Clean gone branches

Skill dceoy/ai-coding-agent-skills/skills/clean-gone-branches

Agent skills for AI coders

Install

npx -y skills add dceoy/ai-coding-agent-skills --skill clean-gone-branches

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Clean up all git branches marked as [gone] (branches deleted on the remote but still existing locally), including removing associated worktrees.

SKILL.md

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Clean Gone Branches Skill

Remove stale local branches that have been deleted from the remote repository, along with any associated worktrees.

When to Use

After merging and deleting remote branches, to clean up local tracking branches.
When git branch -v shows branches marked as [gone].
Periodic local repository maintenance.

Agent Compatibility

This skill is tool-agnostic and can be executed by Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Cursor CLI.

Inputs

None required. The skill operates on the current git repository.

Before deleting anything, inspect the branch list and worktree list so the user can understand what will be removed.

Workflow

List branches to identify any with [gone] status:
```
git branch -v
```
Branches with a + prefix have associated worktrees and must have their worktrees removed before deletion.
List worktrees that may need removal for [gone] branches:
```
git worktree list
```

Remove worktrees and delete [gone] branches. Strip leading +, *, or spaces from git branch -v output before extracting branch names:

git branch -v | grep '\[gone\]' | sed 's/^[+* ]//' | awk '{print $1}' | while read branch; do
  echo "Processing branch: $branch"
  worktree=$(git worktree list | grep "\\[$branch\\]" | awk '{print $1}')
  if [ -n "$worktree" ] && [ "$worktree" != "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" ]; then
    echo "  Removing worktree: $worktree"
    git worktree remove --force "$worktree"
  fi
  echo "  Deleting branch: $branch"
  git branch -D "$branch"
done

Report results: List which worktrees and branches were removed. If no branches are marked as [gone], report that no cleanup was needed.

Safety Notes

Do not delete the current branch.
Do not remove the repository's main worktree.
Only delete branches shown by git branch -v as [gone]; do not infer stale branches by name.

Outputs

Console output listing removed worktrees and deleted branches.
If no [gone] branches exist, a message indicating no cleanup was needed.