Shiftspace

Worktree manager and code review tool for VS Code. Keep tabs on multiple branches, inspect changes, and catch problems before you open a PR.

Preview release. Shiftspace is under active development. Expect rough edges and frequent updates.

What it does

Shiftspace gives you two views.

Grove is a dashboard of all your git worktrees as cards. Each card shows the branch, file count, lines changed, check results (lint, typecheck, test, and so on), and code smell counts. One glance tells you which worktree needs your attention.

Inspection is what you get when you click a card. A file list and tree view of every change in that branch. Pick a diff mode (working changes, vs main, vs any ref) and browse files with inline insight badges.

Key features

Worktree management. Rename worktrees, swap branches, switch your primary worktree. Everything's reachable from the sidebar or the full-screen panel.

• Checks and pipelines. Define lint, typecheck, test, build, or any custom command in .shiftspace.json. Run them per worktree. Chain them into pipelines (fmt, lint, typecheck, test). Results show up as pass/fail badges on each card, and they go stale automatically when files change.

• Code smell detection. Regex patterns in .shiftspace.json flag things linters won't catch: eslint-disable comments, LLM-generated separators, TODO counts, whatever matters to your team. Findings appear as badges on file nodes in Inspection mode.

• MCP server. Built-in Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can query insights, check status, run checks, and list changed files programmatically.

• Bundled themes. Ships with Shiftspace Dark and Shiftspace Light.

Per-worktree config

Drop a .shiftspace-worktree.json at a worktree's root to attach metadata related to that to that specific worktree. Add it to your .gitignore so it stays local to each checkout instead of getting committed onto the branch.

{
  "badge": {
    "label": "in review",
    "color": "info",
    "description": "PR open, waiting on approval."
  },
  "planPath": "PLAN.md"
}

Badge

The badge block renders a pill next to the worktree's name. Useful for marking a worktree stale, in progress, in review, or whatever you want. Agents can set this too, which makes it easier to tell at a glance which worktrees are still being worked on and which are safe to delete. label is required and free-form. color is optional and must be one of neutral, info, success, warning, or danger. Each maps to a VSCode theme token so badges stay readable across themes. It defaults to neutral. description is optional and shows as a tooltip when you hover the badge.

Plan

planPath points at a plan or notes file relative to the worktree root (PLAN.md, TODO.txt, that kind of thing). When it's set, a book icon shows up on the worktree card. Click it to open the file. Hold Shift while hovering to preview the contents inline without leaving the Shiftspace panel.

Getting started

1. Install the extension.
2. Run Shiftspace: Open as Tab from the command palette or use the Shiftspace Primary Side Bar tab
3. Click a work tree to inspect the details regarding it
4. Drop a .shiftspace.json in your repo root to configure checks and code smell rules:

{
  "actions": [
    { "id": "lint", "label": "Lint", "command": "npm run lint", "type": "check", "icon": "search" },
    { "id": "test", "label": "Test", "command": "npm test", "type": "check", "icon": "beaker" }
  ],
  "pipelines": [
    { "id": "verify", "label": "Verify", "steps": ["lint", "test"], "stopOnFailure": true }
  ],
  "smells": [
    {
      "id": "eslint-disable",
      "label": "ESLint Disable",
      "pattern": "eslint-disable",
      "threshold": 1,
      "fileTypes": [".ts", ".tsx"]
    }
  ]
}

Configuration

Privacy and telemetry

Shiftspace ships with optional, opt-in anonymous error reporting through Sentry. It's off by default. The first time the extension activates you'll see a one-time prompt asking whether to turn it on. Pick "No thanks" and you won't be asked again. No code, file contents, or personally identifiable info is ever sent. You can flip the toggle any time via shiftspace.telemetry.enabled, and VS Code's global telemetry.telemetryLevel always wins over it.

Requirements

VS Code 1.85+ and git.

Links

• GitHub
• Report an issue
• License (MIT)