Grove — Git Worktree IDE

A personal Electron + React IDE built around git worktrees as first-class citizens. Designed for developers who work on multiple features in parallel and want a unified dashboard for managing worktrees, running code, reviewing diffs, and interacting with AI — all in one window.

Early Development — This project is in active early development. Expect breaking changes, missing features, and rough edges. Built for a specific personal workflow first, open-sourced for others who share similar needs.

Why

Working on multiple features in parallel with standard git is painful:

• Stashing/switching branches loses context
• Multiple terminal windows for different features
• No unified view of what's running where
• AI coding tools (like Claude Code) don't integrate with worktree workflows

Grove treats worktrees as the unit of work. Each worktree gets its own file tree, terminal, AI session, and run configuration — all visible in a single window.

What It Does

Worktree Management

• Branch → Worktree hierarchy in the sidebar
• Create new branches with auto-worktree setup
• Checkout existing branches into worktrees
• Auto-runs setup hooks (pnpm install, .env copy)
• Status badges: clean/dirty, ahead/behind counts

Code Editing

• Monaco Editor with auto-save (2s debounce)
• File tree with language-specific icons
• Tab management with dirty indicators

Git Operations

• Diff viewer with Monaco DiffEditor (side-by-side)
• Stage/unstage individual files
• Auto-generate commit messages from changes
• Commit, push, pull — all from the UI
• Real-time status polling (5s interval)

Integrated Terminal

• Per-worktree shell via node-pty + xterm.js
• Persistent sessions — survives tab switches
• Run detection — auto-detects project type and run command
• Auto-opens browser for web projects

AI Chat (Claude Code)

• Structured chat panel — not a raw terminal
• Split view: Result (top) + Activity (bottom, collapsible)
• Result renders from the top (natural reading order)
• Activity feed shows tool calls in real-time with animated indicator
• Markdown rendering with syntax-highlighted code blocks
• Uses Claude Code CLI with --output-format stream-json
• Each worktree gets its own conversation context
• Runs with your existing Claude subscription (no API key needed)

Tech Stack

Layer	Choice
Framework	Electron + Vite
Frontend	React + TypeScript
Editor	Monaco Editor
Git	simple-git
Terminal	node-pty + xterm.js
AI	Claude Code CLI
State	Zustand (snapshot-driven)
Styling	Tailwind CSS v4
Validation	Zod

Architecture

Main Process (Electron)
├── RepoController          — Owns state, pushes snapshots
├── GitService              — simple-git wrapper
├── WorktreeService         — Create/delete/setup worktrees
├── FileService             — Read/write/watch files
├── TerminalService         — node-pty shell per worktree
├── ClaudeCodeService       — Claude CLI via node-pty (terminal mode)
├── ClaudeChatService       — Claude CLI stream-json (chat mode)
├── RunDetector             — Auto-detect project run commands
└── PortService             — Port allocation

Renderer (React)
├── Zustand store           — Immutable snapshot from main
├── Monaco Editor           — Code + diff viewing
├── xterm.js                — Terminal display
├── Chat UI                 — Structured Claude Code interaction
└── Tailwind components     — Layout, sidebar, panels

Key pattern: Main process owns ALL state. Pushes immutable AppSnapshot to renderer via IPC. Renderer never mutates — calls IPC methods, receives new snapshot.

Getting Started

# Clone
git clone <repo-url>
cd grove

# Install
pnpm install

# Dev
pnpm dev

Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm 10+
• Claude Code CLI installed (claude command available)
• macOS (primary target, may work on Linux)

Layout

Optimized for 14" MacBook (1512x982):

+--------------------------------------------+
| Activity | Editor / Diff    | Claude Chat  |
| Bar      |                  | (always on)  |
| (40px)   |                  |              |
|          |                  | [result]     |
|          | +-- Terminal --+ |              |
|          | | $ shell      | | [activity]  |
|          | +--------------+ | [input]     |
+--------------------------------------------+
| Status Bar                                 |
+--------------------------------------------+

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+1	Toggle file tree
Cmd+2	Toggle branch/worktree sidebar
Cmd+3	Toggle diff view
Cmd+J	Toggle terminal
Cmd+B	Cycle sidebar panels
Cmd+Shift+N	New branch dialog
Cmd+Shift+D	Open diff view

Status

This is a personal tool built for a specific workflow. Features are added as needed. If you find it useful, great — but expect:

• No guaranteed API stability
• Opinionated defaults (e.g., pnpm preferred, macOS focused)
• Features driven by personal needs first

License

MIT