PHP Alive And Kicking: Episode 22 Sara Golemon

Sara Golemon returns to the show — her first appearance was way back in Episode 2 — for a deep dive into Git Worktrees , a powerful but underused Git feature that lets you work on multiple branches simultaneously without the overhead of stashing, context-switching, or rebuilding from scratch. The episode covers practical real-world use cases, a live demo on the PHP source repo, Docker/Lando integration, and some lively chat about AI, scripting, and developer productivity. Topics Covered Git Worktrees Main Topic Rather than switching between branches and losing build state, Git Worktrees let you check out multiple branches into separate directories — all sharing a single .git history. How Worktrees differ from standard git checkout branch switching Why they shine for projects with build artifacts (compiled code, minified JS) — no recompile on directory switch Working with PHP’s multi-version release branches (8.1 → 8.2 → 8.3 → 8.4 → 8.5 → master) simultaneously Merging a fix up through all active PHP release branches in a live demo Pushing all branches at once from a single shared .git directory Cleaning up with git worktree prune — just deleting the folder isn’t enough! git worktree add <path> <branch> git worktree list git worktree prune git branch -d <branch> # Only works after pruning Worktrees + Docker / Web Development The hosts explored how Worktrees fit into a typical PHP web dev workflow with Docker. Run multiple Docker Compose environments simultaneously — one per Worktree/branch Port clashing is real; solutions include scripted aliases and Lando (handles conflicts automatically) Sara’s Git alias new from Facebook/Meta automated Worktree creation and assigned unique IPs per ticket composer install only needs to run once per Worktree — not on every branch switch PHP Architect Social Media: X: Mastodon: Bluesky: PHPArch.me: Discord:

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PHP Alive And Kicking: Episode 22 Sara Golemon is an episode from php[podcast] episodes from php[architect] by php[podcast] episodes from php[architect].

This episode is 1:02:54 long.

This episode was published on Apr 17, 2026.

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