Discovery¶

Finding the branch¶

• Walks each configured search root to a limited depth looking for git working trees, skipping noise directories (.git, node_modules, bin, obj, .vs, .idea, packages, .svn, .hg, and hidden folders).
• Checks each working tree's current branch — only trees actually on the typed branch count. Both linked worktrees and a clone's main tree qualify.
• Labels every hit: a worktree card (git-branch icon, deletable), a main clone card (home icon, never deletable), or — when the branch is checked out nowhere — a new worktree card (plus icon, created on open) and a switch clone card (arrows icon, switches the main tree on open), neither deletable. Meta lines read like platform · 2 solutions · updated 3d ago, platform · branch on origin · opening creates this worktree, or platform · main tree on 'main' · opening switches it here · ⚠ 3 uncommitted change(s) ride along.
• Detects the solution files inside each target — .sln, .slnx, and .slnf (Visual Studio solution filter) — for the solution chips.

The branch's worktree folders¶

Under the branch box, Fido lists the worktree folders the typed branch already has on disk — one row each, with a button to copy the path and one to open it in your File Explorer / Finder:

Branch name
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ xyz                                      │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
 📁 fido  D:\main\fido.worktrees\xyz            ⌨  ↗

Where to look is the same rule Fido creates worktrees by, not a second guess at it: the branch's slashes (and anything else a filesystem rejects) become dashes, and the folder sits under your worktree root if you have one, else beside the clone in <clone>.worktrees. Fido then shows only the folders that are actually there, so the line reports what exists rather than what could, and says nothing at all when the branch has no folder anywhere.

A folder counts even when no repo has the branch. That is the point: D:\main\fido.worktrees\xyz on disk while discovery reports "no working tree or clone has 'xyz'" is a leftover, or a tree since switched to another branch — exactly what you want pointed out when you type the name again. There is no git in this check, just a folder.

How many rows you get depends on where your worktrees live:

• With a worktree root configured (Settings → Worktree root), every branch lands under that one root whatever repo it belongs to — so there is at most a single row, no repo named, and it answers as you type, with no scan needed at all.
• With no root, a worktree is a sibling of its clone, so each clone can have its own folder for the branch — and each one that does gets a row, labelled with the repo, ordered by name. Those clones come from the discovery scan, so the rows appear once the first scan lands; after that they're kept (they don't depend on the branch) and every later branch answers instantly.

The open button opens the row's folder. If it has been deleted since the row was drawn, the nearest folder above it opens instead and the flight log says which, rather than failing at a path still on screen.

The line is purely informational: it never creates anything. Putting a branch on disk is still the new worktree card's job, reached by opening it.

The branch's pull request¶

When a scan finds the branch, Fido also asks GitHub — through the GitHub CLI (gh) — whether that branch has a pull request open. If it does, a row appears above the result cards, naming the PR and linking to it:

Discovery ──────────────────────────────────── ✓ 1 location
 ⑂ PR #42 · Add the widget            Open pull request ↗

Open pull request ↗ hands the URL to your browser; the flight log names it too, so the link survives the row scrolling out of view. The PR belongs to the branch, not to any one checkout, which is why the row sits above the cards rather than on one of them — every location shown is on the same branch and shares the same pull request.

Nothing is remembered between checks. The question is asked again on every scan that finds the branch, and again when you arm a delete (Worktrees) — so a PR opened, merged or closed since you last looked shows up as soon as Fido looks again, rather than being reported from a cached answer. Type a different branch and the row follows it; clear the box and it goes.

The check never holds anything up. The cards are on screen and openable while GitHub is still being asked — the row appears when the answer lands — and the query has its own timeout, so an unreachable network can't freeze the screen.

All three outcomes are said out loud, because they are not the same thing:

That last case is not reported as "no pull request": with nobody to ask, Fido says so and shows no row, rather than implying the branch is clear. Everything else on the screen works exactly as it does with gh installed — the check is advisory, and the only thing it gates is the remote-branch delete.

Cross-clone visibility¶

Git enforces "one worktree per branch" only within a single clone. If you have two clones of the same upstream (e.g. D:\shine\apps and D:\main\apps), each can independently check out the same branch — leaving you with duplicate copies on disk.

Fido makes that visible instead of guessing: every location on the branch appears as its own card, labelled with its kind and owning repo, and you choose which one to open (or delete). A worktree is only ever created from a card you selected — never behind your back — so Fido can't add a duplicate of its own.