Q: You need to work on two branches of the same repo simultaneously — for example, testing a fix on `release/2.0` while actively developing on `feature/new-api`. Switching branches back and forth is painful because of build artifacts and IDE reindexing. What's the solution?

Use git worktree to check out multiple branches simultaneously in separate directories, all backed by the same .git database:

• ~/projects/my-repo/ → feature/new-api
• ~/projects/release-2.0-worktree/ → release/2.0
• A branch can only be checked out in one worktree at a time. Git enforces this to prevent conflicting index states.
• git worktree list shows all worktrees.

Now you have two working directories: Each has its own working tree, index, and HEAD, but they share the same object store, refs, and config. No extra disk space for the Git history. Key rules: This is vastly better than cloning the repo twice (which doubles disk usage and requires separate fetches) and avoids the constant stash/switch/pop dance.

# From your main checkout (on feature/new-api):
git worktree add ../release-2.0-worktree release/2.0

• git worktree remove ../release-2.0-worktree cleans it up when done.
• Worktrees share refs — a commit made in one worktree is immediately visible in the other (they share .git).