Copy gitignored files when creating worktree via lazygit

[rikuson]

Summary

• After creating a new worktree with <C-n> in lazygit, copy files ignored by .gitignore (e.g., .env, node_modules) from the source repo to the new worktree using rsync

Test plan

• Open lazygit and press <C-n> in the local branches view
• Verify the new worktree contains gitignored files from the original repo

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[claude]

Pull Request Review

Summary

This PR adds functionality to copy gitignored files from the source repository to new worktrees created via the lazygit <C-n> command. The implementation uses rsync with git ls-files to identify and copy ignored files.

Code Quality & Best Practices

Positive aspects:

• Clean shell pipeline using standard Git commands
• Proper quoting of variables ("$REPO_ROOT", "$WORKTREE_PATH/")
• Maintains existing error handling pattern (worktree creation already suppresses errors)

Concerns:

1. Silent failure - The rsync command doesn't have error handling:

   && (cd "$REPO_ROOT" && git ls-files --others --ignored --exclude-standard | rsync -a --files-from=- . "$WORKTREE_PATH/")

   If rsync fails (permissions, disk space, missing rsync), the command chain continues silently. Consider adding || true to explicitly ignore errors, or add error output redirection.

2. Incomplete implementation - The rsync command only copies untracked ignored files (--others --ignored). It won't copy:

   • Ignored files that were tracked before being added to .gitignore
   • Empty directories (rsync skips empty dirs by default)
   • Symlinks to ignored files (needs --links flag)

Potential Bugs & Issues

Critical:

1. Path handling with spaces - While variables are quoted, the rsync --files-from reads from stdin and may not handle filenames with newlines correctly. Consider using -print0 with --from0:

   git ls-files -z --others --ignored --exclude-standard | rsync -a --files-from=- --from0 . "$WORKTREE_PATH/"

2. Race condition - If the worktree creation fails but returns 0, or if files are being actively written during the rsync, you could get partial/corrupted copies.

3. Submodule handling - If the repo has submodules with their own gitignored files, these won't be copied (git ls-files doesn't recurse into submodules by default).

Minor:

1. Trailing slash inconsistency - "$WORKTREE_PATH/" has a trailing slash while other uses don't. This is correct for rsync, but worth noting for consistency.

Performance Considerations

1. Large ignored directories - Copying node_modules (often 100K+ files) or build artifacts could take significant time, blocking lazygit UI. No progress indication for the rsync operation.

2. Disk space - No check for available disk space before copying potentially GB-sized node_modules directories.

3. Optimization opportunity - Consider adding rsync flags:

   • --info=progress2 for progress indication
   • --exclude-from= for patterns that shouldn't be copied (e.g., .DS_Store, temp files)
   • --size-only or --checksum depending on use case

Security Concerns

Medium severity:

1. Arbitrary file copying - If a malicious .gitignore pattern is crafted, it could potentially expose sensitive files. This is low risk since you control the repo, but worth noting.

2. No path traversal protection - The command assumes git ls-files output is safe, which it should be, but there's no explicit validation.

Test Coverage

The test plan is minimal:

• ✅ Manual testing specified
• ❌ No unit/integration tests (hard to automate for GUI tools)
• ❌ No edge case testing specified (empty repos, repos with no gitignored files, large node_modules)

Suggested test scenarios:

1. Repo with no gitignored files
2. Repo with large node_modules (performance test)
3. Repo with filenames containing spaces/special chars
4. Repo with nested gitignored directories
5. Verify .env files are copied correctly (the stated use case)

Recommendations

High priority:

1. Add null-terminated input handling for filenames with special characters:

   git ls-files -z --others --ignored --exclude-standard | rsync -a --files-from=- --from0 . "$WORKTREE_PATH/"

2. Consider explicit error handling:

   && (cd "$REPO_ROOT" && git ls-files -z --others --ignored --exclude-standard | rsync -a --files-from=- --from0 . "$WORKTREE_PATH/" 2>/dev/null || echo "Warning: Could not copy gitignored files")

Medium priority:
3. Add progress indication or make rsync quieter to avoid noise on stderr
4. Document the behavior in comments (what gets copied, what doesn't)

Low priority:
5. Consider adding --exclude patterns for files that shouldn't be copied between worktrees (OS-specific files like .DS_Store)

Verdict

Conditional approval - The core implementation is sound, but the lack of null-termination handling could cause issues with special filenames. The silent failure mode is acceptable for this use case (nice-to-have feature), but the special character handling should be fixed before merge.

The feature adds genuine value for development workflows, especially for .env files and local dependencies. Once the null-termination fix is applied, this is ready to merge.

🤖 Review generated with Claude Code