Use github api to remove old branches from github repositories

myGithubApi.js

/* I used the npm module github-api, check it out.
    npm -- https://www.npmjs.com/package/github-api
    github -- https://github.com/michael/github
*/
var Github = require('github-api');

//------------------ API -------------------------

function API() {
  // I assume you'll pass your username and password in as environment variables, which is probably the 
  // safest way to go, as then you won't have your username and password just written somewhere in your code
	if( !process.env.GH_USER )			return console.error("missing essential environment variable: GH_USER");
	if( !process.env.GH_PASS )			return console.error("missing essential environment variable: GH_PASS");

	// initialize the github connection
	this.github = new Github({
		username: process.env.GH_USER,
		password: process.env.GH_PASS,
		auth: "basic"
	});
}

/*
  I used this initially to make sure I was actually properly connecting to github's api.
*/
API.prototype.testUserConnection = function(cb) {
	var user = this.github.getUser();

	user.repos(function(err, repos) {
		if(err) {
			return cb(err);
		}
		return cb(null, repos);
	});
};


/*
  If you're trying to get information on a repository within your organization, 'username' will be the name of your
  organization, not YOUR actual github username.
 */
API.prototype.getRepoInformation = function(username, reponame, cb) {
	var repo = this.github.getRepo(username, reponame);

	repo.show(function(err, repo) {
		if(err)	{
			return cb(err);
		}

		return cb(null, repo);
	});
};


/*
 If you're trying to get information on a repository within your organization, 'username' will be the name of your
 organization, not YOUR actual github username.
 */
API.prototype.getRepoBranches = function(username, reponame, cb){
	var repo = this.github.getRepo(username, reponame);

	repo.listBranches(function(err, branches) {
		if(err)	{
			return cb(err);
		}

		return cb(null, branches);
	});
};


API.prototype.deleteRepoBranch = function(username, reponame, branch, cb) {
	var repo = this.github.getRepo(username, reponame);

	repo.deleteRef('heads/' + branch, function(err) {
		if(err)	{
			return cb(err);
		}

		return cb(null);
	});
};


module.exports.API = API;

removeGithubBranches.js

var async = require('async');
var API = require('myGithubApi.js').API;

var api = new API();


/*
	Gets all branches from the specified repository.  It then removes all branches from
	that repository which contain the specified branchQuery.

	**WARNING** 	This is a VERY dangerous process.  Some safeguards
 					have been added for the safety of the user.
 */
function removeOldBranches(username, repo, branchQuery) {
	var repoBranches = [];
	var filteredBranches = [];

	// safeguard
	if( !branchQuery || branchQuery == 'master' || branchQuery == 'production' || branchQuery == 'gh-pages' || branchQuery.length < 6) {
		return console.error("did not clear stale  branches, please change or lengthen your branchQuery.");
	}


	function getBranches(cb) {
		api.getRepoBranches(username, repo, function(err, branches) {
			if(err) {
				return cb(err);
			}

			repoBranches = branches;
			return cb(null);
		});
	}

	function filterBranches(cb) {
		repoBranches.forEach(function(branch) {
			if( branch.indexOf(branchQuery) > -1 ) {
				filteredBranches.push(branch);
			}
		});

		console.log("Of %d branches found in the %s repo, %d branches matched the given branch-name query.", repoBranches.length, repo, filteredBranches.length );
		return cb(null);
	}

	function removeBranches(cb) {
		filteredBranches.forEach(function(branch) {

			api.deleteRepoBranch(username, repo, branch, function(err) {
				if(err) {
					return cb(err);
				}
				console.log("Successfully deleted the branch '%s' from the '%s' repository", branch, repo);
			});

		});

		return cb(null);
	}

	async.waterfall( [getBranches, filterBranches, removeBranches], function(err) {
		if(err) {
			console.error(err);
		}

		else {
//			console.log(filteredBranches);
			console.log("Finished clearing out branches from the specified repository. No errors were thrown during this process.");
		}
	});

}

/*
    Remove the branches.
    
    Be very careful with the third parameter, below.  Any branches which contain that
    string will be deleted.  You will not be "asked" if it's ok to delete any matching
    branches, so be sure your query is correct before you run the code.
*/
//removeOldBranches('mwiegant', 'nodejs_boilerplate', 'release_0.0.');
removeOldBranches('project-owner', 'project-name', 'string-matching-the-branches-you-want-deleted');

run.sh

# I run my code out of my IDE of choice (Webstorm) but you could just as
# easily run this code out of the terminal, which I show how to do, below.

# run your code, filling in 'myusername' and 'mypassword' with your unique credentials
GH_USER=myusername GH_PASS=mypassword node removeGithubBranches.js