git sparse-checkout
Brings to the bench only the corner of the repository that matters.
In a monorepo of thousands of folders, the working tree doesn't need to carry them all. sparse-checkout set takes the list of the ones that matter and materializes only those — history stays complete; it is the workshop floor that gets lean.
In the default (cone) mode, the list is whole directories, which keeps the command fast even in huge trees. Together with clone --filter=blob:none, it is the official recipe for working on a slice of a monorepo without downloading the rest.
$ git sparse-checkout set templates static/herbario
$ ls
go.mod main.go static templates