Guides for freeing disk space on macOS as a developer
Terraform provider plugins, .terragrunt-cache directories, and module caches can consume 5-20GB on macOS. Complete guide to enabling plugin cache, cleaning .terraform directories, and managing IaC disk usage.
Flutter SDK, Dart pub cache, build artifacts, iOS simulators, and Android SDK caches can consume 10-30GB on macOS. Complete guide to auditing and cleaning every Flutter-related cache directory.
iOS Simulators, DeviceSupport files, CoreSimulator caches, and Archives can consume 20-80GB on macOS. Complete guide to deleting old simulator runtimes, cleaning device support files, and reclaiming massive Xcode disk space.
Comprehensive guide covering 10 major developer cache locations on macOS. Learn exactly where Xcode, Node.js, Docker, Homebrew, pip, CocoaPods, Cargo, and Gradle store their caches and how to safely clean them.
Deep-dive into every Xcode-related cache: DerivedData, iOS Device Support, Archives, Simulators, CoreSimulator, Toolchains, and Swift Package Manager. Includes a summary table and a one-liner cleanup script.
Find every node_modules directory on your Mac, see how much space they use, and safely delete them. Covers selective deletion, npm/yarn/pnpm cache cleanup, tools comparison, and prevention strategies.
Docker Desktop can consume 20-200GB+ on your Mac. Learn how to reclaim space with docker system prune, shrink the Docker.raw file, clean build cache, manage volumes, and automate weekly cleanup.
Homebrew can consume 5-30GB+ on your Mac with old formula versions, cached downloads, and orphaned dependencies. Learn brew cleanup, autoremove, cache management, and automation.
Maven's ~/.m2/repository, sbt caches, Coursier, and Kotlin/Native can silently consume 5-30GB on macOS. Complete guide to auditing and cleaning JVM build tool caches, SNAPSHOTs, Ivy cache, and target/ directories.
JavaScript package manager caches and node_modules can consume 20-80GB on macOS. Complete guide to auditing and cleaning npm cache, Yarn cache, pnpm store, node_modules, and Node.js version managers.
CocoaPods caches, Pods directories, and spec repos can consume 5-30GB on macOS. Learn how to audit pod cache, clean spec repos, remove stale Pods folders, migrate to Swift Package Manager, and automate CocoaPods disk cleanup.
Gradle caches, wrapper distributions, and build outputs can consume 10-50GB on macOS. Learn how to audit ~/.gradle, clean daemon data, remove old wrapper versions, and automate Gradle disk cleanup.
Go module cache, build cache, and old toolchains can silently consume 10-30GB on macOS. Learn how to audit and clean GOMODCACHE, GOCACHE, GOPATH, old SDK versions, vendor directories, and automate Go disk management.
Rust's target/ directory can reach 5-20GB per project, and the Cargo registry cache adds more. Learn how to audit, clean, and automate Rust disk space management with cargo-sweep, cargo-cache, sccache, and more.
Python environments, pip cache, conda, virtualenvs, and __pycache__ can consume 10-50GB+. Learn how to audit and clean pip cache, conda environments, pyenv versions, Poetry cache, Jupyter data, and scattered .venv directories.
Honest comparison of Mac disk cleaners: ClearDisk (free, open-source) vs CleanMyMac X ($40-90/yr) vs DaisyDisk ($10) vs OnyX vs DevCleaner. Features, pricing, developer focus, and when to use each.
ClearDisk detects and cleans all these caches automatically. Free, open-source macOS menu bar app.
Get ClearDisk