Git Branch Cleaner

A VS Code extension that scans your local and remote Git branches, identifies merged and stale branches, and lets you safely delete them through an interactive UI.

Features

Local Branch Cleanup

Merged branch detection — finds branches already merged into your current HEAD
Stale branch detection — flags branches with no commits in the last N days (configurable)
Protected branch filtering — never suggests deleting main, master, dev, develop, staging, production, or your custom protected branches
Unpushed commit guard — skips branches with local commits not yet pushed to a remote
Interactive QuickPick UI — checkbox-style multi-select with branch status details
Safe delete by default — uses git branch -d (refuses to delete unmerged branches)
Auto-fetch before scan — optionally runs git fetch --prune to keep branch state fresh

Remote Branch Cleanup (new in v2.1)

Remote branch scanning — lists all branches on your remote (e.g. origin) after a fresh fetch
Recent activity guard — branches with commits within the stale threshold are flagged as ⚡ Recently active and blocked from deletion, protecting work by teammates
Merged-into-default-branch check — detects branches merged into main/master on the remote
Author visibility — shows who last committed to each remote branch
Post-local-deletion prompt — after cleaning local branches, you're asked if you'd also like to clean remote branches

Commands

Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) and run:

Command	Description
`Git Branch Cleaner: Scan Branches`	Interactive scan — pick which local branches to delete
`Git Branch Cleaner: Clean Branches (Auto-select Safe)`	Auto-selects all safe-to-delete local branches
`Git Branch Cleaner: Clean Remote Branches`	Fetch, scan, and delete stale/merged remote branches

Typical Workflow

Run Scan Branches or Clean Branches to clean up your local branches
After deletion, a prompt appears: "Would you also like to clean up remote branches?"
Click Yes, Scan Remote — the extension fetches the latest remote state and shows you which remote branches are safe to delete
Or run Clean Remote Branches directly at any time to jump straight to remote cleanup

Remote Branch Safety

When scanning remote branches, a branch is only considered safe to delete if all of the following are true:

Check	Description
✅ Not protected	Not in the built-in or user-configured protected list
✅ No recent activity	No commits within the stale threshold (default: 30 days)
✅ Merged or stale	Either merged into the remote default branch, or inactive past the threshold

Branches with recent activity are shown in the picker with a ⚡ Recently active label and cannot be selected, protecting your teammates' in-progress work.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`gitBranchCleaner.protectedBranches`	`[]`	Additional branches to protect (added to built-in defaults)
`gitBranchCleaner.staleDaysThreshold`	`30`	Days of inactivity before a branch is considered stale
`gitBranchCleaner.autoFetchBeforeScan`	`true`	Run `git fetch --prune` before scanning local branches
`gitBranchCleaner.defaultRemote`	`"origin"`	Default remote name for remote branch operations

Example settings.json

{
  "gitBranchCleaner.protectedBranches": ["hotfix", "release/v2"],
  "gitBranchCleaner.staleDaysThreshold": 60,
  "gitBranchCleaner.autoFetchBeforeScan": false,
  "gitBranchCleaner.defaultRemote": "origin"
}

Safety Rules

Local branches — never suggested for deletion if:

The currently checked-out branch
A protected branch (built-in or user-configured)
Has unpushed local commits
Active with no merge or staleness issues

Remote branches — never suggested for deletion if:

A protected branch (built-in or user-configured)
Has commits within the stale threshold (recent activity by anyone)
Active with no merge or staleness issues

Built-in Protected Branches

The following branches are always protected from both local and remote deletion:

main, master, dev, develop, staging, production, release

Project Structure

src/
├── extension.ts      # Entry point — activates extension, registers all 3 commands
├── git.ts            # Low-level Git command executor (child_process wrappers)
├── branchScanner.ts  # Branch analysis engine (local + remote scanning)
├── ui.ts             # VS Code UI layer (QuickPick, dialogs, notifications, prompts)
├── config.ts         # Reads VS Code settings
└── types.ts          # Shared TypeScript interfaces (BranchInfo, RemoteBranchInfo, etc.)

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# Watch mode (auto-recompile on save)
npm run watch

# Package as VSIX
npm run package

# Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host

License

MIT

Git Stale Branch Cleaner

Sabeen