DLC: Git Ops

Automated git hygiene — clean up merged branches, prune stale remote tracking refs, and verify repository state.

Step 1: Sync with Remote

Fetch latest state, prune deleted remote branches, and sync the default branch.

# Detect the default branch dynamically
# 2>/dev/null suppresses errors when symbolic-ref is not set (e.g. shallow clone)
DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's|refs/remotes/origin/||')

# Fallback: check for main, then master
if [ -z "$DEFAULT_BRANCH" ]; then
  if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/origin/main; then
    DEFAULT_BRANCH="main"
  elif git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/origin/master; then
    DEFAULT_BRANCH="master"
  else
    echo "ERROR: Cannot determine default branch. Aborting."
    exit 1
  fi
fi

echo "Default branch: $DEFAULT_BRANCH"

# Fetch and prune stale remote tracking refs
git fetch origin --prune

# Abort if worktree has uncommitted changes
if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: Worktree is dirty — stash or commit your changes before running git-ops."
  exit 1
fi

# Switch to default branch and pull (fast-forward only to avoid merge commits)
git checkout "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"
git pull --ff-only origin "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"

If git pull --ff-only fails, abort with: "ERROR: non-fast-forward update for $DEFAULT_BRANCH. Resolve manually."

Step 2: Detect Cleanup Candidates

Combine two detection methods and deduplicate:

# Method 1: Branches fully merged into the default branch
MERGED=$(git branch --merged "$DEFAULT_BRANCH" | grep -v '^\*' | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//')

# Method 2: Branches whose remote tracking ref is gone (plumbing command for reliable parsing)
GONE=$(git for-each-ref --format '%(refname:short) %(upstream:track)' refs/heads | grep '\[gone\]' | cut -d' ' -f1)

# Combine and deduplicate: track which method(s) detected each branch
# Branches in both lists get reason "merged + gone"

Filter out protected branches — never include these in candidates:

• $DEFAULT_BRANCH (the dynamically detected default branch)
• main
• master
• develop
• Any branch matching release/*

# Filter protected branches from the combined candidate list
echo "$CANDIDATES" | grep -v -E "^(main|master|develop|${DEFAULT_BRANCH})$" | grep -v '^release/'

For each candidate, record:

Field	Value
name	Branch name
reason	merged (from method 1), gone (from method 2), or merged + gone (both)
has_remote	yes if git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin "$name" succeeds, no otherwise

If no candidates are found, print "No cleanup candidates found. Repository is clean." and skip to Step 5.

Step 3: Present and Confirm

Display the candidate list with reasons:

Found {n} branch(es) to clean up:

  {branch-1}  (merged, has_remote: no)          → delete local only
  {branch-2}  (gone, has_remote: no)            → delete local only
  {branch-3}  (merged + gone, has_remote: yes)  → delete local + remote

Use AskUserQuestion with three options:

Option	Behavior
Delete all	Proceed to delete all candidates
Let me pick	Present each branch individually for yes/no selection
Skip	Abort cleanup — no branches deleted

If the user selects Skip, print "Cleanup skipped." and jump to Step 5.

If the user selects Let me pick, iterate through each candidate and use AskUserQuestion to confirm deletion individually. Collect the confirmed subset.

Step 4: Execute Cleanup

For each confirmed branch:

# Safe delete — Git will refuse if the branch is not fully merged
if ! git branch -d "$BRANCH_NAME"; then
  echo "WARNING: Failed to delete $BRANCH_NAME — skipping."
  continue
fi

# If the branch has a remote tracking ref, delete it from origin
if git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin "$BRANCH_NAME" > /dev/null; then
  git push origin --delete "$BRANCH_NAME"
fi

Safety rules:

• Use -d (NOT -D) — Git's built-in safety check prevents deleting unmerged branches
• NEVER delete protected branches ($DEFAULT_BRANCH, main, master, develop, release/*) even if they appear in candidates (defense-in-depth)
• If git branch -d fails for a branch, report the failure and continue with the next branch — do not abort the entire cleanup
• If git push origin --delete fails, report the failure but count the local deletion as successful

Step 5: Report

Print a summary:

Git ops complete.

  Before: {n} local branches
  After:  {n} local branches
  Deleted: {n} branches

  Deleted:
    - {branch-1} (merged)
    - {branch-2} (gone)

  Failed (if any):
    - {branch-3}: not fully merged (use git branch -D to force)

  Remaining:
    - main
    - develop
    - feature/in-progress

If no branches were deleted (skip or no candidates), only print the "Remaining" section with the current branch list.