delete-branches 1.1.1

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delete-branches

✅ What does delete-branches do?

delete-branches removes GitHub branches that have been inactive (without new commits) for longer than the idle period.

exemptions: default branch, protected branches, head branches in PR, and user-specified exclude branches

⭐ Why switch to delete-branches?

• we reduce your supply chain risks with openssf best practices in our SDLC and operations.
• we share evidence of code coverage results in action (click Code Coverage » cron-tasks » badge-coverage).

🏃 Running delete-branches in GitHub action

Use the workflow examples below to create your own workflow inside .github/workflows/.

Example 1 - MOCK Delete Summary

• run on a scheduled interval - every day at 5:30 pm UTC (- cron: '30 17 * * *')
• use GitHub Token with permissions: contents: read
• exclude branch from delete: badges (exclude-branches: 'badges')
• perform a MOCK delete (dry-run: true)
• display inactive branches without new commits longer than 10 days (max-idle-days: 10)

Example 1 - MOCK Delete Workflow

name: delete-github-branches

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '30 17 * * *'

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  delete-branches:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    permissions:
      contents: read
      pull-requests: read

    - name: Run delete-branches
      id: delete-branches
      uses: tagdots/delete-branches@ff424d3a4af5b29492bd8b778887583259b3e573 # 1.0.0
      env:
        GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      with:
        repo-url: ${{ github.repository }}
        max-idle-days: 10
        exclude-branches: 'badges'
        dry-run: true

Example 2 - Irreversible Delete Summary

• run on a scheduled interval - every day at 5:30 pm UTC (- cron: '30 17 * * *')
• use GitHub Token with permissions: contents: write
• exclude branch from delete: badges (exclude-branches: 'badges')
• perform a delete (dry-run: false)
• delete inactive branches without new commits longer than 10 days (max-idle-days: 10)

Example 2 - Irreversible Delete Workflow

name: delete-github-branches

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '30 17 * * *'

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  delete-branches:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    permissions:
      contents: write
      pull-requests: read

    - name: Run delete-branches
      id: delete-branches
      uses: tagdots/delete-branches@ff424d3a4af5b29492bd8b778887583259b3e573 # 1.0.0
      env:
        GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      with:
        repo-url: ${{ github.repository }}
        max-idle-days: 10
        exclude-branches: 'badges'
        dry-run: false

🖥 Running delete-branches locally

Prerequisites

* Python (3.12+)
* GitHub fine-grained token (contents: write)

Setup delete-branches

~/work/hello-world $ workon hello-world
(hello-world) ~/work/hello-world $ export GH_TOKEN=github_pat_xxxxxxxxxxxxx
(hello-world) ~/work/hello-world $ pip install -U delete-branches

🔍 Example 1 - Run for help

(hello-world) ~/work/hello-world $ delete-branches --help
Usage: delete-branches [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --dry-run BOOLEAN        default: true
  --repo-url TEXT          e.g. https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}  [required]
  --exclude-branches TEXT  Branches excluded from deletion
  --max-idle-days TEXT     Delete branches older than max. idle days [required]
  --version                Show the version and exit.
  --help                   Show this message and exit.

🔍 Example 2 - MOCK delete branches with no commits longer than 10 days

Summary

1. exclude 3 branches: test-1, test-2, badges
2. remove branches without commits longer than 10 days

Results

1. refine excluded branches to badges because branches (test-1 and test-2) do not exist
2. 3 branches are exempted from delete: main, badges, pr-branch-01
3. 6 branches are not exempted from delete and 2 out of 6 had no commits in the last 10 days
4. mock delete 2 branches

(hello-world) ~/work/hello-world $ delete-branches --dry-run true --max-idle-days 10 --repo-url https://github.com/tagdots/hello-world --exclude-branches "test-1, test-2, badges"

🚀 Starting to Delete GitHub Branches (dry-run: True, exclude-branches: {'test-1', 'test-2', 'badges'}, max-idle-days: 10)

Current Time (UTC): 2025-08-20 17:08:32

Refined User Exclude Branch(es): {'badges'}
Default Branch                 : main
Protected Branch               : main
Pull Request Head Branch       : pr-branch-01

Total Number of Branches                         : 9
Total Number of Branches (Exempt-From-Delete)    : 3
Total Number of Branches (Not-Exempt-From-Delete): 6

From 6 Not-Exempt-From-Delete Branch(es),  2 had no commits in the last 10 day(s)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(MOCK) Delete branch - last update UTC 2025-08-09 13:49:34: branch-test-001
(MOCK) Delete branch - last update UTC 2025-08-08 03:29:34: branch-test-005

🔍 Example 3 - Delete branches with no commits longer than 10 days

Summary

1. exclude 1 branch: badges
2. remove branches without commits longer than 10 days

Results

1. refine excluded branches to badges
2. 3 branches are exempted from delete: main, badges, pr-branch-01
3. 6 branches are not exempted from delete and 2 out of 6 had no commits in the last 10 days
4. delete 2 branches

(hello-world) ~/work/hello-world $ delete-branches --dry-run false --max-days 10 --repo-url https://github.com/tagdots/hello-world --exclude-branches "badges"

🚀 Starting to Delete GitHub Branches (dry-run: True, exclude-branches: {'badges'}, max-idle-days: 10)

Current Time (UTC): 2025-08-20 17:26:55

Refined User Exclude Branch(es): {'badges'}
Default Branch                 : main
Protected Branch               : main
Pull Request Head Branch       : pr-branch-01

Total Number of Branches                         : 9
Total Number of Branches (Exempt-From-Delete)    : 3
Total Number of Branches (Not-Exempt-From-Delete): 6

From 6 Not-Exempt-From-Delete Branch(es),  2 had no commits in the last 10 day(s)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
✅ Delete branch - last update UTC 2025-08-09 13:49:34: branch-test-001
✅ Delete branch - last update UTC 2025-08-08 03:29:34: branch-test-005

🔧 delete-branches command line options

Input	Description	Default	Required	Notes
repo-url	Repository URL	None	Yes	e.g. https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}
dry-run	Dry-Run	True	No	-
max-idle-days	Maximum number of days without commits	None	No	enter number of days
exclude-branches	Branches excluded from deletion	None	No	comma seperated branches e.g. "branch1, branch2"

😕 Troubleshooting

Open an issue

🙏 Contributing

For pull requests to be accepted on this project, you should follow PEP8 when creating/updating Python codes.

See Contributing

🙌 Appreciation

If you find this project helpful, please ⭐ star it. Thank you.

📚 References

How to fork a repo