SpotlessGuides
How to find and free up space on a Mac, by hand first.
How to clear cache on a Mac
Where macOS and your apps keep cache files, how to measure them, which ones are safe to delete, and the exact steps for Safari, Chrome and developer tools.
How to clear the Homebrew cache on Mac
Find the Homebrew cache with brew --cache, preview what brew cleanup removes, and avoid the folders that look like cache but are your installed software.
How to clear Xcode DerivedData on Mac
Where Xcode DerivedData lives, how big it gets, the exact commands to clear it safely, and the gotchas with indexes, caches and running builds.
How to delete iOS Simulators and runtimes in Xcode
Remove old iOS Simulator devices and downloaded runtimes from Xcode, with the commands, the folders involved and what each removal costs.
Do you need a Mac cleaner?
When a Mac cleaner app earns its price, what macOS already does for free, the claims that should make you walk away, and a checklist for judging any cleaner before you install it.
Docker is taking up space on Mac: how to reclaim it
Why Docker Desktop holds tens of GB on a Mac, how to see what is inside, which prune commands are safe, and why the disk file may not shrink.
How to find duplicate files on your Mac
Find duplicate files on a Mac by content, not name. Terminal commands that hash files with SHA-256, why name and size matching fails, and what is safe.
How to find large files on your Mac
Find the biggest files on a Mac with Finder, find, du and Spotlight, and why the sizes disagree for sparse files, packages, clones and iCloud placeholders.
How to free up memory (RAM) on a Mac
How to read Memory Pressure in Activity Monitor, what actually frees memory, why memory cleaner apps do not help, and when you need more RAM instead.
How to free up space on your Mac
Where Mac storage usually goes, in the order worth checking, with the exact Terminal and Finder commands to measure each place before you delete.
Is it safe to delete Library caches on Mac?
Which Library cache folders on a Mac are safe to delete, which are not, where sandboxed apps hide theirs, and how to measure before you remove anything.
node_modules is taking up space on Mac: what to delete
Find every node_modules folder on your Mac, see which are largest, delete the ones you can reinstall, and clear the npm, pnpm and Yarn caches safely.
Time Machine local snapshots are taking space on my Mac
How to see Time Machine local snapshots on your Mac, why deleting files may not free space, and the tmutil commands to remove or thin them safely.
How to uninstall apps and their leftovers on Mac
Dragging an app to the Bin leaves files behind. Where those leftovers are on a Mac, how to find them by bundle ID, and which ones are safe to remove.
What is System Data on Mac and how to reduce it
What the grey System Data bar in macOS Storage contains, how to measure each part from Terminal, and which parts are safe to shrink.