Source branches kept after merge

What it is

The project does not delete source branches when merge requests are merged.

Why it matters

Merged branches accumulate indefinitely, making the branch list hard to navigate and leaving superseded code where it can still be checked out or referenced by mistake.

What the checkbox means

“Delete source branch when merge request is accepted” — the option on every merge request — deletes the *source* branch (the feature branch) after the merge completes. The *target* branch and every merged commit are untouched: the work is already in the target, the MR keeps its diff and discussion, and the commits stay reachable forever. The checkbox deletes a pointer whose job is done.

Make it the default instead of a per-MR habit

Relying on each author to tick the box produces exactly the branch pile this check finds. Set it at the project level:

Authors can still untick it for the rare branch that outlives its MR — long-running release branches, stacked work — which is the right polarity: keeping a branch becomes the deliberate act, not deleting one.

Why the pile matters

Dozens of merged-but-alive branches make the branch list useless for finding real work, keep pre-fix code with known vulnerabilities cloneable, and occasionally preserve a secret that was committed early on a feature branch and cleaned up before merge — the branch keeps the dirty history alive.

Clear the backlog once

How lumioguard fixes it

The scan reads the project setting and counts merged branches still alive. The fix arrives as a guide: the setting, the cleanup above, and the branch list it would remove — reviewed before anything is deleted.