git-sweep

A command-line tool that helps you clean up Git branches that have been merged into master.

This is a fork that adds Python 3 support (in addition to Python 2). The original is at https://github.com/arc90/git-sweep.

The problem

Your master branch is typically where all your code lands. All features branches are meant to be short-lived and merged into master once they are completed.

As time marches on, you can build up a long list of branches that are no longer needed. They've been merged into master, what do we do with them now?

The answer

Using git-sweep you can safely remove remote branches that have been merged into master.

To install it run:

$ pip install git-sweep3k

Try it for yourself (safely)

To see a list of branches that git-sweep detects are merged into your master branch:

The --dry-run option doesn't make any changes to your repository:

$ git sweep --dry-run
Fetching from the remote
These branches have been merged into master:

  branch1
  branch2
  branch3
  branch4
  branch5

To delete them, run again without --dry-run

If you are happy with the list, you can run the command that deletes these branches from the remote:

$ git sweep
Fetching from the remote
These branches have been merged into master:

  branch1
  branch2
  branch3
  branch4
  branch5

Delete these branches? (y/n) y
  deleting branch1 (done)
  deleting branch2 (done)
  deleting branch3 (done)
  deleting branch4 (done)
  deleting branch5 (done)

All done!

Tell everyone to run `git fetch --prune` to sync with this remote.
(you don't have to, yours is synced)

Note: this can take a little time, it's talking over the tubes to the remote.

You can also give it a different name for your remote and master branches:

$ git sweep --dry-run --master=develop --origin=github
...

Tell it to skip the git fetch that it does by default:

$ git sweep --dry-run --no-fetch
These branches have been merged into master:

  branch1

To delete them, run again without --dry-run

Make it skip certain branches:

$ git sweep --dry-run --skip=develop
Fetching from the remote
These branches have been merged into master:

  important-upgrade
  upgrade-libs

To delete them, run again without --dry-run

Once git-sweep finds the branches, you'll be asked to confirm that you wish to delete them:

Delete these branches? (y/n)

You can use the --force option to bypass this and start deleting immediately:

$ git sweep --skip=develop --force
Fetching from the remote
These branches have been merged into master:

  important-upgrade
  upgrade-libs

  deleting important-upgrade (done)
  deleting upgrade-libs (done)

All done!

Tell everyone to run `git fetch --prune` to sync with this remote.
(you don't have to, yours is synced)

Requirements

• Git >= 1.7
• Python >= 2.6 or >= 3.2

License

Friendly neighborhood MIT license.