GIT_CLEANUP_INSTRUCTIONS.md

Git Cleanup Instructions

⚠️ Important Warning

Rewriting git history is a destructive operation. Only do this if:

• The repository hasn't been widely shared yet
• You're comfortable with force-pushing
• You've backed up your repository

If the repo is already public and in use, skip this and accept the mixed authorship.

Current Situation

Your git history has commits from three authors:

1. Matt Strautmann (167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com) - GitHub identity
2. matt-strautmann (matt.strautmann@gmail.com) - Personal email
3. Claude (noreply@anthropic.com) - AI assistant commits

Option 1: Rewrite All Commits to Single Author (Destructive)

This will rewrite all commits to use a single author identity.

Step 1: Choose Your Identity

Decide which identity you want to use:

Option A: GitHub Identity (Recommended)

git config user.name "matt-strautmann"
git config user.email "167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com"

Option B: Personal Email

git config user.name "Matt Strautmann"
git config user.email "matt.strautmann@gmail.com"

Step 2: Backup Your Repository

# Create a backup branch
git branch backup-before-rewrite

# Or create a complete backup
cd ..
cp -r sbdk.dev sbdk.dev-backup
cd sbdk.dev

Step 3: Rewrite History

# Rewrite all commits to use current git config
git filter-branch --env-filter '
CORRECT_NAME="matt-strautmann"
CORRECT_EMAIL="167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com"

export GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="$CORRECT_NAME"
export GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="$CORRECT_EMAIL"
export GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="$CORRECT_NAME"
export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="$CORRECT_EMAIL"
' --tag-name-filter cat -- --branches --tags

Or use git-filter-repo (faster, recommended):

# Install git-filter-repo
# macOS: brew install git-filter-repo
# Other: pip install git-filter-repo

# Create mailmap file
cat > mailmap.txt <<EOF
matt-strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com> Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
matt-strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com> matt-strautmann <matt.strautmann@gmail.com>
matt-strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com> Matt Strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com>
EOF

# Apply mailmap
git filter-repo --mailmap mailmap.txt --force

Step 4: Force Push

# DANGER: This will rewrite history on GitHub
git push origin main --force

# If you have other branches, push them too
git push origin --all --force
git push origin --tags --force

Step 5: Notify Collaborators

Anyone who has cloned the repository will need to:

cd sbdk.dev
git fetch origin
git reset --hard origin/main

Option 2: Keep History, Fix Future Commits (Non-Destructive)

If you don't want to rewrite history, just ensure future commits use the correct identity:

# Set local repository config
git config user.name "matt-strautmann"
git config user.email "167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com"

# Or set global config for all repos
git config --global user.name "matt-strautmann"
git config --global user.email "167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com"

This won't change existing commits but ensures all new commits use the correct identity.

Option 3: Use .mailmap (GitHub Display Only)

GitHub supports .mailmap to consolidate author identities for display purposes (doesn't rewrite history):

# Create .mailmap file in repo root
cat > .mailmap <<EOF
matt-strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com> Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
matt-strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com> matt-strautmann <matt.strautmann@gmail.com>
matt-strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com> Matt Strautmann <167921793+matt-strautmann@users.noreply.github.com>
EOF

# Commit the mailmap
git add .mailmap
git commit -m "chore: add mailmap to consolidate author identities"
git push origin main

This will make GitHub show all commits as from matt-strautmann in the UI, but the actual git history remains unchanged.

Branch Cleanup

List All Branches

# Local branches
git branch -a

# Remote branches
git branch -r

Delete Unnecessary Branches

# Delete local branch
git branch -d branch-name

# Force delete local branch
git branch -D branch-name

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete branch-name

Recommended: Keep Only Main

# List remote branches (excluding main)
git branch -r | grep -v 'origin/main' | grep -v 'origin/HEAD'

# Delete all remote branches except main (careful!)
git branch -r | grep -v 'origin/main' | grep -v 'origin/HEAD' | sed 's/origin\///' | xargs -I {} git push origin --delete {}

Commit Message Cleanup

If you want to update recent commit messages (last few commits only):

# Interactive rebase for last 5 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~5

# In the editor, change 'pick' to 'reword' for commits you want to update
# Save and close, then edit each commit message as prompted

After rebasing:

git push origin main --force

Recommended Approach

For a public reference implementation repository, I recommend:

Option 3: Use .mailmap (simplest, non-destructive)

• Add .mailmap file to consolidate identities
• This only affects GitHub's display
• No history rewrite needed
• Safe for public repositories

Then commit your current changes:

git add .
git commit -m "chore: prepare repository for public archive (November 2025)

- Remove sensitive keys and tokens
- Update documentation for archived status
- Fix repository URLs
- Add GitHub setup documentation"

git push origin main

Verification

After cleanup, verify:

# Check recent commits
git log --pretty=format:"%an <%ae>" -10 | sort | uniq

# Check all unique authors in history
git log --all --format='%aN <%aE>' | sort | uniq

# Check contributor stats
git shortlog -sn --all

Post-Cleanup Checklist

• Verified all commits have desired author
• Backed up repository before rewrite
• Force pushed to GitHub (if rewrote history)
• Notified collaborators to reset their clones
• Tested repository builds successfully
• Updated .mailmap if using Option 3
• Deleted unnecessary branches
• Verified GitHub displays authors correctly