branch-cleaner

name	branch-cleaner
description	Identify and clean up stale git branches locally and on remotes with safe, reversible steps. Use when asked to prune, list, or delete merged/old branches or audit branch hygiene.

Branch cleaner

Goal

Safely identify stale branches and provide explicit delete/prune commands.

Inputs to confirm (ask if missing)

• Default branch (main/master/develop).
• Remote name (origin) and whether remote deletion is desired.
• Safety rules: keep patterns (release/, hotfix/), minimum age, merged-only.

Workflow

1. Sync and inspect
   • Run git fetch --prune.
   • Check git status and note uncommitted changes.
2. Build candidate lists
   • Local merged into default: git branch --merged <base>
   • Local not merged (list only): git branch --no-merged <base>
   • Remote merged: git branch -r --merged <base>
   • Stale by date: git for-each-ref --sort=committerdate refs/heads --format="%(committerdate:short) %(refname:short)"
3. Exclude protected branches
   • Always keep <base>, current branch, and user-provided patterns.
4. Confirm with user
   • Present candidates grouped by local vs remote.
5. Provide delete commands
   • Delete branches approved for deletion by the user

Optional GitHub CLI checks

• gh pr list --state merged --base <base> to correlate merged branches.
• gh pr view <branch> to verify status if needed.

Deliverables

• Candidate lists and rationale.
• Warnings for unmerged or recently updated branches.
• Don't remove remote branches unless explicitly approved.