prune-projects

name	prune-projects
description	Find stale .claude/projects/ folders whose source directories no longer exist on the filesystem, then clean them up (merge renamed, delete dead).
user-invocable	true

Prune Projects

Scan ~/.claude/projects/ for project folders that point to directories no longer on the filesystem. Present findings and clean up based on user instructions.

Path Encoding

Claude Code encodes project paths by replacing /, ., and _ with -. This means -- in a folder name could decode to /., /_, or /-.

Decoding strategy: for each -- segment, try all three prefixes (_, ., -) against the filesystem. A single encoded name may have multiple -- segments requiring independent resolution.

Execution

Step 1: Scan

For each directory in ~/.claude/projects/:

1. Skip .DS_Store and non-directories.
2. Decode the folder name back to a filesystem path:
   • Replace -- with a placeholder (e.g., \x00)
   • Replace - with /
   • For each placeholder, try restoring as /_, /., and /- (check filesystem existence at each level)
3. If the decoded path exists on the filesystem, skip it.
4. If no valid decoding exists, mark it as stale.

Step 2: Categorize

Group stale folders into:

• Worktrees: folders containing .claude-worktrees or .claude/worktrees
• Workspace subpaths: folders whose encoded name is a subpath of another project folder that still exists
• Temp: folders under /private/tmp/ or /var/folders/
• Regular: everything else.

Step 3: Present

Show findings in a table, then ask which to delete and which were renamed/moved.

Step 4: Act on user instructions

For deletes: Use rm.

For merges (renamed/moved projects):

1. Identify the target project folder (create if needed).
2. Move session files (*.jsonl) and session dirs (UUID-named) to the target.
3. Move memory/ contents if present (don't overwrite existing).
4. Remove the now-empty source folder.

For worktrees: merge session files into the parent project folder, then delete.

Rules

• Always present findings first. Do NOT delete or merge without user confirmation.
• After cleanup, list remaining project folders so user can verify.