Parallel work

When work.isolation is set to "worktree", you can run multiple /rota-work sessions side by side from separate terminals. Each session gets its own directory and branch, so they don’t step on each other. You start and watch each one yourself.

If you’d rather have one orchestrator assign issues to standing workers, wait on them and merge their PRs, that is a parallel round. Use this page for two or three sessions you are watching; use a round for a queue.

When to use this

Long-running cycles you don’t want to block on while other work proceeds.
Independent feature tracks that shouldn’t share a branch.
Keeping main clean while agents work in parallel.
Batching unrelated bug fixes that gain nothing from sharing context.

Setting it up

Flip work.isolation to "worktree" via rota config set work.isolation worktree or by editing .rota/config.json directly. See configuration for the full option set. Once set, /rota-work creates a new directory under .claude/worktrees/<branch-name> for each cycle instead of switching the current worktree. The main worktree stays on main throughout.

Two terminals, two streams

The IDs below are file-backend IDs; on the issues backend they are #N (issue backend). Start each stream in its own terminal. /rota-work (no argument) picks items that aren’t already in progress, so the two sessions claim different work.

Terminal 1 picks [B02] and [F01]:

/rota-work
# → suggests B02, F01
/rota-work
# → creates .claude/worktrees/fix/b02-timer-crash
#    and .claude/worktrees/feat/f01-dark-mode

Terminal 2 picks [F03] (B02 and F01 are already in progress):

/rota-work
# → suggests F03 (B02 and F01 shown as In Progress, skipped)
/rota-work
# → creates .claude/worktrees/feat/f03-export-csv

See running work for the full /rota-work lifecycle.

How status.json stays consistent

Both sessions write to the same .rota/status.json in the main worktree, but each owns different entries (one per active branch), so they don’t conflict under normal operation. /rota-work (no argument) in a third terminal sees both streams as “In Progress” and skips those items. If it runs while another /rota-work is mid-update, the last writer wins; the next run reconciles drift by validating status against actual git state. See picking work.

Caveats

Don’t run rota init or rota config set from inside a worktree. Those write to .rota/ and must run in the main worktree. /rota-work runs, with or without an argument, are fine in either place.