xavier collantes

The Power of Parallel Development

• Multiple feature branches: Work on different features at the same time.
• AI assistance: Each workflow is like having a Software Engineer. You are now the Software Engineer Manager.
• Clean environments: Each workflow is separate from the others.
• Shift in work: You do not get rid of context switching altogether. Instead, you review the code written by each AI agent, in effect, making you a reviewer instead of coder.

Old "Parallel" Workflow

1. If you have any changes: git stash
2. Sync main with any changes: git pull origin main
3. Create new branch from main: git checkout -b feature/new main
4. Make changes to the new branch.
5. Add and commit changes: git add . && git commit -m "Feature: add new feature"
6. Push branch: git push origin feature/new
7. Create a PR: gh pr create --base main --head feature/new

What if I told you that Claude Code can do all of this for you?

What Are Git Worktrees?

• Make a commit in any worktree and it is immediately visible to parent: No need for pulling and pushing
• Saves space since only changed files are duplicated
• No accidental working on the same branch which could result in merge conflicts
• You can clean up the worktrees when you are done with them

What Is Claude Code Doing?

• Interact with your local git and Github commands
• Write code for you
• Debug code for you
• Create branches and PRs with appropriate documentation

Your New Workflow

1. Create a new branch and worktree from main.
2. Tell Claude to write code for you. You can also refer to an existing Github Issue or Pull Request (PR) to help you write the code.
3. Tell Claude to create a PR with complete documentation and testing procedures.

0. Setup Project Or Profile CLAUDE.md (Optional)

Hierarchy

1. ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (global preferences)
2. project-root/CLAUDE.md (project-specific)
3. project-root/subdir/CLAUDE.md (module-specific)

Multiple Global Memory Files

• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.coding-standards.md
• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.python-preferences.md
• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.javascript-preferences.md
• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.project-templates.md

1. Create New Worktrees from Main

1/Documents/
2├── my-repo/
3│   ├── .git/
4│   ├── src/
5│   └── README.md
6│
7├── my-repo-darkmode/
8│   ├── .git/
9│   ├── src/
10│   └── README.md
11│
12├── my-repo-memepage/
13    ├── .git/
14    ├── src/
15    └── README.md
16

1# pwd: /Documents/my-repo
2
3# Update branch main.
4git checkout main
5git pull origin main
6
7# Create a new worktree for darkmode branch.
8#    `my-repo-darkmode` is a new directory that is a copy of the main repository.
9#    `darkmode` is the name of the branch in the new worktree. The directory will be created if it doesn't exist.
10#    `main` is the branch to start from.
11git worktree add ../my-repo-darkmode -b darkmode main
12
13# Create a new worktree for memepage branch.
14git worktree add ../my-repo-memepage -b memepage main
15

2. Tell Claude What To Build

1# pwd: /Documents/my-repo-darkmode
2
3code .  # For VSCode.
4
5# Should already be in darkmode branch.
6git checkout darkmode
7
8# ENV and install dependencies.
9# Depending on the language, you will need to install dependencies as the worktree
10# does not copy the .env file or the node_modules directory.
11
12#npm install  # For Node.js projects.
13#env/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt  # For Python projects.
14
15# Prompt Claude to create a new feature.
16# Open session.
17claude
18# OR trigger with prompt right away.
19claude "Create a dark mode feature for the website. Use the darkmode.css file to style the website.
20When you are done, create a PR with complete documentation and testing procedures."
21
22

1# pwd: /Documents/my-repo-memepage
2
3code .  # For VSCode.
4
5# Should already be in memepage branch.
6git checkout memepage
7
8# ENV and install dependencies.
9# Depending on the language, you will need to install dependencies as the worktree
10# does not copy the .env file or the node_modules directory.
11
12#npm install  # For Node.js projects.
13#env/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt  # For Python projects.
14
15# Prompt Claude to create a new feature.
16claude
17# OR trigger with prompt right away.
18claude "Create a new feature for the meme page. This is a new page which
19displays random memes when you click on a button.
20Use the API at https://github.com/D3vd/Meme_Api. Make sure to look at the API response
21structure in the README.md file and handle the data accordingly.
22When you are done, create a PR with complete documentation and testing procedures."
23

3. Prompt Engineering

• "ignore lint errors"
• "dark mode should be applied to the entire website"
• "create PR"

4. Review PRs

Deriving Actual Value From AI

• Let Claude do the work but micromanage when needed such as entering specific prompts.
• As long as you can use git and gh in terminal, so can Claude Code. Feel free to reference Github Issues and PRs to help Claude Code do the right thing.
• Claude Code can see the internet so feel free to reference external resources.
• If this is your first time using an LLM-based AI IDE, this will be a super awkward experience but over time, you will get the hang of it.

Common Pitfalls

Further Reading