wtm clean

Remove a worktree and its local branch

Synopsis

Remove a git worktree and delete the local branch. The remote branch is never touched. Without arguments, shows an interactive picker.

The removal runs in a fixed order: the worktree's jobs are stopped and checked gone (a job that will not stop refuses the removal unless --force), the on_clean hooks run, git removes the worktree — and only then is its data dropped. A failure before that last step leaves the data where it was.

By default, clean DROPS the namespaces the worktree carved out of shared services (a database per worktree in a shared postgres, say): the confirmation names each one, and --output json reports each as dropped, deferred or kept. --keep-data withholds the drop. A service that is down cannot take its data back: the form asks whether to start it now or keep the data until wtm next starts it; --yes keeps it, --drop-data starts it. A namespace another worktree reaches under the same name is never dropped.

wtm clean [branch] [flags]

Examples

  # Pick the worktree to remove
  wtm clean

  wtm clean feat/login

  # No prompts; its children move onto its parent
  wtm clean feat/login --yes --reparent-children

  # Keep the databases it holds in shared services
  wtm clean feat/login --yes --keep-data --output json

Options

      --drop-data           Drop the removed worktrees' data now, starting the shared services that are down to do it
      --force               Lift safety refusals (dirty/unpushed/open-PR); still asks to confirm unless --yes
  -h, --help                help for clean
      --keep-data           Keep the namespaces the removed worktrees carved out of shared services
      --output string       Output format: text or json (default "text")
      --reparent-children   Reparent orphaned child worktrees onto the grandparent (no prompt)
  -y, --yes                 Skip all prompts; resolve every decision from flags and safe defaults (keeps safety checks unless --force)

Options inherited from parent commands

  -q, --quiet   Silence human output; errors and the exit code are unaffected, and --output json still emits its document

SEE ALSO

• wtm - Orchestrate git worktrees and team dev workflows from the terminal