Git Stash vs Worktree: 4 Patterns for Context Switching

The Problem: Stash Breaks on Uncommitted Index State

You're mid-refactor, three files staged, when a production bug lands in Slack. git stash sounds perfect — until you discover it didn't save your staged/unstaged distinction, or worse, it mangles conflicts when you pop.

Here's what actually happens when you stash with mixed index state:

# File: api/middleware.py (staged)
class AuthMiddleware:
    def __init__(self, app):
        self.app = app
        self.rate_limiter = None  # Half-finished feature

# File: api/handlers.py (unstaged, working changes)
async def handle_request(req):
    # Debugging print you forgot to remove
    print(f"Request: {req.path}")
    return await process(req)

Run git stash, fix the bug, then git stash pop. Your staged changes are now unstaged. The distinction you carefully maintained — "this is ready, this isn't" — vanished.

I'm not entirely sure why Git's default stash behavior merges staged and unstaged into one blob when git stash --keep-index exists, but in practice, most developers just use git stash and lose that information.

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