isolating-workspaces
Skill0 starsChanged 45 days agoMITView on GitHub
Use when starting work that should be kept apart from the current working tree, such as risky changes, parallel features, or long-running plans
In this repository13 other files it gives its agents.
- debugging-systematicallySkill
- delegating-to-subagentsSkill
- executing-plansSkill
- finishing-workSkill
- investigating-in-parallelSkill
- planning-workSkill
- receiving-reviewSkill
- requesting-reviewSkill
- shaping-designsSkill
- testing-firstSkill
- using-tackleSkill
- verifying-before-claimingSkill
- writing-skillsSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
2 rules. About 0 are common, 0 are distinctive, and 2 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈0
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
2
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 21
Respect what exists: If the project or its instruction file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md) names a worktree location or branch …
- Very specific: line 22
Keep project-local worktrees out of version control: Check with git check-ignore.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Isolating Workspaces
Isolation lets you experiment without disturbing the user's current state and makes it easy to throw work away. Pick the lightest option that gives enough separation.
Scale it
| Option | Use when | Needs |
| None | Trivial or small changes, or the user is working with you live | Nothing |
| Branch | Substantial work, one line of development at a time | git |
| Worktree | Parallel work, or keeping the main checkout usable | git |
| Copy / scratch dir | No git, or disposable experiments | Disk space |
How
- Respect what exists. If the project or its instruction file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md) names a worktree location or branch convention, use it. Otherwise ask once, offering a project-local
.worktrees/or a directory outside the repo. - Keep project-local worktrees out of version control. Check with
git check-ignore. If the directory isn't ignored, propose adding it to.gitignoreinstead of committing the change yourself. - Create the workspace, e.g.
git worktree add <path> -b <branch>, and work from it. - Set up dependencies using the project's own tooling (lockfile, Makefile, README), not a guessed command.
- Record a baseline by running the test suite if it's reasonably fast. Note any tests that already fail so later failures can be told apart. Pre-existing failures are information; don't treat them as blockers unless they touch your work.
- Report where the workspace is, what branch it's on, and the baseline result.
Skip or shorten when
- The change is small and reversible. Work in place.
- The directory isn't a git repository. Use a copy only if isolation really matters; otherwise work in place and say so.
Done means
You and the user know where the work lives and what state the baseline was in.
Next
executing-plansordelegating-to-subagentsfinishing-workcleans up the workspace afterwards
Does it work?
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Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.