listing-stale-branches

Stale Branch Detection

Identify git branches that are candidates for cleanup: merged-but-not-deleted and inactive branches with no recent commits.

Auto-Invoke Triggers

This skill automatically activates when:

1. Keywords: "stale branches", "old branches", "branch cleanup", "prune branches", "dead branches", "unused branches", "inactive branches", "branch hygiene"
2. Actions: "list branches to delete", "find stale branches", "clean up branches"

Arguments

• --threshold <months> — Inactivity threshold in months (default: 3)
• --base <branch> — Base branch for merge check (default: main)
• --remote — Include remote branch analysis

Workflow

Execute each step below using the Bash tool. This is a read-only skill — never delete branches, only report findings.

Step 1: Validate Git Repository

git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT_A_GIT_REPO"

If not a git repo, stop and inform the user.

Step 2: Parse Arguments

Parse $ARGUMENTS for:

• --threshold N → set THRESHOLD_MONTHS=N (default: 3)
• --base BRANCH → set BASE_BRANCH=BRANCH (default: main)
• --remote → set INCLUDE_REMOTE=true (default: false)

Verify the base branch exists:

git rev-parse --verify "$BASE_BRANCH" 2>/dev/null || echo "BASE_BRANCH_NOT_FOUND"

If the base branch doesn't exist, try master as fallback. If neither exists, stop and inform the user.

Step 3: Calculate Inactivity Threshold

Cross-platform threshold date (epoch seconds):

# macOS
if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
  threshold=$(date -v-${THRESHOLD_MONTHS}m +%s)
else
  # Linux
  threshold=$(date -d "${THRESHOLD_MONTHS} months ago" +%s)
fi
echo "Threshold date (epoch): $threshold"

Step 4: List Merged Branches

Find local branches already merged into the base branch (safe to delete):

echo "=== MERGED BRANCHES (safe to delete) ==="
merged_count=$(git branch --merged "$BASE_BRANCH" | grep -v "^\*" | grep -vw "$BASE_BRANCH" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
git branch --merged "$BASE_BRANCH" | grep -v "^\*" | grep -vw "$BASE_BRANCH" | while IFS= read -r branch; do
  branch="${branch## }"
  last_commit_date=$(git log -1 --format='%ci' "$branch" 2>/dev/null | cut -d' ' -f1)
  echo "  $branch  (last commit: ${last_commit_date:-unknown})"
done
if [ "$merged_count" -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "  (none)"
fi
echo "Total merged: $merged_count"