Git Alias to Delete All Merged Branches

Delete Merged Local Branches

After feature branches are merged, the local copies linger. This alias safely removes them all at once:

[alias]
    cleanup = !git branch --merged | grep -v '\*\|main\|master\|develop' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

Breaking Down the Command

This is a shell pipeline (prefixed with !) with three stages:

1. git branch --merged lists all local branches whose tips are reachable from HEAD (i.e., fully merged into the current branch)
2. grep -v '\*\|main\|master\|develop' filters out the current branch (*), main, master, and develop to protect them from deletion
3. xargs -n 1 git branch -d feeds each remaining branch name to git branch -d for safe deletion

Safety Guarantees

The -d flag (lowercase) only deletes branches that are fully merged. If a branch has unmerged commits, git refuses to delete it and shows an error. This prevents accidental data loss.

Example

# Before cleanup
git branch
#   feature/login
#   feature/payments
#   fix/typo
# * main

git cleanup
# Deleted branch feature/login (was a1b2c3d).
# Deleted branch feature/payments (was e4f5g6h).
# Deleted branch fix/typo (was i7j8k9l).

# After cleanup
git branch
# * main

Customizing Protected Branches

Modify the grep -v pattern to protect additional branches specific to your workflow:

[alias]
    cleanup = !git branch --merged | grep -v '\*\|main\|master\|develop\|staging\|release' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

Dry Run

To see what would be deleted without actually deleting:

git branch --merged | grep -v '\*\|main\|master\|develop'