branch-clean

name	branch-clean
description	Identify and safely prune stale git branches — merged into the default branch, tracking a deleted remote ([gone]), or stale beyond a threshold. Dry-run by default, local-only by default (remote deletion is opt-in), and never touches protected or currently checked-out branches.

Branch Cleanup

Find local branches that are safe to delete and remove them with confirmation. Groups candidates by reason and previews before doing anything destructive.

This skill is backed by ~/.claude/scripts/branch_clean.sh. Protected globs and the staleness threshold come from the branch_clean block of config/command_config.yml.

When to use

• Your local branch list has accumulated merged / abandoned branches.
• After merging several PRs, to clear out the merged source branches.
• To find branches whose remote was deleted ([gone]).

Task

1. Preview first (dry-run is the default — deletes nothing):

   ~/.claude/scripts/branch_clean.sh
   

   Candidates are grouped by reason: Merged into , Gone upstream, Stale > Nd. Protected and current branches are listed as never-deleted.

2. Apply, with confirmation:

   # Delete the local candidates (prompts for confirmation)
   ~/.claude/scripts/branch_clean.sh --apply
   
   # Also delete the matching remote branches (opt-in)
   ~/.claude/scripts/branch_clean.sh --apply --include-remote
   
   # Tune staleness / add protected patterns
   ~/.claude/scripts/branch_clean.sh --stale-days 60 --protect 'wip/*'
   

3. Review the outcome. Each deletion reports deleted or FAILED. A FAILED on a [gone] or stale branch usually means it has unmerged commits — the safe path (git branch -d) refuses to force-delete it. Delete it manually with git branch -D <name> only if you are sure the work is disposable.

Safety guarantees

• Local-only by default (FR-016a): remote branches are deleted only with --include-remote.
• Dry-run by default (FR-018): nothing is deleted without --apply + confirmation (use --yes in non-interactive contexts).
• Never touches the default branch, configured protected globs, or the currently checked-out branch (FR-017).
• Never force-deletes unmerged branches via the default path (FR-020); such attempts fail safely and are reported, not swallowed (FR-019).