CLI overview

The Birch Code CLI is a companion to the desktop app. It does two things the GUI can’t easily do:

1. Integrates with your issue tracker. Given a ticket or PR number, it figures out the right branch name and creates a worktree for it.
2. Scripts. Every command supports --json so you can pipe its output into hooks, CI, or other tools.

Installation

The birch binary is bundled with the desktop app:

• macOS: /Applications/Birch.app/Contents/Resources/cli/birch
• Windows: <install-dir>\cli\birch.exe

Add that path to your $PATH (or %PATH%) and you’re set. A future installer will wire this up automatically.

Quick examples

Create a worktree for GitHub issue #42:

birch worktree new --from gh:42

Create a worktree for a GitLab MR:

birch worktree new --from gl:!137

List all worktrees as JSON (great for status bars and shell prompts):

birch worktree list --json

Open a worktree in your default editor:

birch worktree open feature-auth

Supported issue trackers

Prefix	System
gh:	GitHub issues and PRs
gl:	GitLab issues and MRs
az:	Azure DevOps work items
lin:	Linear tickets

See Commands for the full reference and JSON output for machine-readable formats.