cleanup

Git Cleanup

Prune stale worktrees, merged local branches, and dead remote-tracking refs.

Instructions

Run these steps sequentially, presenting findings to the user before any destructive action.

Step 1: Stale worktrees

git worktree list

For each worktree (excluding the main working tree), check the last commit date:

git -C <worktree-path> log -1 --format="%ci %s" 2>/dev/null

Flag any worktree with no commits in the last 7 days as stale.

Step 2: Merged local branches

git branch --merged main | grep -v -E '^\*|main|master'

These branches are fully merged into main and safe to delete.

Step 3: Local branches with no remote

git fetch --prune origin
git branch -vv | grep ': gone]'

These track remote branches that no longer exist (already merged & deleted on GitHub).

Step 4: Your remote branches that are merged

gh pr list --author @me --state merged --limit 50 --json headRefName,number,title

Cross-reference with local branches.

Step 4b: Stale handoff files (branch-scoped context-resume)

TheClauu writes per-branch handoffs at ~/.claude/notes/projects/<slug>/context-resume/<branch-key>.md (v0.3.5+). When a branch is deleted, its handoff lingers forever unless cleaned.

Derive this project's slug:

REMOTE=$(git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null)
if [ -n "$REMOTE" ]; then
  # Extract org/repo from URL (handles https + ssh)
  SLUG=$(echo "$REMOTE" | sed -E 's|.*github.com[:/]([^/]+/[^/.]+)(\.git)?$|\1|' | tr '/' '-' | tr '/' '-')
  SLUG=$(echo "$REMOTE" | python3 -c "import sys, re; m = re.search(r'github\.com[:/]([^/]+)/([^/.]+)', sys.stdin.read()); print(f'{m.group(1)}--{m.group(2)}'.lower() if m else '')")
else
  SLUG=$(basename "$(pwd)")
fi
HANDOFF_DIR="$HOME/.claude/notes/projects/$SLUG/context-resume"

Iterate handoffs and classify each:

[ -d "$HANDOFF_DIR" ] || exit 0
for f in "$HANDOFF_DIR"/*.md; do
  [ -f "$f" ] || continue
  name=$(basename "$f" .md)

  # Skip synthetic keys — they're not branch-names and need manual handling
  case "$name" in
    _unknown|_detached-*) continue ;;
  esac

  # Reverse the sanitization: handoff filenames have / replaced with -. We can't perfectly reverse
  # (a branch named "foo-bar" and "foo/bar" both sanitize to "foo-bar"). Compromise: check if the
  # sanitized name matches any CURRENT local branch's sanitized form. If no match anywhere, it's stale.
  exists=$(git branch --format="%(refname:short)" | while read b; do
    sanitized=$(echo "$b" | tr '/' '-')
    [ "$sanitized" = "$name" ] && echo "yes" && break
  done)
  [ -z "$exists" ] && echo "STALE_HANDOFF: $f"
done

A handoff is classified as stale when no current local branch sanitizes to its filename. Categories to flag in the summary:

• Definitely removable — handoff's branch is gone AND there's a matching merged PR (cross-ref with Step 4's gh pr list). Safe auto-propose.
• Probably removable — handoff's branch is gone, older than 30 days. Prompt.
• Keep — handoff's branch still exists locally. Never flag.

Present findings in the Step 5 summary table under a new "Stale handoff" row.

Step 5: Present findings

Show a summary table:

Category	Branch/Worktree/Handoff	Last Activity	Action
Stale worktree	...	...	Remove?
Merged local	...	...	Delete?
Gone remote	...	...	Delete?
Stale handoff	<slug>/context-resume/<branch>.md	...	Delete?

Step 6: Execute cleanup (only after user confirms)

CRITICAL: Remove worktrees BEFORE deleting their branches.

# Worktrees first
git worktree remove <path>
git worktree prune

# Then branches
git branch -d <branch>

# Prune remote refs
git remote prune origin

# Stale handoff files (only those the user confirmed)
rm "$HOME/.claude/notes/projects/<slug>/context-resume/<branch-key>.md"

Report what was cleaned up.

Red flags

• Never delete handoffs whose branch still exists locally. The handoff represents active work.
• Never touch _detached-* or _unknown handoffs without explicit user prompt. Those aren't tied to a current branch and deletion risk is higher.
• Never remove the legacy single-file handoff (<slug>/context-resume.md without the / subdir). It's the backward-compat fallback; if the user hasn't yet done a handoff on the current branch, they still depend on it.
• Never rm -rf the whole context-resume/ directory. Only the specific stale files the user confirmed.