git-cleanup

Git Cleanup

Clean up local git worktrees and branches that are no longer needed. Identifies branches with closed PRs and stale branches, then removes them after user confirmation.

When to Use

• When your repo has accumulated many old branches
• After merging/closing multiple PRs
• Periodic maintenance to keep your local repo clean

Arguments

Argument	Default	Description
--stale-weeks N	4	Branches with no commits in more than N weeks (N*7 days) are considered stale. Default 4 = 28 days. Set to 0 to disable stale detection.

Process

Step 1: Gather Information

Run these commands to understand the current state:

# List all worktrees
git worktree list

# List all local branches with last commit date
git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate refs/heads/ --format='%(refname:short)|%(committerdate:iso8601)|%(committerdate:relative)'

# Get the default branch
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@'

# Get current branch
git branch --show-current

For each local branch (except protected ones), check its PR status:

# Check if branch has any PRs (open, closed, or merged)
gh pr list --head <branch-name> --state all --json number,state,headRefName --limit 1

Step 2: Categorize Branches

Create four categories:

1. Protected branches (NEVER delete):

   • main
   • master
   • develop
   • production
   • The default branch (from Step 1)
   • The current branch

2. Closed PR branches (mark for deletion):

   • Branches where the most recent PR is CLOSED or MERGED

3. Stale branches (mark for deletion):

   • Branches with NO PR (empty result from gh pr list) AND last commit older than threshold
   • Threshold calculation: stale_weeks * 7 days. Default is 4 weeks = 28 days.
   • A branch is stale ONLY if: (today - last_commit_date) > (stale_weeks * 7 days)
   • Example: With default 4 weeks, a branch with last commit 7 days ago is NOT stale (7 < 28)
   • Example: With default 4 weeks, a branch with last commit 30 days ago IS stale (30 > 28)