Git branch cleanup

Skill magnusrodseth/dotfiles/.claude/skills/git-branch-cleanup

⚙️ There are many like them, but these dotfiles are mine. A stow-managed macOS setup: Zsh, Neovim, tmux, Ghostty, and a pile of Claude Code tooling.

Install

npx -y skills add magnusrodseth/dotfiles --skill git-branch-cleanup

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

2 things to look at

no licenseNo license file was found in the repository. Code published without one is not open source by default, so using it at work is a question for whoever answers licensing questions where you are.
2 stars2 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Safely delete local git branches that are already merged, squash/rebase-merged, or whose remote was deleted, while protecting the current branch, the default branch, and any worktree-checked-out branch. Use when the user wants to clean up, prune, tidy, or delete "done"/merged/stale local branches, shrink a long `git branch` list, or remove branches after merging a PR.

SKILL.md

3.5 KB, 785 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

git-branch-cleanup

Remove finished local branches without risking unmerged work. The hard part is that git branch --merged only sees branches reachable from the default branch — it MISSES squash- and rebase-merged PRs (the common GitHub workflow). This skill layers three signals and only auto-deletes the provably-safe set.

Quick start

bash scripts/cleanup-branches.sh --fetch          # delete safe-merged, list the rest
bash scripts/cleanup-branches.sh --dry-run        # classify only, delete nothing
bash scripts/cleanup-branches.sh --fetch --force  # also -D the PR-merged / gone set

The script classifies every local branch into four buckets, deletes the merged bucket with safe git branch -d, and prints the rest. Present its output to the user; only re-run with --force after they confirm the squash-merged / gone set.

What it protects (never deleted)

The current branch and the default branch (origin/HEAD, else main/master/develop)
Any branch checked out in a worktree (git refuses these anyway; the script skips them)

Classification

Bucket	Signal	Action
Merged	`git for-each-ref --merged=<default>` (ancestor of default)	auto `git branch -d` (safe)
PR-merged	`gh pr list --state merged` head matches branch	list; `-D` only with `--force`
Gone	upstream tracking shows `[gone]` (remote branch deleted)	list; `-D` only with `--force`
Active	none of the above	KEPT

Workflow

git fetch --prune (or pass --fetch) so [gone] detection is accurate.
Run the script; review the four buckets with the user.
The merged bucket is already gone (safe -d). For the PR-merged / gone buckets, confirm with the user, then re-run with --force (or delete individually).
Mention deletions are recoverable from reflog (git reflog) for ~30 days.

Safety rules

Prefer git branch -d (refuses unmerged work). Use -D only for branches confirmed merged via a PR or whose remote is [gone], and only after confirmation.
Never delete the current branch, default branch, or worktree branches.
Squash/rebase-merged branches are NOT ancestors of the default branch, so -d will refuse them — that is expected; rely on the gh/[gone] signals instead.

Manual fallback (no script / explaining the steps)

default=$(git symbolic-ref --quiet --short refs/remotes/origin/HEAD | sed 's#origin/##')
git for-each-ref --merged="$default" --format='%(refname:short)' refs/heads/   # merged
git for-each-ref --format='%(refname:short) %(upstream:track)' refs/heads/ \
  | grep '\[gone\]'                                                            # gone
gh pr list --state merged --limit 300 --json headRefName --jq '.[].headRefName' # squash-merged
git worktree list                                                              # protect these

Footgun encoded here: enumerate with git for-each-ref (porcelain), never git branch | grep. A naive grep -v main also strikes "maintenance", "domain", etc. Use exact, anchored matches.

Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most pr commit review skills give in 785 tokens

Counted across 888 of the 1,342 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-08-06

use conventional commits formatin 123 of 888, across 110 files
keep subject line under 72 charactersin 60 of 888, across 46 files
delete branches after mergein 50 of 888, across 37 files
use imperative mood in subject linein 50 of 888, across 41 files
use imperative mood in commit messagesin 45 of 888
generate a conventional commit messagein 42 of 888
make atomic commitsin 37 of 888, across 25 files
run tests before committingin 36 of 888, across 24 files
run project test suite to verify clean baselinein 35 of 888, across 7 files
run detected project setup commandsin 34 of 888, across 6 files
wrap commit body at 72 charactersin 32 of 888, across 25 files
split unrelated changes into separate commitsin 32 of 888, across 27 files

Said here and by no other author read

run the classification script
review classified branches with the user
re-run with force only after confirmation
use git branch -D only with force
inform user deletions are recoverable via reflog
enumerate branches using git for-each-ref

Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.