Remove the branch/tag selector from the issue sidebar and new issue
form. The Issue.Ref field was added 8 years ago and provides minimal
value — it only saves a branch name and optionally restricts which
branch's commits can auto-close the issue.
Removed:
- Branch selector template (branch_selector_field.tmpl)
- Sidebar and new-form includes
- Ref badge from issue lists
- POST /{index}/ref web route and UpdateIssueRef handler
- GetRefEndNamesAndURLs calls from list renderers
- JS handler for branch selector dropdown
Preserved:
- DB column (Issue.Ref) — still used by commit-close logic
- API response still includes ref for backward compatibility
Closes#307
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>