Git in TFS - Remove branches after merging

Question

We recently migrated to Git hosted in TFS 2013.

A few branches have been created, merged and then deleted using Visual Studio.

However, these branches are still visible in the TFS web interface when going to Code>Branches.

I expect this to become a huge mess if this will not be cleaned up regularly.

1. Should we even want to clean this up?
2. How do I remove branches from this list?

Answer 1

From Visual Studio you have two options:

1. Unpublish
2. Delete

See: MSDN.

Unpublish will remove the Branch tag on the remote (VSO/TFS server) and that will hide the branch from the Web Access.

Delete will remove the branch from your local TFS repository. It will remain on the remote (VSO/TFS Server), but you will no longer have it available in your Visual Studio's Branches window. You can get it back by creating a local branch that tracks the remote branch anew:

So, for your purpose, you're looking for the "Unpublish" feature. This will not delete any of the history in the branch.