deleted branch still listed on the Branches page

[JoaoPauloCMarra]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

Body

the Branches page of a private repo still lists a branch that no longer exists. it shows under both "Your branches" and "Active branches", last updated 2 weeks ago, with no PR linked

its PR was merged and the branch was deleted. the API agrees it is gone:
GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch} returns 404 Branch not found
GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches returns only the default branch
DELETE /repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/refs/heads/{branch} returns 422 Reference does not exist

so it looks like a stale cache on the Branches overview. git ls-remote does not show it either

expected: the deleted branch is not listed

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[MooreHaww]

Before you start blaming server-side bugs, I'd try a hard refresh and a private window or a different browser to rule out the client side. If the ghost entry is visible everywhere, then it's the backend.

The usual fix is to push a branch with the same name pointing at any commit, and then delete it from the Branches page. That re-creates the entry and deletes it and often causes the listing to refresh itself. It’s free so it’s worth a whirl. First check that there is no branch protection rule or auto-delete setting in the way.

[JoaoPauloCMarra]

thanks, that worked. pushing a branch with the same name and deleting it from the Branches page cleared the entry. leaving this open since the overview cache should drop deleted branches on its own

[MooreHaww]

Glad it worked :)))

100% agree that it’s worth leaving open, since the overview should drop deleted branches without a manual push-and-delete. If you can, add the rough timing (merged PR, branch deletion, and when you noticed the stale entry) to the thread... That’s what GitHub needs to find where the cache stopped refreshing (from my understanding)

[JoaoPauloCMarra]

sure, timing in UTC:

branch created and PR opened Oct 3 20:53
PR merged Oct 3 20:56

after that theres no record of the branch being deleted, no head_ref_deleted on the PR, no branch_deletion in the repo activity log, and auto-delete on merge is off. but the branches API returned 404 for it

noticed it still listed on Oct 14 around 11:20, opened this thread at 11:24

workaround: pushed the same name Oct 14 14:11, deleted it from the Branches page at 14:13, and the entry was gone after that

so it looks like the ref went away without a deletion event, which might be why the overview never dropped it

[MooreHaww]

Thanksss, if the ref disappeared without a deletion event, that fits the overview never being told to drop it... A normal delete (from the PR button or the Branches page) fires an event that clears the entry, and this one apparently didn’t.

+One thing that would narrow it down: do you know how the branch was removed? For example, git push origin --delete from a client, a script, a GitHub App, or a Git GUI iif it was something other than the UI, that could be the path that skips the cleanup if it’s an org repo, the audit log may also show a push or ref event around Oct 3 even though the repo activity log doesn’t

Since it’s a private repo, I’d send this timeline to GitHub Support (they can see the backend state, which nobody in the thread can) I’d include the repo, the branch name, the PR number, and the UTC times you listed also