Eliminate Old Repos

Eliminate Old Repos

Delete repositories from a GitHub organization when either created_at or pushed_at is older than a threshold (default: 6 months).

This workflow is destructive. It uses the GitHub REST API via curl and requires an allowlist to exempt repos that must never be deleted.

Inputs (defaults)

• ORG: snyk-code-support
• AGE_MONTHS: 6
• Eligibility rule: delete if created_at < cutoff OR pushed_at < cutoff
• Allowlist: JSON list of repo full names to preserve (required)

Authentication requirements

You must have a token in GITHUB_TOKEN (preferred) or GH_TOKEN.

The token must be authorized to delete repos in the target org (classic PAT needs delete_repo; fine-grained tokens must have repo administration permissions for the repos in scope).

Required safety rule

1. Never delete a repo that is present in the allowlist JSON (exact match).
2. Always generate a candidate report first, then require a typed confirmation phrase before any DELETE requests.

Workflow (copy/paste)

1) Create an allowlist file (required)

Create allowlist.json as a JSON array of repo full names (owner/name). Any repo listed here is excluded from deletion.

Example:

cat > eliminate-old-repos/allowlist.json <<'EOF'
[
  "snyk-code-support/do-not-delete"
]
EOF

2) Inventory candidates (no deletions)

Run the inventory script to generate candidates.tsv:

chmod +x eliminate-old-repos/scripts/*.sh
ALLOWLIST_FILE=eliminate-old-repos/allowlist.json
./eliminate-old-repos/scripts/inventory_candidates.sh

Optional overrides:

ORG=snyk-code-support AGE_MONTHS=6 OUT_TSV=candidates.tsv ./eliminate-old-repos/scripts/inventory_candidates.sh

3) Delete candidates (requires explicit confirmation)

Run the delete script (it will prompt for an explicit confirmation phrase):

./eliminate-old-repos/scripts/delete_candidates.sh

Optional overrides:

ORG=snyk-code-support OUT_TSV=candidates.tsv ./eliminate-old-repos/scripts/delete_candidates.sh

References

• Token/auth details: references/auth.md
• Allowlist JSON format: references/allowlist.md

Output expectations

When using this skill:

• Produce a candidate report (the candidates.tsv contents summary: count + top/bottom examples).
• Clearly state the cutoff timestamp and the eligibility rule.
• Confirm that the allowlist was applied and how many repos were exempted.
• Only proceed to deletion after the explicit confirmation phrase is provided.