/cleanup

description: Finish an already-merged branch — classify the leftover artifacts, return to a fast-forwarded default checkout, and delete the merged local branch. Every discard confirmed per item; containment proven, never assumed.
argument-hint: (none)

{{CMD:cleanup}} — post-merge branch transition

<!-- catalog-compatibility-notice:start --> > Compatibility route. Prefer `{{CMD:pr}} --cleanup` for new usage. This installed route remains > functional under the command-route compatibility policy at {{PLUGIN_ROOT}}/includes/command-compatibility.md; > continue with the unchanged cleanup workflow below. <!-- catalog-compatibility-notice:end -->

Your PR merged. You are still standing on the branch, with build output, worktree residue, and scratch files around you. This command owns the ordinary walk back: prove the branch actually landed, decide what the leftovers are, get to a clean fast-forwarded default checkout, and drop the merged local branch.

It exists because nothing else owned it. `{{CMD:standup}}` is daily hygiene and deliberately never touches the current branch or the default one; `{{CMD:chore}}` takes docs, dependency bumps, and reverts. Issue #308 recorded what the gap produced: a routine cleanup routed to `{{CMD:chore}}`, which refused it, and then to `{{CMD:override}}` — a bypass invented to cover missing coverage. This is that coverage.

Routes to

The `post-merge-cleanup` skill (`{{PLUGIN_ROOT}}/skills/post-merge-cleanup/SKILL.md`), which owns the containment proof, the artifact classification, and the per-item confirmations.

When NOT to use

• The branch has NOT merged yet → `{{CMD:pr}}` (`finishing-a-development-branch`)

owns the terminal decision; come back here after it lands.

• Daily start-of-day hygiene across *other* branches and worktrees →

`{{CMD:standup}}`.

• A read-only look at what is dirty → `{{CMD:status}}`.
• Uncommitted work you want to keep → `{{CMD:commit}}`. This command never

commits for you.

Hard gate

• MUST prove the current branch is contained in the **fetched** default branch —

SHA-ancestry, or a squash-merge proven by the merged PR record (`headRefOid` == HEAD) — before anything is deleted. An unproven or unfetched comparison STOPs — a branch that only *looks* merged is not merged.

• MUST classify every dirty or untracked artifact as **unique**, **redundant**,

or **superseded**, and MUST NOT discard a unique or unclassifiable one without explicit per-item confirmation naming it.

• MUST confirm each removal individually — no batched yes, no implied yes.
• MUST reach the default branch with a clean working tree, and MUST fast-forward

with `--ff-only` only — never a merge commit, never a rebase, never a reset that discards work.

• MUST use `git branch -d`, and MAY use `-D` only when the squash-merge PR-record

proof held this run and `-d` refused, with that proof restated and the branch named in the confirmation. MUST NOT otherwise force-delete a branch, force-push, delete a remote branch, or write to the default branch.

• MUST NOT require `{{CMD:override}}`. This is ordinary lifecycle work; if it

cannot proceed, the reason is a stated gate, not a bypass.