fix(gh-aw): prune stale imports cache before compile

[JacobPEvans]

Summary

• The weekly gh-aw-pin-refresh automation creates PRs (e.g. JacobPEvans/ansible-proxmox-apps#251) that add new .github/aw/imports/<owner>/<repo>/<sha>/ cache folders but never remove the old ones. Each refresh leaves more cruft behind; ansible-proxmox-apps had 17 stale folders, nix-ai 17, ansible-splunk 15.
• Adds a single rm -rf .github/aw/imports to refresh.sh before the first gh aw compile. The cache regenerates from current import refs in the workflow .md files, so the PR opened by peter-evans/create-pull-request contains the deletes and the adds in one atomic diff — exactly the requested behavior.
• Fan-out: 14 caller repos consume _gh-aw-pin-refresh.yml@main and pick up the fix automatically with zero per-repo changes.

Why this approach

gh aw has no native prune flag for the imports cache (verified against pkg/parser/import_cache.go and pkg/cli/compile_pipeline.go in upstream github/gh-aw). The only built-in "purge" is for stale .lock.yml files.

The same wipe-before-compile pattern is already proven in ai-workflows/.github/workflows/gh-aw-sync-upstream.yml:50, running weekly since 2026-04-11 with no regressions. .gitattributes is recreated by gh aw compile automatically.

The 24h soak logic (rewinding action SHAs in actions-lock.json) is independent of the workflow imports cache, so wiping imports does not affect the soak.

Test plan

• Local sanity check on ansible-proxmox-apps/main: wipe + recompile reduced 17 SHA folders to 2 (one current SHA per upstream); .gitattributes preserved; diff showed -6972 lines (deletions of stale imports).
• bash -n refresh.sh syntax-clean.
• Pre-commit hooks pass.
• After merge: trigger gh-aw-pin-refresh workflow_dispatch on ansible-proxmox-apps (worst offender) and nix-ai. The first PR per repo will be larger than usual (one-time normalization deleting accumulated cruft); subsequent weekly PRs return to a small one-folder-out, one-folder-in pattern.

Out of scope

• Backfill of existing PR branches' stale folders — they get cleaned by the next refresh cycle automatically.
• Same wipe in agentics-maintenance.yml — auto-generated by gh aw compile, not safe to hand-edit; only touches imports on manual workflow_dispatch of update/upgrade.
• Filing an upstream issue with github/gh-aw for a native --prune-imports flag — wrapper fix is sufficient and ships immediately.

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request addresses the accumulation of stale import cache folders generated by the gh-aw-pin-refresh automation. By implementing a cleanup step prior to the compilation process, the automation will now produce cleaner, more manageable pull requests that reflect only the necessary changes, effectively pruning redundant data across all repositories utilizing this workflow.

Highlights

• Cache Cleanup: Added a command to remove the .github/aw/imports directory before running the compilation process to prevent the accumulation of stale cache folders.
• Automation Efficiency: Ensures that the weekly automation PRs contain an atomic diff, including both the deletion of old cache files and the addition of new ones, rather than just appending new files.

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The cache grew large with files of old, / A story of cruft that had been told. / A simple command to wipe the slate, / Now clean PRs are our current fate.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates the reusable gh-aw action pin refresh flow to prune stale workflow import cache folders before recompiling generated gh-aw files.

Changes:

• Deletes .github/aw/imports before gh aw compile --force-refresh-action-pins.
• Documents that the cache is regenerated from current workflow markdown imports and included atomically in the refresh PR.

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