Love this extension? Become a sponsor to support ongoing development and new features.
How many old branches are cluttering your repository right now? Git Branch Manager gives you a complete dashboard to visualize, organize, and clean up your Git branches in seconds.
- Branch Health Scoring — Every branch gets a score (0-100) so you instantly know what needs attention
- One-Click Cleanup — Select multiple branches and delete them all at once
- Smart Detection — Automatically identifies merged, stale, and orphaned branches
- Protected Branches — Your main branches are always safe from accidental deletion
See all your branches organized by status: Merged, Stale, Orphaned, and Active. Each branch shows its age, commit count, and health score.
Never lose work again. View, apply, pop, or drop stashes with a clean interface.
Work on multiple branches simultaneously without stashing. Create, open, and manage Git worktrees directly from VS Code.
Create branches with consistent naming conventions:
feature/add-user-authbugfix/fix-login-errorhotfix/critical-payment-fix
- Install the extension from VS Code Marketplace
- Open a Git repository in VS Code
- Click the branch icon in your status bar (or run
Git Branch Manager: Show Branch Cleaner) - Clean up merged and stale branches with one click
Keyboard Shortcuts:
| Action | Mac | Windows/Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Open Dashboard | Cmd+Shift+G Cmd+Shift+C |
Ctrl+Shift+G Ctrl+Shift+C |
| Create Branch | Cmd+Shift+G Cmd+Shift+N |
Ctrl+Shift+G Ctrl+Shift+N |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
Git Branch Manager: Show Branch Cleaner |
Open the main dashboard |
Git Branch Manager: Quick Clean Merged Branches |
Delete all merged branches instantly |
Git Branch Manager: Create Branch from Template |
Create a branch with consistent naming |
Git Branch Manager: Clean Remote Branches |
Clean merged remote branches |
Git Branch Manager: Manage Worktrees |
View and manage Git worktrees |
Git Branch Manager: Create Worktree |
Create a worktree from any branch |
Git Branch Manager: Quick Stash |
Stash current changes |
Git Branch Manager: Pop Latest Stash |
Apply and remove the latest stash |
Customize the extension to fit your workflow:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
gitBranchManager.daysUntilStale |
30 |
Days before a branch is flagged as stale |
gitBranchManager.protectedBranches |
["main", "master", "develop", "dev", "staging", "production"] |
Branches that can never be deleted |
gitBranchManager.confirmBeforeDelete |
true |
Show confirmation before deleting |
gitBranchManager.showNotifications |
true |
Notify when branches need cleanup |
Does this delete remote branches?
Only through the Remote tab with explicit confirmation. Local deletions never affect your remote repository.
Can I undo a branch deletion?
Git doesn't make branch deletion easily reversible—that's why we show confirmation dialogs. If you need to recover a deleted branch, use git reflog to find the commit and recreate it.
Why doesn't my branch show up?
Protected branches (main, master, develop, etc.) are hidden from the cleanup list. You can customize protected branches in settings.
What are orphaned branches?
Local branches whose remote tracking branch has been deleted. These are usually safe to clean up.
- VS Code 1.74.0 or higher
- Git installed and accessible from command line
- An open Git repository
See CHANGELOG.md for version history.
This extension is free and open source. If it saves you time, consider supporting its development:
GitHub Sponsors is the best way to support ongoing development. Sponsors get priority support and help fund new features.
- Leave a review — helps others discover the extension
- Report issues — help improve quality
- Buy me a coffee — one-time support
MIT License
