Parallel Workspaces

When several agents work in one clone through separate git worktrees or jj workspaces, govctl coordinates them so they do not collide on artifact IDs, change the same RFC’s version at once, or cut releases from the wrong place. The rules are defined in RFC-0010.

When Coordination Applies

Coordination state lives in the clone’s shared version-control storage (the git common directory or the jj repository store). It is never committed and never changes governed artifacts.

• Single checkout: behavior is unchanged.
• No version control: multiple workspaces cannot exist, so commands behave as they always have, silently.
• Version control present but the shared state is unreadable: commands continue in single-checkout mode and warn (W0115).

Where govctl Keeps Local State

govctl keeps two kinds of local state. Neither is committed, and neither is a governed artifact.

Workspace-local state is ignored by .gitignore and can be deleted while no govctl command is running: govctl rebuilds the index, and deleting loop state only loses the ability to resume those loops. The clone-shared registry has to live in version-control storage because each worktree or workspace is a separate directory with its own .govctl/. <hash> identifies the governed project, so a monorepo with several govctl projects keeps separate registries. In a jj repository colocated with git, the jj store is used.

Earlier govctl versions kept the write lock at gov/.govctl.lock. govctl no longer uses or deletes that file. Until every agent and tool that writes to a project runs the new version, old and new processes lock different files and do not wait for each other, so upgrade them together. Once they are all upgraded, delete a leftover gov/.govctl.lock by hand.

govctl status prints the exact paths for the current workspace under Local State. Without version control the registry is reported as not applicable. When version control is present but its storage cannot be read, it is reported as unavailable, along with the reason.

Artifact IDs

IDs are reserved across workspaces when an artifact is created, so two branches never produce the same RFC, ADR, or work item number, whichever merges first. Allocation also consults shared history, so the ID of a deleted artifact is not reused.

RFC Claims

Operations that change an RFC’s version semantics take an exclusive claim on that RFC: bump, finalize, advance, deprecate, and supersede (supersession claims both RFCs). If another workspace holds a live claim, the command fails with E0824 and names that workspace.

Content edits, including clause authoring, are never blocked. They warn with W0116 when another workspace holds a claim, so overlapping work is visible.

govctl claim list             # Claims held across this clone's workspaces
govctl claim release RFC-0001 # Release a claim this workspace holds
govctl claim steal RFC-0001   # Take over another workspace's claim

Every steal is recorded as an audit event naming both workspaces. A claim expires, and stops blocking, when its workspace no longer exists or has been inactive for claim_ttl_days (default 7):

[workspace]
claim_ttl_days = 7

Seeing Work in Other Workspaces

Activating a work item records that this workspace is working on it. govctl status lists work items active in other workspaces under Active in Other Workspaces, with each owning workspace’s path. This is visibility only: it never blocks activating or editing the same item elsewhere.

The Primary Workspace

Some commands rewrite the project’s shared history and must run from one place, the primary workspace:

• git: the main working tree.
• jj: the workspace named by workspace.primary, or default when it is not configured.

[workspace]
primary = "default"

Trunk-Scoped Commands

govctl release, govctl release undo, and govctl migrate are trunk-scoped. Everything else runs in any workspace.

Run from a secondary workspace, a trunk-scoped command refuses with E0823 and names the primary workspace, by path or, when jj has not recorded its root, by workspace name. Nothing is changed.

When govctl cannot determine the primary workspace, the command runs as if the current workspace were primary and warns with W0114. The warning states the cause and a matching hint:

jj workspaces created before jj 0.38 do not record their root path. govctl still recognizes them by name and working-copy commit, so enforcement works unless two such workspaces share the same working-copy commit.