bfg
Remove unwanted data from Git repository history
TLDR
Remove file from history
SYNOPSIS
bfg [options] repository
DESCRIPTION
bfg (BFG Repo-Cleaner) is a faster, simpler alternative to git-filter-branch for removing unwanted data from Git repositories. It's designed for cleaning up accidentally committed passwords, large files, or other sensitive data from repository history.
The tool is significantly faster than git-filter-branch and easier to use for common cleaning tasks.
PARAMETERS
--delete-files pattern
Delete files matching pattern--strip-blobs-bigger-than size
Remove large blobs (e.g., 100M, 1G)--replace-text file
Replace text patterns (one per line)--delete-folders name
Delete folders by name--no-blob-protection
Allow deletion in current commit--private
Treat repo as private (no warnings)
WORKFLOW
git clone --mirror https://github.com/user/repo.git
# Run BFG
bfg --delete-files passwords.txt repo.git
# Clean up and push
cd repo.git
git reflog expire --expire=now --all
git gc --prune=now --aggressive
git push --force
REPLACE TEXT FORMAT
File with patterns (passwords.txt):
secret_key==>***REMOVED***
FEATURES
- 10-1000x faster than git-filter-branch
- Simple pattern-based deletion
- Protects current commit by default
- Batch text replacement
- Large file cleanup
- Folder deletion
CAVEATS
Rewrites history (force push required). Protects HEAD by default (use --no-blob-protection to override). Collaborators must rebase/re-clone. May not handle complex cases (use git-filter-repo for advanced needs). Requires Java runtime.
HISTORY
BFG Repo-Cleaner was created by Roberto Tyley in 2012 to provide a faster, user-friendly alternative to git-filter-branch for repository cleaning.
SEE ALSO
git-filter-branch(1), git-filter-repo(1), git(1)