git clean
Remove untracked files and directories from your working directory, cleaning up build artifacts and temporary files.
Your working directory is cluttered with build artifacts, temporary files, and
other untracked junk that you want to delete. git clean removes untracked
files (files Git doesn't know about), giving you a pristine working directory
that matches what's in version control.
Because clean permanently deletes files, Git requires the -f (force) flag to
actually remove anything. Running git clean -f deletes untracked files in the
current directory. To also remove untracked directories, add -d:
git clean -fd. This is common after builds or tests that create temporary
directories.
Before deleting anything, run git clean -n (dry run) to see what would be
removed. This safety check prevents accidentally deleting files you meant to
keep. If the list looks right, run the same command with -f instead of -n to
actually delete them.
By default, clean respects .gitignore and won't remove ignored files. To also
remove ignored files (like build artifacts explicitly ignored), use -x:
git clean -fdx. This is useful when you want to completely reset your working
directory to a clean state, removing everything that isn't tracked.
Interactive mode with -i prompts you for each file or directory, letting you
select what to delete. This is safer than force-deleting everything at once,
giving you fine-grained control over what stays and what goes.
In pull request workflows, clean helps when switching between branches with very different build outputs or generated files. After checking out a different branch, clean removes files that don't exist in that branch's version, preventing old build artifacts from interfering with tests or causing confusion.
Understanding clean means knowing how to remove untracked files safely. It's a powerful cleanup tool, but its destructive nature requires caution. Always dry-run first, and make sure you're not about to delete work in progress that just isn't tracked yet.