Spring Clean

Spring Clean is a read-only GitHub repository cleanup tool. It helps teams review old branches and open pull requests so they can decide what to keep, close, or delete manually.

The command is called springclean.

Spring Clean never changes GitHub. It does not delete branches, close pull requests, push commits, or update repository settings.

What It Does

• Shows saved audit reports in a terminal browser.
• Audits one GitHub repository at a time.
• Lists branches, latest activity, protection/default status, and associated pull requests.
• Lists currently open pull requests, including drafts.
• Adds cleanup status and reason columns to guide review.
• Adds editable review_action and review_comment columns for team decisions.
• Writes timestamped local files so reports do not overwrite each other.
• Can list repositories available to your GitHub token.

The terminal browser is built with Textual, a Python framework for terminal user interfaces.

What You Need

• Python 3.10 or newer.
• A GitHub token that can read the repositories you want to audit.
• Terminal access on the machine that can reach those repositories.

For private repositories, use a token with read access to repository contents and pull requests. A fine-grained GitHub token with read-only permissions is recommended.

Quick Start

Create and activate a virtual environment:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Install Spring Clean:

python -m pip install springclean

Create a local .env file in the directory where you will run Spring Clean:

GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here

Open Spring Clean:

springclean

If your machine uses python3 and pip3, use these instead:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install springclean

Using The Browser

Run:

springclean

Spring Clean opens on the reports list. From there you can:

• load an existing report
• list repositories available to your token
• run a new audit
• search and filter rows
• tag branch and pull request rows for follow-up
• delete old local reports after confirmation

Keyboard controls:

Key	Action
o	Show reports
b	Show branch report
p	Show pull request report
g	Enter a GitHub repo or URL and run a new audit
l	List repositories available to GITHUB_TOKEN
d	Delete the selected local report, or mark a branch for deletion / PR for closure
k	Mark the selected branch or PR as keep
r	Mark the selected branch or PR as review
c	Add or edit a short review comment
u	Clear the selected review action and comment
enter	Load the selected report or audit the selected GitHub repo
/	Focus search
s	Cycle filters
a	Reset to all rows
escape	Clear search or cancel a modal
q	Quit

Delete only removes local Spring Clean report files. GitHub is not changed.

Review tags are saved back into the selected branch or pull request CSV. They do not call the GitHub API.

Running Audits From The Command Line

The browser is the main workflow, but the CLI is useful for repeatable runs or scripts.

Audit branches:

springclean repo marioribeiro/springclean --branch

Audit open and draft pull requests:

springclean repo marioribeiro/springclean --pr

Audit both:

springclean repo marioribeiro/springclean --branch --pr

Use a different stale threshold:

springclean repo marioribeiro/springclean --branch --pr --stale-days 180

Choose another output directory:

springclean repo marioribeiro/springclean --branch --pr --out team-reports

Use another reports directory in the browser:

springclean --reports-dir team-reports

Show help:

springclean --help
springclean repo --help

Show the installed version:

springclean --version

Output Files

By default, reports are written to ./reports.

File names include the repository and UTC timestamp:

reports/marioribeiro_springclean_20260507T134500Z_branches.csv
reports/marioribeiro_springclean_20260507T134500Z_pull_requests.csv
reports/marioribeiro_springclean_20260507T134500Z_summary.md

Generated reports may contain private repo names, branch names, pull request titles, and usernames. Treat them as internal artifacts when auditing private repositories.

Branch Report

The branch CSV includes:

• branch name and GitHub links
• best-effort branch creator/context owner
• default and protected flags
• latest commit metadata
• days since latest commit
• GitHub-like activity bucket
• associated pull request numbers, authors, states, and URLs
• cleanup status and reason
• editable review_action and review_comment columns

GitHub does not expose a durable branch creator field through the branch API. branch_created_by is inferred in this order:

1. Associated PR author, when GitHub links the branch to a PR
2. Latest commit author
3. Latest commit committer

branch_created_by_source records which fallback was used.

Branch buckets:

Bucket	Meaning
default	Repository default branch
active	Non-default branch with commits inside the stale threshold
stale	Non-default branch with no commits inside the stale threshold

Branch cleanup statuses:

Status	Meaning
keep_default	Default branch
keep_protected	Protected branch
review_active	Branch has recent commit activity
review_stale_open_pr	Stale branch has at least one associated open PR
candidate_stale_merged_pr	Stale branch has at least one associated merged PR
candidate_stale_closed_pr	Stale branch only has closed/unmerged associated PRs
candidate_stale_no_pr	Stale branch has no associated PRs

Pull Request Report

The pull request CSV includes only currently open pull requests, including drafts.

It includes:

• PR number, title, state, and draft flag
• created_by
• base and head branch details
• created and updated timestamps
• age columns
• GitHub URL
• cleanup status and reason
• editable review_action and review_comment columns

Pull request cleanup statuses:

Status	Meaning
open_active	Open PR updated inside the stale threshold
open_stale	Open PR not updated inside the stale threshold
draft_active	Draft PR updated inside the stale threshold
draft_stale	Draft PR not updated inside the stale threshold

Summary

The Markdown summary includes:

• repo name and default branch
• generation timestamp
• stale threshold
• branch counts by bucket and cleanup status
• open PR counts by draft/ready state and cleanup status

Use it as a quick overview before reviewing rows in the browser or CSV.

Troubleshooting

Missing GITHUB_TOKEN

Add GITHUB_TOKEN to .env, or set it in the shell where you run Spring Clean.

Could not access owner/repo

Check that the repository name is in owner/name format, the token can access that repository, and the command is running from the directory that contains your .env.

GitHub API returned 403

The token may not have enough permission, the API rate limit may be exhausted, or GitHub may have applied a secondary rate limit. Wait and retry, or use a token with the expected repository access.

python: command not found

Try the same command with python3:

python3 -m pip install springclean

For Developers

Install development dependencies:

python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"

Create a local .env file from the example when working from the repository:

cp .env.example .env

Run tests:

coverage run -m pytest
coverage report

The coverage gate is configured at 95%.

Run lint and formatting checks:

ruff check .
ruff format --check .

Build and check the package:

python -m build
python -m twine check dist/*

Useful local checks:

springclean --help
springclean repo --help

Publishing

The PyPI package name is springclean.

Publishing uses PyPI Trusted Publishing through GitHub Actions. Before the first release, create pending trusted publishers in PyPI and TestPyPI with these values:

Field	PyPI	TestPyPI
PyPI project name	springclean	springclean
Owner	marioribeiro	marioribeiro
Repository	springclean	springclean
Workflow	publish.yml	publish.yml
Environment	pypi	testpypi

Require manual approval for the pypi GitHub environment before publishing real releases.

To test the package flow without publishing to PyPI, run the Publish workflow manually. That publishes to TestPyPI.

To publish a real release:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

Main runtime dependency:

• Textual for the terminal browser

Project Principles

• Product name in prose: Spring Clean
• CLI command: springclean
• Read-only by default and by design
• CSV-first for easy team review
• Terminal review should work from saved report files unless the user explicitly asks for a GitHub action
• Prefer explicit cleanup signals over hidden automation

License

MIT