vrodokanakisvrodokanakis/claude-skills/tearing-down-a-merged-worktree/SKILL.md

tearing-down-a-merged-worktree

Skill0 starsChanged 2 months agoMITView on GitHub

Use after a PR has merged and its worktree should be cleaned up (checkout, branch, Herdr workspace, setup log, project data). Triggers on tear down the worktree, clean up the worktree, remove the worktree, teardown after merge, and on an auto-merge poll seeing MERGED. Works in any git repository.

In this repository10 other files it gives its agents.
- create-pull-requestSkill
- deep-researchSkill
- herdrSkill
- pr-review-loopSkill
- readme-writerSkill
- remixSkill
- sandi-metz-rulesSkill
- skill-creatorSkill
- test-auditSkill
- worktree-spaceSkill

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

3 rules. About 0 are common, 0 are distinctive, and 3 are very specific to this project.

≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈0
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
3
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

Common
Distinctive
Very specific

Very specific:
If the repo has its own tearing-down-a-merged-worktree skill under .claude/skills/, follow that one instead.
line 21
Very specific:
If the tree is dirty the script stops and shows the changes.
line 34
Very specific:
If the report ends with a session: line, call ExitWorktree with action: "keep" now.
line 41

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.

Files

SKILL.md

Tearing down a merged worktree

git worktree remove cleans up only the checkout. The branch, the Herdr workspace holding the pane, the setup log, and any per-worktree data (databases, indexes) outlive it. The bundled script handles all of it except moving the Claude session, which only ExitWorktree can do.

Script: ~/.claude/skills/tearing-down-a-merged-worktree/scripts/worktree-teardown.sh (header comment documents the flags).

Runs when the user asks after a merge, or automatically once auto-merge polling sees MERGED. In the automatic case do not ask, but report.

Steps

If the repo has its own tearing-down-a-merged-worktree skill under .claude/skills/, follow that one instead. It knows the project's data.
Run:
```
~/.claude/skills/tearing-down-a-merged-worktree/scripts/worktree-teardown.sh <slug>
```
<slug> is the dir name under .claude/worktrees/, or any registered worktree path. The script refuses unless the branch's PR is MERGED (--pr <n> to name it, --no-pr only when the user confirms there is no PR). CLOSED is not MERGED: closed-unmerged work exists only in that checkout. Never bypass this for an open PR.
If the tree is dirty the script stops and shows the changes. Inspect with the user before re-running with --force. Unmerged work is the one thing here that cannot be recovered.
The script moves the pane to the repo's home workspace first, creating one if none exists, then removes checkout and branch, runs the project's .claude/worktree-teardown.sh <slug> <branch> hook if present, and deletes the setup log.
If the report ends with a session: line, call ExitWorktree with action: "keep" now. The session is sitting in a deleted directory.
Relay the report verbatim: branch, worktree, herdr, data hook, log. A teardown that quietly skipped a step reads exactly like one that worked.

Project hook

<repo>/.claude/worktree-teardown.sh <slug> <branch> (executable) runs from the main checkout after the git removal. Put database drops, index deletes and container cleanup there, and make it verify by counting what the server reports, not by exit code: a drop that matched nothing still exits 0.

Notes

branch -D, not -d: a squash merge leaves the branch looking unmerged.
Pane and session are two movements. herdr pane move leaves the session's cwd behind; ExitWorktree leaves the pane behind. The script does the first, you do the second.
The worktree's workspace closes itself when its last pane leaves. The script closes it explicitly if extra tabs kept it alive.

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