git-local-sweep

Clean up local Git branches that no longer exist on remote.

Similar to git-sweep, but specifically designed to delete local branches marked as "gone" (i.e., their remote tracking branches have been deleted).

Why?

After pull requests are merged and remote branches are deleted, your local repository still contains those branches. Over time, this clutter builds up. Running git branch -vv shows them with a [origin/branch: gone] marker.

git-local-sweep makes it easy to identify and delete these orphaned local branches.

The package exposes a short alias: gls.

Installation

npm Global Install (Recommended)

npm install -g @cryterion/git-local-sweep

This installs both commands:

• git-local-sweep
• gls

Shell Installer (Alternative)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mphassani/git-local-sweep/main/install.sh | bash

Or using wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mphassani/git-local-sweep/main/install.sh | bash

Manual Installation

1. Download the script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mphassani/git-local-sweep/main/git-local-sweep -o git-local-sweep

2. Make it executable:

chmod +x git-local-sweep

3. Move it to a directory in your PATH:

sudo mv git-local-sweep /usr/local/bin/
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/bin/git-local-sweep /usr/local/bin/gls

Or for user-only installation:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv git-local-sweep ~/.local/bin/
ln -sf ~/.local/bin/git-local-sweep ~/.local/bin/gls
# Add ~/.local/bin to your PATH if not already there
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Updating

npm Installation

If installed via npm, update with:

npm install -g @cryterion/git-local-sweep@latest

If you run git-local-sweep update (or gls update) from an npm-managed install, the command guides you to the npm update flow.

Shell/Manual Installation

If installed via install.sh or manual copy, run:

git-local-sweep update

Or re-run the installer:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mphassani/git-local-sweep/main/install.sh | bash

Usage

Preview branches to be deleted

git-local-sweep preview
# or
gls preview

This shows you which local branches are marked as "gone" from remote without deleting anything. Before listing branches, the tool refreshes remote tracking data with a git fetch --all --prune check.

Clean up branches

git-local-sweep cleanup
# or
gls cleanup

This will show you the branches and prompt for confirmation before deleting them. At the prompt, y or just pressing Enter confirms deletion.

Clean up without confirmation

git-local-sweep cleanup --force
# or
gls cleanup --force

Deletes branches without prompting for confirmation. Use with caution!

Check version

git-local-sweep --version
# or
gls --version

Shows the currently installed version.

Update to latest version

git-local-sweep update
# or
gls update

For npm-managed installs, this recommends the npm global update command. For shell/manual installs, this checks for and applies script updates.

Example

$ git-local-sweep preview
These local branches are gone from remote:
  feature/old-feature
  bugfix/fixed-bug
  experiment/test-idea

To delete them, run again with `git-local-sweep cleanup`

$ git-local-sweep cleanup
These local branches are gone from remote:
  feature/old-feature
  bugfix/fixed-bug
  experiment/test-idea

Delete these branches? ([Y]/n)

deleting feature/old-feature (done)
deleting bugfix/fixed-bug (done)
deleting experiment/test-idea (done)

All done!

Requirements

• Python 3.6 or higher
• Git
• npm (only required for npm install/update/release flows)

Release Process

Version bump workflow

Use Bun scripts to keep package.json and the CLI script version in sync:

bun run check:version-sync
bun run version:patch
# or: bun run version:minor
# or: bun run version:major

After bumping, commit and merge to main. The release workflow then:

1. Confirms version sync
2. Checks whether version increased from the previous main commit
3. Creates GitHub Release vX.Y.Z if missing
4. Publishes @cryterion/git-local-sweep@X.Y.Z to npm if not already published

One-time setup for automated npm publish

1. Configure npm Trusted Publishing (OIDC) for this repository:
   • npm package: @cryterion/git-local-sweep
   • GitHub repo: mphassani/git-local-sweep
   • Workflow file: .github/workflows/release.yml
2. Ensure the @cryterion npm scope allows public packages.

First manual npm publish bootstrap

Run once from the repository root (after version sync check):

npm publish --access public

The release workflow is idempotent, so if this version is already on npm it will skip publishing and continue safely.

How it works

The script:

1. Runs git branch -vv to get detailed branch information
2. Identifies branches with the [origin/...: gone] marker
3. Uses git branch -D to force-delete these branches

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Author

Created by Parsa Hassani (@mphassani)