Git Workspace Cleanup

Return a Git repository to a single clean main worktree: remove every non-main worktree, delete every local branch except main, and fast-forward main from its remote.

This is destructive. Never run it implicitly.

Invocation

Use this skill only when the user explicitly invokes it as $git-workspace-cleanup.

Required Flow

1. State that the workflow can delete local worktrees and branches.

2. Resolve the bundled script relative to this SKILL.md:

   scripts/git_workspace_cleanup.py
   

3. Choose the Python 3 launcher available in the user's shell and call it <python> in the commands below:

   • POSIX shells commonly use python3.
   • Windows PowerShell or cmd.exe commonly use py -3 or python.

4. Run the bundled script in dry-run mode from any path inside the repository. The dry run fetches the remote and verifies the preserved branch can fast-forward before reporting the destructive plan:

   <python> <skill-dir>/scripts/git_workspace_cleanup.py --repo . --dry-run
   

5. Show the user the main worktree path and the worktrees and branches that would be removed.

6. Ask for explicit approval before mutating the repository. Use the host's native user-input or approval UI when it is available; in Codex, use request_user_input when the current mode exposes it. Offer a destructive approval choice and a cancel choice. If no native choice UI is available, ask for a short typed approval phrase instead.

7. After approval, run:

   <python> <skill-dir>/scripts/git_workspace_cleanup.py --repo . --yes
   

8. Continue subsequent repository work from the printed main worktree path.

9. Verify the final state with:

   git worktree list
   git branch --format="%(refname:short)"
   git status --short --branch
   git pull --ff-only
   

Use --repo <path> when the current shell is not inside the target repository.

Safety Rules

• Do not remove the worktree checked out on main.
• Do not delete the local main branch.
• Do not mutate anything unless the user approves the dry-run result.
• Stop if the main worktree is dirty.
• Stop if an extra worktree is dirty. Use --force-worktrees only when the user explicitly approves discarding files in those dirty extra worktrees. Prefer the host's native user-input or approval UI for this approval when available; otherwise require a typed approval phrase.
• Treat fast-forward failure as a blocker before removing worktrees or deleting branches. Do not merge, rebase, reset, or force-push as part of this skill.
• If the repository uses a preserved branch other than main, rerun the script with --main-branch <branch> only after the user confirms that branch name.

Script Behavior

The bundled script:

• locates the worktree checked out on the preserved branch, defaulting to main
• runs git fetch --prune <remote>, defaulting to origin
• verifies the preserved branch can fast-forward to <remote>/<main-branch>
• removes every other worktree
• deletes every other local branch with git branch -D
• runs git pull --ff-only <remote> <main-branch>, defaulting to origin main

The script requires Python 3.9 or newer and either --dry-run or --yes; it refuses to mutate by default.