purge-app

Purge is a free, open-source macOS utility designed to help you reclaim disk space safely. It scans your Mac for cache files, system junk, and other unnecessary data that accumulates over time, then lets you clean them with one click. A key safety feature is that nothing is permanently deleted—all items are moved to the macOS Trash, so you can restore anything if needed. ### Features - **App Caches**: Scans `~/Library/Caches`, sandbox container caches, and common system junk. Shows per-app cache folders with friendly names, icons, and plain-English explanations. Merges duplicate cache locations for the same app into a single row. - **Dev Tools**: Cleans caches for Xcode, Homebrew, npm, pnpm, Yarn, CocoaPods, Gradle, Flutter, Docker Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, JetBrains, Cargo, Terraform, and more. Also handles iOS Simulator runtimes and developer project artifacts like `node_modules`, Python virtual environments, Rust `target`, and build outputs. - **Large Files**: Finds space-hogging personal files in Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Movies, Music, and Pictures. Includes search, size/date filters, category chips (videos, audio, images, PDFs, archives, AI models, etc.), and a byte-for-byte duplicate finder that groups identical files and suggests which to keep. - **App Uninstaller**: Removes an app and its leftover caches, preferences, containers, logs, and login helpers in one pass. Strict matching prevents accidentally deleting shared files. - **Safety Labels**: Every item gets a label—✅ Safe to Clean or ⚠️ Check First—so you know what you're deleting. Unidentified folders are excluded entirely. - **Cleaning Options**: One-click Clean, Clean Selected, Clean Safe Files, and scheduled automatic cleaning (weekly, monthly, custom intervals). All deletions go to Trash. - **Settings**: Appearance (Light/Dark/System), cleaning schedule, developer project staleness threshold, excluded folders, and cleaning history. - **Menu Bar Companion**: Shows recoverable space at a glance and quick actions. - **Privacy**: Runs entirely on your Mac; no data is uploaded. The only network activity is an optional daily update check. ### Installation You can install Purge via Homebrew: ```bash brew install --cask jithin-sabu/tap/purge ``` Or download the `.dmg` from the [releases page](https://github.com/jithin-sabu/purge-app/releases/latest). After installation, grant Full Disk Access in System Settings to enable scanning. ### Building from Source Requires macOS 13+ and Xcode 16+. Clone the repo and open `purge.xcodeproj` in Xcode, then build and run. Dependencies (only Sparkle) are resolved via Swift Package Manager. ### Security - Trash-by-default: nothing is permanently deleted. - Allowlist-based deletion: only recognized safe paths are eligible. - Notarized by Apple and signed updates via Sparkle. - Open source: the deletion logic is fully inspectable. ### License MIT License. Free to use, modify, and distribute.