Add repositories

Repositories enter Birch explicitly — there is no background folder scanner watching your disk. You add each repository yourself, either by registering an existing local checkout or by cloning a remote URL, and Birch never touches a folder you didn’t point it at.

The Add repository dialog

Open the dialog from either entry point:

• the Add repository button in the header of the Repositories dashboard, or
• the + button next to Repositories in the sidebar (always visible).

The dialog (“Add Repository”) covers both ways in: “Register a local repository or clone a remote.” Switch between the two with the Local path / Clone URL tabs.

Add an existing checkout (Local path)

Type or Browse… to the repository’s folder (for example /Users/you/dev/my-repo). The folder must contain a .git directory.

Registering changes nothing about the checkout: your remotes, branches, hooks, and working tree stay exactly as they are. Birch simply records the repository so it appears in the sidebar and on the dashboard.

Clone a remote (Clone URL)

Three fields:

Field	What it takes
URL	The remote’s clone URL, e.g. https://github.com/org/repo.git (SSH URLs work too)
Into	The parent directory to clone under (e.g. ~/dev), with a Browse… button
Name	The folder name for the new clone

Press Add to clone and register in one step. As the dialog notes, agent workspaces are later created as isolated worktrees of this clone — see the worktree-first model.

New repository

Warning

There is currently no way to reach this feature in the shipped build — the menu that hosted it is hidden. It is documented here because the feature exists in the app and a new entry point is planned.

The New-repository dialog initializes a brand-new git repository: a folder (with Browse…), a Default branch name (default main), and a .gitignore template — None, .NET, Node, or Python.

Migrate to the worktree layout

Warning

There is currently no way to reach this feature in the shipped build — the menu that hosted it is hidden. It is documented here because the feature exists in the app and a new entry point is planned.

The migration dialog converts a regular clone into a bare repository plus a primary worktree on the default branch — the layout described in the worktree-first model. It shows the original repository, origin URL, and default branch read-only, lets you edit the bare repository path and the primary worktree path, and preserves the original folder unless you opt in via Remove original directory after migration. A dirty working tree blocks the migration: “Working tree has uncommitted changes. Commit or stash them before migrating.”

Remove a repository

Right-click a repository row in the sidebar and choose Remove…. The confirmation dialog shows the repository’s path and offers one checkbox:

• Also delete the folder from disk — off by default. Left off, Birch only forgets the repository; every file on disk stays untouched, and you can re-add the checkout later.

Danger

With Also delete the folder from disk checked, Remove permanently deletes the folder. This cannot be undone. Close any IDE or terminal sitting in that path first — on Windows the delete may fail under file locks (you can remove the folder manually afterwards).

RECENT vs ALL REPOSITORIES in the sidebar

The sidebar groups your repositories into two sections:

• RECENT — repositories where an agent workspace has had activity in the last 14 days, sorted alphabetically by name.
• ALL REPOSITORIES — everything else.

When no repository qualifies as recent, the grouping disappears and you get one flat list. Every repository row keeps an always-visible + button that launches a new agent workspace, and clicking the row itself opens that repository’s repository page.