clean-branches

What problem does it solve?

This skill helps developers safely remove merged and stale branches from Git repositories, reducing clutter and minimizing the risk of accidental deletions.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Merged branches cleanup: identifies and lists branches already merged into main (excluding protected ones) so they can be removed with confirmation.
• Stale branches detection: finds branches without commits for an extended period and flags them for review.
• Safe deletion workflow: requires explicit confirmation before deleting locally, with optional remote deletions when requested.

Quick Start

Use the clean-branches skill to preview and delete branches as follows.

1. Update local state: git fetch --all --prune
2. Identify merged branches (safe to delete): git branch --merged main | grep -v "^*|main|master|develop"
3. Identify stale branches (no recent commits): git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate --format='%(refname:short) %(committerdate:relative)' refs/heads/ | while read branch date; do if [[ "$date" == "months" ]] || [[ "$date" == "year" ]]; then echo "$branch ($date)" fi done
4. Confirm and delete:

• If you want to delete all merged branches locally: git branch -d <branch-name>
• If remote cleanup is desired: git push origin --delete <branch-name>