cleanup-branches

A fast CLI tool to delete local Git branches that have already been merged into a target branch.

Features

• Detects merged branches using commit graph analysis (git2)
• Skips the current branch and the base branch automatically
• Colour-coded output for quick scanning
• --dry-run mode to preview changes before acting
• --interactive mode with a keyboard checklist to pick which branches to delete
• --force flag to skip confirmation
• --ignore list to protect specific branches

Installation

Binary release (Linux x86_64/aarch64)

Use the automated install script:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dave136/cleanup-branches/main/install.sh | sh

The default installation directory is ~/.local/bin. To install elsewhere, set the DIR variable:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dave136/cleanup-branches/main/install.sh | DIR=/usr/local/bin sh

Or download and extract a release manually from the releases page.

From source

Requires Rust (edition 2024, stable toolchain).

git clone <repo-url>
cd cleanup-branches
cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/cleanup-branches. Copy it anywhere on your $PATH:

cp target/release/cleanup-branches ~/.local/bin/

Optional: Alias and system-wide installation

Create a shorter alias (cb):

Add to your shell configuration (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.):

alias cb='cleanup-branches'

Or install via cargo and create a system-wide symlink:

# Install with cargo
cargo install --path .

# Create symlink in /usr/bin (requires sudo)
sudo ln -s ~/.cargo/bin/cleanup-branches /usr/bin/cleanup-branches

# Optional: also symlink the short alias
sudo ln -s ~/.cargo/bin/cleanup-branches /usr/bin/cb

Usage

cleanup-branches <repo-path> <base-branch> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument	Description
<repo-path>	Path to the Git repository
<base-branch>	Branch to check merged status against

Options

Option	Short	Description
--force	-f	Delete without asking for confirmation
--dry-run	-d	Show what would be deleted without making changes
--interactive	—	Open a checklist to toggle which merged branches to delete
--ignore <LIST>	-i	Comma-separated branch names to keep
--help	-h	Print help

Interactive mode

With --interactive, an opt-in checklist lists every eligible merged branch, each labelled with the branch it was merged into (e.g. feature-x (merged into 'main')). Every branch starts selected. Current and ignored branches stay visible as skipped but cannot be selected.

Key	Action
Space	Toggle a branch
Enter	Confirm the selection
Esc / q	Cancel (delete nothing)

--interactive cannot be combined with --force; the selection itself is the confirmation.

Examples

# Preview branches that would be deleted
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo main --dry-run

# Delete merged branches, prompting for confirmation
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo main

# Delete without confirmation
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo main --force

# Keep specific branches even if merged
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo main --ignore hotfix,staging,release

# Interactively select which merged branches to delete
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo main --interactive

# Preview the interactive selection without deleting
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo main --interactive --dry-run

# Check against a different base branch
cleanup-branches /path/to/repo develop

How it works

The tool opens the repository with git2 and fetches the latest state of the base branch from origin. It then iterates over all local branches and computes graph_ahead_behind(branch, base). Any branch with ahead == 0 is fully merged into the base — identical to what git branch --merged reports — and is a candidate for deletion.

Dependencies

Crate	Purpose
clap	CLI argument parsing
dialoguer	Interactive checklist prompt
git2	Libgit2 bindings for repository operations
anyhow	Ergonomic error handling

License

MIT