ExitWorktree(remove) leaves an empty directory and the branch when a background task started in the worktree is still running (Windows)

What's Wrong?

On Windows, ExitWorktree with action: "remove" cannot remove a worktree while a background Bash task started inside that worktree is still running. It returns "Exited worktree but could not remove it", followed by the path it kept.

By then git has deregistered the worktree and deleted its files, so an empty directory remains, held open by the background task's processes. The worktree's branch also remains.

What Should Happen?

ExitWorktree removes the directory and the branch, as it does when no background task is running. For example, it could stop the background tasks whose working directory is inside the worktree, ask before stopping them, or refuse and name them.

Error Messages/Logs

Sysinternals handle64.exe, run elevated on the leftover directory while the background task was running, lists these holders and no others:

bash.exe   pid: 56356  type: File   54: <repo>\.claude\worktrees\husk-probe-bg
bash.exe   pid: 35024  type: File  174: <repo>\.claude\worktrees\husk-probe-bg
sleep.exe  pid: 57048  type: File  174: <repo>\.claude\worktrees\husk-probe-bg

The Claude Code process is not among them.

Steps to Reproduce

1. EnterWorktree(name: "husk-probe-bg").
2. Run sleep 600 with the Bash tool and run_in_background: true.
3. ExitWorktree(action: "remove", discard_changes: true).

• It returns "Exited worktree but could not remove it".
• The directory exists and is empty.
• git worktree list no longer lists it.
• The branch worktree-husk-probe-bg still exists.

1. Stop the background task with TaskStop. rmdir on the directory then succeeds, and git branch -d worktree-husk-probe-bg deletes the branch.

Control: the same steps without step 2 return "Exited and removed worktree", and leave no directory and no branch.

Related

#92342 describes the same Windows failure where the session process itself holds the directory, for worktrees Claude Code did not create. Here the worktree was created by EnterWorktree, and the holders are the session's background task.

Environment

• Claude Code: reproduced on 2.1.282. 2.1.285 is installed but not re-tested; its changelog adds a time limit to background Bash commands (default 30 minutes), which bounds how long the directory stays held but does not change ExitWorktree.
• Regression: not known.
• OS: Windows 11 (10.0.26200). Git 2.35.1.windows.2. The Bash tool's shell is Git Bash.
• Model: Opus.