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Clean up stale git worktrees and local branches in the current repository. Covers both worktree removal and local branch prune - see `content/references/worktree-lifecycle.md` §Branch prune for the ca
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Based on SOC occupation classification
| name | ds-cleanup-worktrees |
| description | Clean up stale git worktrees and local branches in the current repository. Covers both worktree removal and local branch prune - see `content/references/worktree-lifecycle.md` §Branch prune for the ca |
| user-invocable | true |
Run the Activation preflight from
METHODOLOGY.mdbefore proceeding. If inactive, no-op and exit.
Clean up stale git worktrees and local branches in the current repository. Covers both worktree removal and local branch prune - see content/references/worktree-lifecycle.md §Branch prune for the canonical branch-prune command block.
Use proactively after finishing a task, when a PR is merged, when worktrees are accumulating, or any time you want to confirm the repo is in a clean state. Also invoke when the user says "prune worktrees", "clean up branches", "tidy the repo", or "remove stale worktrees". Works in any git repo.
Run all steps directly in the conductor session via Bash - do NOT spawn background agents. Worktree cleanup is sequential and fast.
git fetch origin 2>/dev/null || true
git worktree prune
git fetch origin is non-fatal - repos without a remote (local test repos, offline environments) will fail here and that is fine. Always continue. git worktree prune removes entries pointing to directories that no longer exist on disk.
git worktree list
The first entry is always the main worktree - the repo root directory. Skip it unconditionally regardless of what branch it is on.
Categorize each remaining entry by its branch name:
worktree-agent-*. Temporary agent sandboxes. Go to Step 3.feature/*, fix/*, or chore/*. Long-lived task branches. Go to Step 4.For each isolation worktree, resolve its path from the branch name and check its status before touching it:
source "${REPO_DIR:-.}/scripts/lib/worktree.sh" 2>/dev/null || true
WORKTREE_PATH=$(resolve_branch_worktree "$REPO_DIR" "$b" 2>/dev/null || true)
git -C "$WORKTREE_PATH" status --porcelain 2>/dev/null
where $b is the branch name from git worktree list for the current isolation worktree.
There are three cases. (Note: if a worktree is still locked - its agent actively running, per Claude Code's own lock-while-running behavior - the git worktree remove and git branch -D below are refused by git automatically; this is expected, not an error to route around.)
Directory does not exist (command errors with "not a git repository" or similar): The directory was already removed before this command ran. If the entry is still locked, a bare git worktree prune will NOT clear it - unlock first, then prune, then delete the branch:
git worktree unlock "$WORKTREE_PATH" 2>/dev/null || true
git worktree prune
git branch -D "$b"
Directory exists, clean (no output): Remove the worktree and delete the branch:
git worktree remove "$WORKTREE_PATH"
git branch -D "$b"
Directory exists, dirty (output present): List the dirty files and skip removal. Report to the user - do not remove without explicit confirmation. Uncommitted work in an agent worktree may be important.
For each feature worktree, check whether its PR has been merged:
gh pr list --state all --head <branch-name> --json number,state,title
If state is MERGED: remove the worktree and delete the branch:
git worktree remove <worktree-path>
git branch -D <branch-name>
If state is OPEN or CLOSED (not merged): skip removal. Report the branch name, PR number, and state to the user so they can decide.
If no PR exists: skip removal. Report the branch as having no PR and needing manual review.
If gh is not available: skip the PR check for all feature worktrees. Report each feature worktree as "needs manual review - gh CLI not available". Do not block or error.
Run the canonical branch prune from content/references/worktree-lifecycle.md §Branch prune (stale local branches). It targets three classes of stale local branch with safe signals only - branches with no upstream and not merged into origin/main are left alone and reported to the user for manual review.
git worktree prune
git worktree list
Report a summary:
git worktree list) is always skipped.gh is not available, flag feature worktrees for manual review and continue.Apply when the user mentions any software development work: implementing features, fixing bugs, reviewing or refactoring code, debugging, testing, deploying, working with agents or subagents, making architecture decisions, setting up projects, managing dependencies, writing scripts, or any task that involves reading, writing, or reasoning about code and systems.
Agentic Engineering Protocol for Hermes - structured delegation model, risk classification, adversarial review loops, code quality gates, git workflow conventions, and named agent definitions. Load this skill when doing AI-assisted software development with Hermes Agent.
Apply when the user mentions any software development work: implementing features, fixing bugs, reviewing or refactoring code, debugging, testing, deploying, working with agents or subagents, making architecture decisions, setting up projects, managing dependencies, writing scripts, or any task that involves reading, writing, or reasoning about code and systems.
Pre-implementation technical design agent. Spawn when you need a structured technical plan before writing code. Reads the codebase, identifies patterns and constraints, evaluates approaches, and produces a concrete plan a Worker can execute directly. Never writes or modifies files.
General-purpose implementation agent. Spawn for any code change: new features, bug fixes, refactors, configuration changes, or script writing. Reads the codebase to understand conventions, implements the change, runs quality gates, and returns a clear summary of what was done. This is the standard Worker for all Elevated-risk implementation tasks.
Cheap per-turn stop-condition check for open-goal loops. Spawned by the conductor ONLY after an Elevated iteration produces a clean Skeptic sign-off, to evaluate the operator-declared goal_condition and return continue-vs-stop only - never for a Low/Trivial iteration (no Skeptic sign-off exists to run after; the conductor evaluates goal_condition directly there instead). Tier 1 (haiku) leaf agent - read-only, no subagent spawning, never runs in place of, before, or concurrently with a Skeptic review. Does NOT review correctness or safety and does NOT raise, waive, or comment on Skeptic findings. Returns BLOCKED only as a structural guard when spawned without a confirmed Skeptic sign-off; the conductor handles this BLOCKED as a fallback to direct evaluation, NOT as the generic Worker-BLOCKED-means-cap_reached-escalation semantics in content/references/subagent-protocol.md - a BLOCKED return here never halts the loop. On any other failure (unavailable, errored, timeout, malformed output) the conductor falls bac