rimba doctor

Diagnose stale git index.lock files left by killed worktree operations.

Scans every linked worktree’s admin directory for a stale index.lock file — the kind of leftover a killed git worktree remove on a very large tree can leave behind. A lock proven to belong to a dead rimba sweep (marker + confirmed-dead owner PID) is recovered automatically; everything else is report-only by default — use --fix to remove it.

Synopsis

rimba doctor [--fix] [--force]

Examples

rimba doctor                 # Report stale index.lock files
rimba doctor --fix           # Remove stale index.lock files (with confirmation)
rimba doctor --fix --force   # Remove stale index.lock files without confirmation

Common workflows

Check for stale locks after a killed operation

rimba doctor                 # See what's stale before touching anything

Clean up after confirming no git command is in flight

rimba doctor --fix           # Prompts before removing each lock

Automated cleanup (e.g. in a script)

rimba doctor --fix --force   # Skip the confirmation prompt

--fix deletes files. A lock can legitimately belong to an in-flight git process — make sure no git command is running before using --fix. Locks a still-running rimba sweep owns are always skipped; locks proven dead via a sweep marker are recovered automatically regardless of --fix; remaining locks younger than a safety threshold are skipped even with --fix to avoid removing a lock an active process still holds.

Flags

Flag	Description
--fix	Remove stale index.lock files (report-only without it)
--force	Skip confirmation prompt when used with --fix

Related commands

• rimba clean · prune stale references or remove merged/stale worktrees
• rimba remove · remove a single named worktree