Garbage collection

Ruk collects only workspaces recorded in its own lifecycle state. It does not discover or delete arbitrary Git worktrees.

Preview first

Garbage collection is a dry run unless you pass --apply:

ruk gc --json

The default age is 1,440 minutes. Choose another cutoff with --max-age:

ruk gc --max-age 2880 --json

The removed array lists available or failed workspaces eligible for collection. The expired array reports expired active assignments separately.

Apply the safe plan

ruk gc --max-age 2880 --apply --json

Normal collection removes old available and failed records. It skips the current workspace and does not reclaim expired active assignments.

Force expired assignments

ruk gc --apply --force-expired --json

Destructive recovery

--force-expired terminates recorded processes, discards workspace changes, and collects expired assignments. Expiry alone does not prove an agent has stopped. Use this option only after confirming that recovery is safe.

Even in forced mode, Ruk skips an assignment while a current fenced lease keeper reports autoRenewing: true.

Ruk still limits cleanup to recorded process identities and managed workspace paths. It does not scan for unrelated processes or orphan worktrees.