Xcode Cache Cleaner#

Scan a project directory or the global Xcode caches under ~/Library/Developer/, report sizes, and optionally delete to free disk space.

Two Modes#

1. Project cache cleanup (per-folder)#

bash

bash scripts/clean-cache.sh <target-dir> [--dry-run] [--yes]

Use when the user points at a specific project directory (SPM .build, Pods, node_modules, etc.).

2. Global Xcode cache cleanup (system-wide)#

bash

bash scripts/clean-xcode-global.sh [--dry-run] [--yes] \
     [--keep-ios <pattern>]... [--include-archives]

Use when the user asks to clean Xcode / DerivedData / iOS DeviceSupport / simulators globally (e.g. "清一下 Xcode 缓存"、"free space on my mac", "reclaim disk from Xcode").

Covers:

• ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/* — all deleted
• ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/{iOS,watchOS,tvOS,macOS} DeviceSupport/* — by default keeps the highest-version folder per platform; pass --keep-ios 26.4.2 --keep-ios 18.5 (repeatable, substring match) to override
• ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode — deleted
• ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives/* — listed but NOT deleted by default (these are signed .xcarchive builds). Pass --include-archives to also delete.
• CoreSimulator unavailable devices — runs xcrun simctl delete unavailable (safe; only removes devices Xcode already lost track of)

Flags:

• --dry-run — Scan and report only, no deletions
• --yes / -y — Skip confirmation prompt (use when agent is driving)
• --keep-ios <pattern> — Keep DeviceSupport folders matching this substring (repeatable). Applied across all *OS DeviceSupport dirs, not just iOS.
• --include-archives — Also delete Archives/* (default: keep)

Always run --dry-run first, show the user the results, then ask before running the actual cleanup (or pass --yes if the user already confirmed). Both scripts prefer trash (recoverable) over rm -rf when available.

Supported Cache Types#

CachePatternEcosystemsSPM .build.build/ dirsSwift / iOSDerivedDataDerivedData/ dirsXcodexcresult*.xcresult bundlesXcode testsPodsPods/ dirsCocoaPodsCarthage/BuildCarthage/Build/Carthagenode_modulesnode_modules/Node.jsGradle .gradle.gradle/ dirsAndroid / JavaGradle buildbuild/ under .gradleAndroid / JavaRust targettarget/ next to Cargo.tomlRustPython pycache__pycache__/ dirsPython.pytest_cache.pytest_cache/ dirsPython.mypy_cache.mypy_cache/ dirsPython

The script also reports .git size (not deleted) with a hint to run git gc --aggressive.

Notes#

• All deletions are recoverable by re-building (or via Trash if trash is installed). No source code is touched.
• The project-mode script resolves the target to an absolute path before scanning.
• For very large projects, the initial du scan may take a minute.
• Global-mode default for DeviceSupport (keep highest version) is conservative; if the user has multiple physical devices on different iOS versions, prompt for explicit --keep-ios patterns before deleting.