cleanup

cleanup — Merge Branch Cleanup

Safe deletion of local and remote branches that have been merged into main. Always shows what will be deleted and confirms before proceeding.

Step 1 — List Merged Local Branches

git branch --merged main | grep -v '^\*\|main\|master'

Filter out:

• Current branch (marked with *)
• main and master (never delete)

Step 2 — List Merged Remote Branches

git branch -r --merged origin/main | grep -v 'origin/main\|origin/master'

Filter out:

• origin/main and origin/master (never delete)

Step 3 — Verify Branches Are Truly Merged

For each branch found, verify it is fully merged:

git log --oneline main..<branch>

If output is empty: branch is fully merged. Safe to delete.

If output is non-empty: branch has commits not in main. Do NOT delete. Warn the user.

Step 4 — Check for Open Pull Requests

Before deleting a remote branch, check for open PRs:

gh pr list --head <branch> --state open

If any open PRs exist: skip deletion of that branch. Note it and ask the user if they want to close the PR first.

Step 5 — Show the Deletion Plan

Display a summary:

Local branches to delete:
  branch-1
  branch-2

Remote branches to delete:
  origin/branch-3
  origin/branch-4

Branches with open PRs (will be skipped):
  branch-5

Ask for explicit confirmation:

Proceed with deletion? (yes/no)

Step 6 — Delete Local Branches

Use -d (safe delete only — fails if not fully merged):

git branch -d <branch>

Never use -D — it force-deletes without checking.

Report each deletion:

Deleted: branch-1
Deleted: branch-2

Step 7 — Delete Remote Branches

git push origin --delete <branch>

Report each deletion:

Deleted remote: origin/branch-3
Deleted remote: origin/branch-4

Step 8 — Prune Stale Remote References

git remote prune origin

Step 9 — Final Report

Summary:

cleanup complete:
  Local branches deleted: N
  Remote branches deleted: M
  Stale refs pruned

Safety Rules (Hard)

• Never delete: main, master, current branch
• Always confirm: show deletion plan before proceeding
• Use -d not -D: safe mode only
• Check for open PRs: before deleting remote branches
• Verify merge status: empty git log main..<branch> output required
• Never prune stashes: only prune remote refs

When Deletion Fails

If git branch -d <branch> fails (branch not fully merged):

Cannot delete <branch>: not fully merged

Skip it and continue with others. Note it in the final report.

If git push origin --delete <branch> fails (remote branch doesn't exist), skip and continue.

Additional Resources

Related: cap (commit and push), git-guard (merge strategy verification)