Clean Branches
Overview
A convenience wrapper around standard Git commands for pruning local branches whose upstreams have disappeared
Do you have a lot of local branches that have been deleted on the remote server, but still linger in your local repository? This script helps you clean up those branches safely.
Download the script from GitHub.
Is it “safe”?
- Nothing happens unless you answer “y” at the first prompt, and then you still get a second prompt for every branch because of
xargs -p. - It never touches the remote server — only local branch references.
- It uses
git branch -d, which refuses to delete a branch that is not fully merged into the current HEAD. In other words, even if the script’s “merged” test were wrong, Git itself will still protect you.
Possible negative outcomes / caveats
| Risk | How it could happen | Mitigation / recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Accidental loss of a useful local branch | You approve deletion, then realise later you still needed it (e.g., for an in-progress rebase). | The branch tip is still in git reflog for 90 days by default; you can git reflog, find the commit, and git branch <name> <SHA>. |
| False “merged” classification | Very rare, but could occur if you’re on a branch other than the usual integration branch (main) when you run the script, because git branch --merged compares against current HEAD. | Run the script from your primary integration branch, or change git branch --merged to --merged main. |
| Remote renamed / forked | If a teammate renamed the remote branch and pushed it elsewhere, your local branch now shows “gone” even though work continues under a new name. Deleting it means you lose the convenient reflog link to its history. | Double-check the printed list before confirming; if in doubt, answer N and investigate. |
| Edge-case branch names | Branch names containing newlines or unusual bytes could confuse text processing (though the script is largely null-delimited). | Unlikely in normal workflows; Git itself discourages such names. |
| Script aborts mid-way | Because of set -euo pipefail, any unexpected error (e.g., network hiccup during git fetch) terminates the script. Nothing is partially deleted. | Just re-run after fixing the root cause. |
Bottom line
The script is a convenience wrapper around standard Git commands for pruning local branches whose upstreams have disappeared. If you review the printed branch list and confirm only what you truly want to delete — ideally while checked out onmain or develop — the worst-case consequence is deleting a branch you later decide you want, which is recoverable via git reflog or by fetching it again if it still exists on a remote.