Create an orphan branch in a repo.

git_create_orphan.sh

cd repository
git checkout --orphan orphan_name
git rm -rf .
rm '.gitignore'
echo "#Title of Readme" > README.md
git add README.md
git commit -a -m "Initial Commit"
git push origin orphan_name

Note that using git switch --orphan <branch name> automatically removes ALL files from the working tree.

Note that whatever is ignored by .gitignore won't be removed.

Note that using git switch --orphan <branch name> automatically removes ALL files from the working tree.

Note that whatever is ignored by .gitignore won't be removed.

Note that git switch --orphan <branch name> automatically removes ALL tracked files from the working tree (as it should, since we don't want files from other branches — it's an orphan branch). It will not remove

• untracked files
• modified (not yet committed) tracked files (because it refuses to proceed in this scenario)

This is independent of .gitignore. However, there are many other ways to exclude files (e.g. .git/info/exclude, git update-index --skip-worktree etc). If you use any of those, possibly together and along .gitignore, you probably have bigger things to worry about.