directly
git env --install-completions fish

Supported shells: bash, zsh, fish. Without --write, the command prints what to add to your shell config; with --write, it installs the completion file to a standard location for that shell.

FAQ

Why not just symlink the env files instead? A symlink means there's only ever one copy, so editing the file in a linked worktree edits the primary too — that defeats the purpose of having isolated worktrees in the first place (e.g. running two branches with different API keys or feature flags side by side). git env sync gives each worktree its own independent copy, seeded from the primary, that you can then diverge from intentionally.

Does this work with bare repositories? No. git env sync requires a primary worktree with a real working tree to copy from. Bare repos are detected and rejected with exit code 2.

What about secrets in env files? git env sync only ever copies bytes between worktrees on your local filesystem — it doesn't transmit, log, or store file contents anywhere else, and it never touches git history (env files are normally gitignored and stay that way). The usual rules still apply: don't commit secrets, and be mindful that --force backups (<dest>.envsync.bak) leave a second copy of the previous content on disk.

Can I sync changes back from a worktree to the primary? Not yet. sync is one-way (primary → linked). A git env push for the reverse direction is planned but not implemented in v1 — see Limitations.

Limitations

• One-way sync only. git env sync copies primary → linked. There is no bidirectional sync in v1; pushing changes from a linked worktree back to the primary isn't supported yet.
• Submodules aren't traversed. Env files inside submodules are not discovered or synced.
• Single primary per invocation. The tool assumes one primary worktree and doesn't support syncing between two linked worktrees directly.
• No format parsing. Env files are treated as opaque bytes; git env doesn't understand KEY=VALUE syntax, so it can't merge or diff values semantically — only whole-file conflict detection.
• --porcelain is reserved but not implemented. Passing it is a usage error in v1, by design, so scripts don't silently depend on output that may change later.

push, diff, status, list, edit, and check are reserved for future official subcommands and will error if invoked, so a third-party git-env-<name> script doesn't collide with them later.