live-writer-branch-cleanup-guard

name	live-writer-branch-cleanup-guard
description	Guardrails for multi-repo sync and branch cleanup when workspace-hub or another shared repo has active writer sessions, worktree-backed branches, or unrelated-history branches.
version	1.0.0
source	session-learned

Live-Writer Branch Cleanup Guard

Use when:

• doing repo-wide sync + branch cleanup across workspace-hub repos
• a shared repo keeps becoming dirty between checks
• many branches are worktree-backed or created by overnight agents

Core pattern

1. Commit and push dirty repos first.
2. Before mass branch cleanup, check for active writer sessions:
   • ps -ef | grep claude
   • ps -ef | grep '[g]it'
   • repeated git status --short
3. If a repo becomes dirty again between checks, classify it as a live-writer repo.
4. Do not do broad merge/delete passes on live-writer repos until the writers stop.
5. Use temporary worktrees for branch-to-default merge attempts when the main working tree is dirty or on a non-default branch.

Branch triage rules

Safe to delete

• already merged branches with shared history
• stale worktree-agent branches not attached to active worktrees
• old local aliases like master in a main-default repo once confirmed merged

Do not auto-merge

• branches that fail with fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories
• branches with real content conflicts
• branches currently attached to active worktrees
• branches in repos with active concurrent writer sessions

Interpretation of common failures

• fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories

  • Treat as separate lineage/import branch.
  • Do not auto-merge to main.
  • Report for manual triage.

• error: cannot delete branch '<name>' used by worktree

  • Branch is active.
  • Skip deletion.
  • Clean the worktree first, then retry later.

• repo gets dirty again right after commit/push

  • Usually another agent/process is still writing.
  • Stop mass cleanup in that repo and finish other repos first.

Practical order of operations

1. Audit repos: default branch, dirty state, ahead/behind, branch inventory.
2. Commit/push all dirty repos.
3. Prune obviously merged branches in quiet repos.
4. Attempt merges only for branches with shared history and no active worktree attachment.
5. Leave shared-control repos like workspace-hub for a dedicated quiet window.

Why this exists

A large multi-repo cleanup run showed that the biggest blocker was not git itself but active background Claude/worktree activity. Treating live-writer repos as a special case avoids false cleanup attempts, repeated dirty-state churn, and unsafe branch operations.