Clear caches
Everything in the table below is downloaded or rebuilt again the next time it is needed. Before deleting, confirm one thing only: the program that owns it is not using it right now.
Before starting, record free space with df -h /System/Volumes/Data, and record each item's size with du -sh before deleting it. Skip any row whose command does not exist.
| Cache | Extra precondition | Command |
|---|---|---|
| Homebrew downloads and old versions | none | brew cleanup -s --prune=all |
| npm | none | npm cache clean --force |
| npx packages | pgrep -f _npx is empty (MCP servers started by npx run from here) | rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx; npm cache clean does not touch this directory |
| pnpm store | none | pnpm store prune |
| bun | run it in a directory with a package.json, otherwise it deletes nothing | (cd <any JS repo> && bun pm cache rm) |
| yarn / uv / pip | none | yarn cache clean / uv cache clean / pip3 cache purge |
| Gradle | pgrep -f GradleDaemon is empty | rm -rf ~/.gradle/caches |
| Playwright browsers | no e2e run in progress | rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright ~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright-go; tell the user to run npx playwright install before the next e2e run |
| Microsoft Edge | pgrep -x "Microsoft Edge" is empty | rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/Microsoft\ Edge |
| VS Code update leftovers | VS Code is closed | rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt |
| Simulator dyld cache | stale ones only, see below | xcrun simctl runtime dyld_shared_cache remove <runtime> |
| Unused Rust toolchains | pgrep -x cargo and pgrep -x rustc are empty; keep list below | rustup toolchain uninstall <name> |
Simulator dyld cache: /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Caches/dyld/<host build>/<runtime>/. A cache is stale only when its host build differs from sw_vers -buildVersion or its runtime is no longer in xcrun simctl runtime list. Deleting the current one reclaims nothing: the next simulator launch rebuilds it as it was.
Rust toolchains: keep stable, the default (rustup default), every directory override (rustup override list), custom toolchains linked with rustup toolchain link (they are not re-downloadable), *-sbpf-solana-* (installed by Solana's build tools), and every channel pinned in a rust-toolchain or rust-toolchain.toml anywhere under {{DEV_ROOT}}. The rest of ~/.rustup/toolchains can be uninstalled.
When a precondition fails (Edge is open, say), skip that row and tell the user at the end how to clear it later. When a permission check or classifier blocks an rm -rf, do not route around it; hand the command to the user to run themselves (in Claude Code: ! <command>).
Keep, do not touch
~/.claude/projects: Claude Code's session transcripts; usage tools such as ccusage read them.- The conda installation itself (for example
/opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniconda): projects run their environments from it. - Installed iOS simulator runtimes: projects run their tests on them.
- No need for
conda clean -a: packages are hard-linked into the environments, so it reclaims almost nothing.
Wrap up
Run df -h /System/Volumes/Data again and report what each item reclaimed, which items were skipped and why, and free space before and after.
