Rift CLI: Manage Git Worktrees for Parallel AI Agent Workflows

Rift is a Git worktree manager built specifically for parallel AI agent workflows. It addresses the friction of having a single repository occupied by one agent while you want to start another task, eliminating issues with branch switching, stashing, and dependency conflicts.

How It Works

The basic workflow involves three commands:

• rift init - Initialize in your project
• rift open - Creates an isolated branch + worktree and launches Claude Code (or any agent) inside it
• rift close - Cleans up the worktree and branch when done

Each worktree is a full, independent copy of your repository on its own branch, allowing you to work on as many features simultaneously as you want.

Key Features for Multi-Agent Workflows

• Lifecycle hooks that let you auto-install dependencies, run migrations, and assign ports per worktree
• Deterministic port mapping - every worktree gets unique ports so you can run multiple development servers without collisions
• rift code opens all active worktrees in one VS Code/Cursor/Windsurf workspace
• Works with any CLI agent - Claude Code, Copilot, Codex, Aider, or whatever you prefer

Technical Details

The project was built with Claude Code itself and is open source under the MIT license. It's built with Bun and available on npm:

npm install -g @priyashpatil/rift

GitHub repository: https://github.com/priyashpatil/rift

Documentation: https://rift.priyashpatil.com