How to delete the entire Git History

There are situations where you want to keep your project files but get rid of the entire Git history. Maybe you’re preparing a formerly private project for a public release. Maybe you’ve removed sensitive data that was committed in the past. Or maybe you just want to start fresh — without rewriting history commit-by-commit.

This post shows how to fully wipe Git history, automatically detect the default branch, and set a custom commit message — all in a few safe and reproducible steps.

⚠️ Warning: This Is Destructive

The method described here will permanently delete all previous Git commits and force-push a new branch with a single clean commit.

Make sure:

• You have a backup (e.g. cloned repo or separate branch).
• You’re okay with losing the entire commit history.

When to Use This

• You’re open-sourcing a repo that previously contained secrets or internal info.
• You want a clean starting point without refactoring commits.
• You want to share a snapshot of code, not its development journey.

Git Commands to Delete All History

This approach works with any default branch (main, master, or custom) and lets you define your own commit message.

# Detect default branch (e.g. 'main' or 'master')
DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(git remote show origin | grep 'HEAD branch' | awk '{print $NF}')

# Optional: Set your commit message
COMMIT_MSG="Initial commit"

# Create a new orphan branch with no history
git checkout --orphan temp_branch

# Add all files to staging
git add -A

# Commit using your custom message
git commit -m "$COMMIT_MSG"

# Delete the old branch with all history
git branch -D "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"

# Rename orphan branch back to original name
git branch -m "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"

# Force-push to overwrite history on remote
git push -f origin "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"

Example Use Case

Let’s say your private repo once included .env files or internal documentation that you’ve since removed and added to .gitignore. Even though they’re gone now, they may still live in the commit history.

This approach wipes that history and publishes only the current clean state.

Pro Tip: Don’t Just Delete — Audit First

Before doing this, you can use tools like:

• git log --stat – to check what was historically added
• git filter-repo or BFG Repo-Cleaner – if you only want to remove sensitive files but keep the rest of the history

Summary