GitIgnoreCleaner

GitIgnoreCleaner is a Windows utility built with WinUI 3 that helps you reclaim disk space by finding and deleting files ignored by your version control system. It scans a directory tree, parses .gitignore (and .ignore) files found at various levels, and identifies files that match these rules typically build artifacts (bin/, obj/), temporary files, and logs.

Features

• Recursive Scanning: Respects nested .gitignore files, correctly applying rules to subdirectories.
• Visual Preview: See exactly what will be deleted before you commit to it.
• Compact Folders: Automatically flattens directory hierarchies where folders contain only a single child, making navigation easier.
• Smart Deletion:
  • Move to Recycle Bin (default) for safety.
  • Permanently delete for speed and maximum space recovery.
• File Inspection:
  • Open files or folders in Explorer.
  • View the specific ignore rule that matched a file.
  • Open the source .gitignore file for any match.

Requirements

• Windows 10 version 1809 (Build 17763) or later.
• .NET 8 Runtime.

Getting Started

1. Launch the application.
2. Select a Root folder to scan (e.g., your repositories folder).
3. (Optional) Customize the ignore file names to look for (default: .gitignore;.ignore).
4. Click Scan.
5. Review the results in the tree view.
   • Items marked with a tag icon are explicitly matched by a rule.
   • Folder sizes are calculated automatically.
6. Select the items you wish to remove (or select all).
7. Click Delete Selected.

Development

This project is built using:

• C# 12
• .NET 8
• WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK)

Building

1. Open the solution in Visual Studio 2022.
2. Ensure the "Windows App SDK" workload is installed.
3. Build and run the GitIgnoreCleaner project.

Acknowledgments

This project was developed with the assistance of AI tools, including GitHub Copilot, to accelerate development and refine the user interface.