Take Out the Trash

Name: take-out-the-trash
Rating: 78
Author: ericchansen

Clean up unused git resources to keep repositories tidy.

What This Skill Cleans

•Local branches - Branches that have been merged or whose PRs are closed/merged
•Remote tracking branches - Prune stale remote references
•Pull requests - Delete branches for merged/closed PRs (remote)
•Git stashes - Review and optionally clear stale stashes

Workflow

1. Analyze Current State

bash

# List all branches
git --no-pager branch -a

# List stashes
git --no-pager stash list

# List PRs with their states
gh pr list --state all --limit 50 --json number,title,state,headRefName

2. Identify Cleanup Candidates

Branches safe to delete:

•Local branches whose PRs are MERGED or CLOSED
•Remote branches for MERGED/CLOSED PRs (except main/master)
•Branches that have been fully merged into main/master

Never delete:

•main, master, develop branches
•Branches with OPEN PRs
•The currently checked out branch

3. Clean Up Process

bash

# First, switch to main/master
git checkout main && git pull

# Prune remote tracking branches
git fetch --prune

# Delete local branches that are merged
git branch --merged | grep -v "main\|master\|develop" | xargs -r git branch -d

# For branches with closed PRs (not merged), use -D
git branch -D <branch-name>

# Delete remote branches for closed PRs
git push origin --delete <branch-name>

4. Stash Cleanup

bash

# List stashes with details
git stash list

# Show stash contents before dropping
git stash show -p stash@{0}

# Drop specific stash
git stash drop stash@{0}

# Clear all stashes (use with caution)
git stash clear

Safety Rules

•Always ask before deleting - Show the user what will be deleted and get confirmation
•Never force-delete branches with unmerged work unless explicitly confirmed
•Check stash contents before dropping - they may contain important WIP
•Keep open PR branches - Only clean up merged/closed PRs
•Prune remotes first - Run git fetch --prune before local cleanup

Example Cleanup Session

bash

# 1. Update and prune
git checkout main && git pull && git fetch --prune

# 2. Show candidates
echo "=== Local branches ===" && git --no-pager branch
echo "=== Merged branches ===" && git branch --merged | grep -v "main\|master"
echo "=== Stashes ===" && git stash list
echo "=== Closed/Merged PRs ===" && gh pr list --state closed --json number,headRefName,state

# 3. After user confirms, delete
git branch -d <merged-branch>
git push origin --delete <closed-pr-branch>
git stash drop stash@{N}

Quick Commands

Task	Command
Delete merged local branches	`git branch --merged \| grep -v "main\|master" \| xargs git branch -d`
Prune remote tracking	`git fetch --prune`
Delete remote branch	`git push origin --delete <branch>`
Drop stash	`git stash drop stash@{N}`
List closed PRs	`gh pr list --state closed --json number,headRefName`