Git Cleanup Skill

Automates git branch hygiene after merging or closing PRs. Safely deletes merged branches (and force-deletes closed/abandoned branches), prunes stale remote tracking refs, syncs dependencies, and runs garbage collection.

Workflow

Execute these steps in order:

1. Check current branch

bash

git branch --show-current

Store the result as CURRENT_BRANCH.

2. Guard against main/master

If CURRENT_BRANCH is main or master:

•Report: "Already on main branch. No branch to clean up."
•Skip to step 7 (pull latest) and continue from there.

3. Check for uncommitted changes

bash

git status --porcelain

If output is non-empty:

•Warn the user: "You have uncommitted changes. Please commit or stash them first."
•Stop and do not proceed.

4. Check if branch is merged or closed

First check for merged PRs:

bash

gh pr list --state merged --head CURRENT_BRANCH --json number

If merged, proceed to step 5.

If not merged, check for closed PRs:

bash

gh pr list --state closed --head CURRENT_BRANCH --json number

If closed (result is non-empty):

•Report: "Branch 'CURRENT_BRANCH' has a closed (unmerged) PR. Proceeding with deletion."
•Proceed to step 5 (will use force delete in step 6).

If neither merged nor closed:

•Check if the branch is merged locally: git branch --merged main | grep -w CURRENT_BRANCH
•If not merged anywhere, warn: "Branch 'CURRENT_BRANCH' does not appear to be merged or closed. Use git branch -D manually if you want to force delete."
•Stop and do not proceed.

Store whether the branch was MERGED or CLOSED for use in step 6.

5. Switch to main

bash

git checkout main

6. Delete the branch

If branch was MERGED:

bash

git branch -d CURRENT_BRANCH

If branch was CLOSED (PR closed without merging):

bash

git branch -D CURRENT_BRANCH

Report: "Deleted branch CURRENT_BRANCH." (mention if force-deleted due to closed PR)

7. Pull latest

bash

git pull origin main

8. Prune remote tracking refs

bash

git fetch --prune

9. Delete stale local branches

Find and delete local branches whose upstream is gone:

bash

git for-each-ref --format '%(refname:short) %(upstream:track)' refs/heads | while read branch track; do
  if [ "$track" = "[gone]" ]; then
    git branch -d "$branch" 2>/dev/null && echo "Deleted stale branch: $branch"
  fi
done

Report any branches deleted.

10. Sync dependencies

Detect package manager and sync:

•If uv.lock exists: uv sync
•Else if bun.lockb exists: bun install
•Else if package-lock.json exists: npm install
•Else if requirements.txt exists: pip install -r requirements.txt
•Else: Skip dependency sync

11. Git garbage collection

bash

git gc --prune=now

12. Summary

Report completion:

•Branch deleted (if applicable)
•Number of stale branches pruned
•Dependencies synced (which package manager)
•Garbage collection complete

Error Handling

•Dirty working tree: Stop immediately and ask user to commit/stash
•Branch not merged or closed: Warn and stop - never force delete without explicit user request
•Branch closed (not merged): Force delete with -D since branch is abandoned
•Already on main: Skip branch deletion, continue with pull/prune/gc
•No remote: If git pull fails due to no remote, continue with local operations
•gh CLI not available: Fall back to git branch --merged check