claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] PR shortcut indicator shows ghost branch from deleted worktree, persists across full restart (Windows) [1 comments, 2 participants]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code (2.1.81)

What's Wrong?

Summary After a Claude Code-managed git worktree is deleted (via the system's worktree teardown — confirmed by the SessionStart:resume hook message "The git worktree at <path> was deleted. This session now operates on the origin repository at <origin>"), the TUI's PR shortcut indicator continues to show the deleted worktree's branch name as if it were the current branch:

master ← claude/practical-austin   +1 -0   [Create PR]

The branch does not exist anywhere on disk.

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.81
• OS: Windows 11
• Shell: PowerShell 5.1 (also reproduced via Git Bash for git ops)
• Repo: standard single-worktree git repo, branch master

Reproduction

1. A previous Claude Code agent dispatch created an isolated worktree (claude/<adjective-name> branch + .claude/worktrees/<name>/ directory).
2. The worktree got torn down externally (directory removed, branch deleted, no .git/worktrees/ metadata leftover).
3. On next claude --resume, the hook fires:

   The git worktree at D:\Proyectos\BuildCalc Pro.claude\worktrees\practical-austin was deleted. This session now operates on the origin repository at D:\Proyectos\BuildCalc Pro.

4. Despite operating on origin (verified by pwd, git branch --show-current, both reporting master), the TUI PR shortcut indicator renders master ← claude/practical-austin +1 -0 [Create PR].
5. Survives Ctrl+C + relaunch and full process kill + relaunch from origin path.

Expected behavior After worktree teardown, the PR shortcut indicator should either:

• Re-detect git state from on-disk .git/HEAD and show the actual current branch (master), or
• Hide entirely if no comparison branch is detectable.

Actual behavior The indicator persists indefinitely with the now-non-existent branch. Clicking "Create PR" would presumably attempt to operate on a branch that doesn't exist (not tested to avoid pollution).

Verification that the branch is gone

• git symbolic-ref HEAD → refs/heads/master
• cat .git/HEAD → ref: refs/heads/master
• git show-ref | grep practical-austin → empty
• ls .git/refs/heads/claude/ → only other adjective-name branches, no practical-austin
• .git/worktrees/ directory does not exist (no orphan worktree metadata)
• .git/packed-refs does not contain it
• git reflog --all | grep practical-austin → empty
• Worktree directory .claude/worktrees/practical-austin/ has been deleted
• Removed the stale ~/.claude.json project entry for the worktree path → no effect on the indicator
• grep -rln "practical-austin" ~/.claude/ returns only backups/.claude.json.backup.* and historical session JSONLs (no live config files)

Diagnostic hypothesis The active session sub-directory contains only the tool-results/ hook output (no session metadata yet). The historical worktree session JSONL at ~/.claude/projects/D--Proyectos-BuildCalc-Pro--claude-worktrees-<name>/<session-id>.jsonl still has "gitBranch":"claude/<name>" baked into every entry. Plausible cause: TUI reads cached gitBranch from a session-metadata index (e.g., sessions-index.json referenced in #25032) rather than from live git symbolic-ref HEAD.

Workaround tried None confirmed. Starting a brand-new session (no --resume/-c) is likely the only escape hatch but loses conversation context.

Related

• #25032 (sessions-index.json staleness)
• #48270 (claude --resume picks stale branch — different angle, same area)
• #26725 (stale worktrees never cleaned up)