---
name: omp-worktree-path-gotchas
description: "Multi-worktree edits/tests land in the wrong checkout: bash persistent-cwd drift, phantom file reverts, which tree a tool really touched"
---

## Purpose
Answer "why did my file/tests revert or behave differently than what I just wrote?" in repos with several worktrees (e.g. `~/.omp`, `~/Projects/wt-*`, `~/.omp/wt/*`).

## Failure modes and fixes

1. **Bash tool persistent-cwd drift** (the expensive one): the persistent shell keeps its cwd across calls; a call *without* an explicit `cwd` runs in whatever the *previous* call left, which after interleaved work may be a DIFFERENT worktree. Result: reads/greps/appends hit tree A while `git`/`bats` hit tree B — symptoms are "file keeps reverting to HEAD", duplicate test names at shifting line numbers, scenario `CALLS 0` for scenarios that exist, mismatched `grep -n` vs tool-reported line numbers.
   - **Diagnose:** `pwd` in the same call as the failing command; `wc -l <file>` in BOTH candidate worktrees; compare md5s. The file is not flapping — two files exist and commands alternate between them.
   - **Fix/prevent:** pass an explicit `cwd` on EVERY bash call once two or more checkouts are in play; never trust a read taken without one as evidence about "the" file.

2. **Symlinked or stale `git` state**: `git status` in a worktree shows a clean tree while the disk file differs from what you intended — the corruption is already committed. Audit committed blobs (`git log --oneline -- <file>`; per-commit `git show <c>:<path> | grep -c <sentinel>`) instead of re-reading the disk copy repeatedly.

3. **Same-name files across worktrees** (`tests/behavior.bats` exists in each): a `find`/`grep` rooted above the worktrees mixes copies; anchor the search path to one worktree root.

## Repair recipe for a corrupted-but-committed test file
- Inventory both versions: `grep -o '@test "[^"]*"' | sort` and `grep -o 'case "[a-z]*":' | sort -u`; `comm` the sets to find lost scenarios and duplicate tests.
- Rebuild from the committed copy (`git show HEAD:<path> > <path>`, no checkout), then re-apply only the true deltas: restore missing scenario blocks from the last clean base, dedupe imports, rename scratch-dir mkdtemp prefixes that collide with a test's own orphan-census glob (e.g. `dankvoice-stage-` matching `dankvoice-*`).
- Re-run the targeted tests, then the full suite single-process.