When managing many repos with accumulated stale branches: (1) inventory all repos and categorize branches (worktree artifacts, orphaned histories, merged-upstream), (2) identify patterns (e.g., archive/* branches from restructurings that can't merge), (3) use dry-runs to verify before mass deletion, (4) handle protected branches separately and verify API errors aren't transient, (5) stash active work, merge valuable unmerged branches, clean merged branches, then restore stash. Key insight: pull latest before merge attempts—upstream may have already merged branches you think are local.
Large Scale Branch Hygiene is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the general-misc sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.
The Large Scale Branch Hygiene Claude Code skill is built for Claude Code users and developers across all disciplines looking for general-purpose AI assistance. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 146,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/SKILL.md \ -o ~/.claude/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/SKILL.md
Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.
Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\large-scale-branch-hygiene\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.
Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →
The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.
For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.
SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Large Scale Branch Hygiene is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:
@misc{large-scale-branch-hygiene-2026,
author = {vamseeachanta},
title = {Large Scale Branch Hygiene [Claude Code skill]},
year = {2026},
publisher = {ClaudSkills},
url = {https://claudskills.com/skills/large-scale-branch-hygiene/}
}Grade A · scanned 2026-07-06 — free static scan against the OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10.
No risk patterns were found in any of the ten OWASP-aligned categories. How grading works ›
Browse all General skills in the ClaudSkills registry, or explore these other picks from the same category:
Part of Acreator Store — Adam Lankamer's AI tools: PerfectStudio · Ucaption · UTagger · AutoXPoster · TestYourSkills · AutomationFlows · Au Naturel · Telegram @acreatorstore
SKILL.md files, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic.