🧹 Git History Cleaner

A user-friendly web tool to generate customizable bash scripts for clearing git repository history while preserving your current files.

Table of Contents

• Live Demo
• Features
• How It Works
• Usage
• Tech Stack
• Local Development
• Safety First
• Contributing
• License

🚀 Live Demo

Try it out: https://andreagriffiths11.github.io/git-history-cleaner/

✨ Features

• Safe Script Generation - Creates customized bash scripts with proper safety checks
• Backup Options - Automatically includes backup creation commands
• Command Explanations - Learn what each git command does in plain English
• Multiple Output Formats - Copy to clipboard or download as a .sh file
• Input Validation - Sanitizes repository and branch names to prevent common errors
• Customizable - Configure branch names and safety options before generating

🔍 How It Works

Git History Cleaner works entirely in your browser — no data is ever sent to a server.

1. You enter your repository name and configure safety options in the UI.
2. The tool generates a bash script tailored to your configuration.
3. You copy or download the script and run it locally in your terminal.

The generated script uses git's --orphan branch strategy to replace the full commit history with a single fresh "Initial commit" while keeping all your current files intact.

Script flow:

cp -r <repo> <repo>-backup   # (optional) create a local backup
cd <repo>
git checkout --orphan <tmp>  # create a branch with no history
git add -A                   # stage all current files
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git branch -D main           # delete the old branch
git branch -m main           # rename the clean branch to main
git push -f origin main      # overwrite the remote history

📋 Usage

1. Open the tool at https://andreagriffiths11.github.io/git-history-cleaner/.
2. Enter your repository name in the "Repository Name" field (letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores only).
3. Configure options:
   • Toggle Create Backup to include a local backup step in the script (recommended).
   • Set a Temporary Branch Name used during the orphan-branch process (default: new_branch).
4. Click "Generate Script" to produce the customized bash script.
5. Copy or download the script using the buttons in the "Generated Script" panel.
6. Review the script — expand "Command Explanations" to understand what each step does.
7. Run the script in your terminal after verifying it looks correct.

⚠️ Always create a backup and get team approval before running the generated script on a shared repository.

📦 Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
React 19	UI framework
TypeScript	Type safety
Vite	Build tool and dev server
Tailwind CSS	Utility-first styling
Radix UI	Accessible component primitives
Phosphor Icons	Icon library
Sonner	Toast notifications

🛠️ Local Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or higher
• npm

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AndreaGriffiths11/git-history-cleaner.git
cd git-history-cleaner

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start development server
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

# Preview the production build locally
npm run preview

# Run the linter
npm run lint

The dev server starts at http://localhost:5173 by default.

🔒 Safety First

This tool generates scripts that permanently delete git history. Always:

• ✅ Create backups before running any generated scripts
• ✅ Review and understand each command before executing
• ✅ Get team approval for shared repositories
• ✅ Test on a copy of your repository first
• ✅ Never run scripts on a production repository without proper testing

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting a pull request.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

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Built with ❤️ by @acolombiadev