diff --git a/dev/misc/clean_repo.md b/dev/misc/clean_repo.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4eef805b87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/misc/clean_repo.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+ensure latest bfg is in this folder, named bfg.jar
+
+create a mirror (don't run bfg on existing clones)
+```
+git clone --mirror https://github.com/swharden/ScottPlot.git
+```
+
+remove all folders named "images" from the history
+```
+java -jar bfg.jar --delete-folders "images" ScottPlot.git
+```
+
+clean up
+```
+cd ScottPlot.git
+git reflog expire --expire=now --all
+git gc --prune=now --aggressive
+```
\ No newline at end of file