Specify flag

TODO.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 - [x] Fix terminal output
 - [x] There is too much orchestration overhead to manage locally, so we need a UI to control, view, and do stuff outside of the container. The best thing is probably to create a web UI to be run locally, and the user will be redirected to this UI when they start a web app locally.
-- [ ] Flag for including vs not including non-tracked files
+- [x] Flag for including vs not including non-tracked files
 - [ ] Create listener for Claude turn end, to commit, push and create a PR
   - [ ] GH token should not be copied into the container, huge security risk
-- [ ] Specify with a flag which branch to switch to on container start
+- [x] Specify with a flag which branch to switch to on container start
 - [ ] Being able to specify which setup commands to run before and after the copying of Git files.

src/cli.ts

@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ program
   .option("--no-push", "Disable automatic branch pushing")
   .option("--no-pr", "Disable automatic PR creation")
   .option("--include-untracked", "Include untracked files when copying to container")
+  .option("-b, --branch <branch>", "Switch to specific branch on container start (creates if doesn't exist)")
   .action(async (options) => {
     console.log(chalk.blue("🚀 Starting new Claude Sandbox container..."));
     
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ program
     config.autoPush = options.push !== false;
     config.autoCreatePR = options.pr !== false;
     config.includeUntracked = options.includeUntracked || false;
+    config.targetBranch = options.branch;
     
     const sandbox = new ClaudeSandbox(config);
     await sandbox.run();

src/container.ts

@@ -492,9 +492,10 @@ exec claude --dangerously-skip-permissions' > /start-claude.sh && \\
 
     console.log(chalk.blue("• Connecting to container..."));
 
-    // Use provided branch name or generate one
+    // Use provided branch name, config target branch, or generate one
     const targetBranch =
       branchName ||
+      this.config.targetBranch ||
       `claude/${
         new Date().toISOString().replace(/[:.]/g, "-").split("T")[0]
       }-${Date.now()}`;
@@ -537,8 +538,14 @@ exec /bin/bash`;
             git config --global url."https://\${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/".insteadOf "git@github.com:"
             echo "✓ Configured git to use GitHub token"
           fi &&
-          git checkout -b "${targetBranch}" &&
-          echo "✓ Created branch: ${targetBranch}" &&
+          # Try to checkout existing branch first, then create new if it doesn't exist
+          if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/heads/"${targetBranch}"; then
+            git checkout "${targetBranch}" &&
+            echo "✓ Switched to existing branch: ${targetBranch}"
+          else
+            git checkout -b "${targetBranch}" &&
+            echo "✓ Created new branch: ${targetBranch}"
+          fi &&
           echo '${startupScript}' > /home/claude/start-session.sh &&
           chmod +x /home/claude/start-session.sh &&
           echo "✓ Startup script created"

src/index.ts

@@ -38,12 +38,14 @@ export class ClaudeSandbox {
       const currentBranch = await this.git.branchLocal();
       console.log(chalk.blue(`Current branch: ${currentBranch.current}`));
 
-      // Generate branch name (but don't switch yet)
-      const timestamp = new Date()
-        .toISOString()
-        .replace(/[:.]/g, "-")
-        .split("T")[0];
-      const branchName = `claude/${timestamp}-${Date.now()}`;
+      // Use target branch from config or generate one
+      const branchName = this.config.targetBranch || (() => {
+        const timestamp = new Date()
+          .toISOString()
+          .replace(/[:.]/g, "-")
+          .split("T")[0];
+        return `claude/${timestamp}-${Date.now()}`;
+      })();
       console.log(chalk.blue(`Will create branch in container: ${branchName}`));
 
       // Discover credentials (optional - don't fail if not found)

src/types.ts

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ export interface SandboxConfig {
   bashTimeout?: number;
   webUI?: boolean;
   includeUntracked?: boolean;
+  targetBranch?: string;
 }
 
 export interface Credentials {