GET: repo → worktree — clone, checkout, switch, restore

GET reads from the repo into the worktree: it is the clone / checkout / switch / restore verb. Depending on the URI it clones over a transport scheme, switches wt+cur to a branch, detaches on a sha, or restores a single file — always resetting the worktree to match the chosen tip.

Repo-read-only: never modifies a branch's history, only resets the worktree (see Verbs for the slot grammar).
Refuses up front: dirty overlap or a missing ref aborts the whole run (no partial reset) — mint a leaf with PUT first.
Network reads need a transport scheme: be get //origin reads cached refs/packs from the store; ssh:// opens the wire.
A successful run writes the new base (branch, tip-sha) to .be/wtlog reflog and clears any pending PATCH parents.

CLI use

The forms span branch switching, detached checkout, single-file restore, and remote fetch; the bareword picks branch vs path automatically.

be get ?feat switches wt+cur and resets files from the branch tip; refuses on dirty overlap or a missing ref.
be get ?./fix enters a child branch (?../sib a sibling); refuses if missing — mint the child branch with PUT first.
be get ?abc1234 is a detached checkout — POST and PATCH refuse until you re-attach to a branch.
be get '#~1' rewinds cur's ref by one commit and resets the wt, staying attached to cur.
be get file.c (or file.c?.) restores one file from cur's baseline, discarding edits and resurrecting if deleted.
be get file.c? takes the file from the trunk (empty ? = trunk); be get file.c?feat from another branch's tip.
The bareword file.c promotes to the path slot (it matches a tracked entry) — type ?feat to force a branch switch.
//origin?feat resets from the cached store; ssh://host?feat fetches then checks out (logging the URL to the reflog).
be get file:../proj?feat wires an empty cwd as a sibling wt sharing ../proj's store, resetting to feat's tip.
Bare be get is a no-op status (≡ bare be).

Flags

--force turns GET from a careful merge into a tree reset; --prune additionally clears wt-only clutter. Untracked files survive unless pruned.

--force overwrites dirty tracked paths instead of merging, and bypasses the no-baseline refusal; untracked files survive.
--prune (usually with --force) removes every wt-only path after checkout, except .gitignore matches and .be/.
The target tree's .gitignore is re-read post-checkout, so freshly added rules apply (mirrors git clean -f, not -fx).

Refusals

Aborts before touching the wt rather than half-applying, and adds a fast-forward rule when syncing a local branch from its remote; preview the refusals risk-free with HEAD, the read-only dry-run.

Dirty overlap aborts up front if a locally-edited wt file would be overwritten — no partial reset.
A missing ref refuses (the cd nonexistent mirror); mint the leaf with PUT first.
Transport sync is FF-only on the local tip: be get ssh://origin?A refuses if the local tip isn't an ancestor of A.
The FF rule applies only to syncing a local branch from its remote counterpart, not to local branch switches.