Soft Delete Git Branch Workflow

Invocation behavior

• The working tree is dirty.
• The current branch is the default branch.
• Safe deletion fails and force deletion would require confirmation.

Steps:

1. Check for uncommitted changes
   bash

   git status --porcelain

   If the working tree is dirty, stop and ask the user how to proceed (commit, stash, or discard) before switching branches.
2. Get current branch name
   bash

   git branch --show-current

   If already on the default branch, there is no branch to delete — stop and ask the user which branch they meant.
3. Determine the default branch
   bash

   git symbolic-ref --short refs/remotes/origin/HEAD

   This returns e.g.

   origin/main

   — the default branch is the part after

   origin/

   . If the ref is unset, fall back to

   main

   .
4. Check out the default branch
   bash

   git checkout <default-branch>

5. Pull latest changes
   bash

   git pull

6. Soft delete the previous branch
   bash

   git branch -d <branch-name>

7. If soft delete fails, check for a squash merge

   git branch -d

   fails for branches merged via GitHub's "Squash and merge", because the branch tip is never an ancestor of the default branch. Check whether the branch's PR was actually merged:
   bash

   gh pr view <branch-name> --json state,mergedAt

   • If the PR state is

     MERGED

     , confirm with the user, then delete with

     git branch -D <branch-name>

     .
   • Otherwise, escalate to the user rather than force-deleting.

Notes:

• Uses lowercase

  -d

  for soft delete (safe delete that prevents deletion of unmerged branches)
• Never use uppercase

  -D

  (hard delete) except in the verified-squash-merge case above, and only after confirming with the user
• The workflow ensures the default branch is up to date before attempting the delete