diff --git a/recipe/common.php b/recipe/common.php
index 81ccc5a5..3c57166b 100644
--- a/recipe/common.php
+++ b/recipe/common.php
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ set('copy_dirs', []);
 set('writable_dirs', []);
 set('writable_use_sudo', true); // Using sudo in writable commands?
 set('http_user', null);
+set('clear_paths', []);         // Relative path from deploy_path
+set('clear_use_sudo', true);    // Using sudo in clean commands?
 
 /**
  * Environment vars
@@ -372,6 +374,18 @@ task('cleanup', function () {
 
 })->desc('Cleaning up old releases');
 
+/**
+ * Cleanup files and directories
+ */
+task('deploy:clean', function () {
+    $paths = get('clear_paths');
+    $sudo  = get('clear_use_sudo') ? 'sudo' : '';
+
+    foreach ($paths as $path) {
+        run("$sudo rm -rf {{deploy_path}}/$path");
+    }
+
+})->desc('Cleaning up files and/or directories');
 
 /**
  * Success message
diff --git a/test/recipe/CommonTest.php b/test/recipe/CommonTest.php
index e6f25229..e943c485 100644
--- a/test/recipe/CommonTest.php
+++ b/test/recipe/CommonTest.php
@@ -134,6 +134,20 @@ class CommonTest extends RecipeTester
         $this->assertEquals(3, iterator_count($fi));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test clean
+     */
+    public function testClean()
+    {
+        set('clear_paths', ['current/app/README.md', 'current/app/tests']);
+        set('clear_use_sudo', false);
+
+        $this->exec('deploy:clean');
+
+        $this->assertFileNotExists($this->getEnv('deploy_path') . '/current/app/README.md');
+        $this->assertFileNotExists($this->getEnv('deploy_path') . '/current/app/tests');
+    }
+
     /**
      * @depends testCleanup
      */