Developer caches are eating my SSD
Short answer: Package managers keep a copy of everything they ever downloaded. These caches rebuild by themselves, so clearing them is safe. The next install is just a little slower.
By hand
npm cache clean --force, pip cache purge, dotnet nuget locals all --clear, delete ~/.gradle/caches… one tool at a time, and you need to know which folders are safe.
With Sparewise
- Finds them all in one scan, each with a tested safety rule and the evidence behind it.
- "Free 20 GB" picks the smallest set of caches that reaches your goal, and sets everything aside first, to put back in one click.
- Shows how fast each cache grows back, so you know what is worth clearing.
- Lists NuGet versions no project uses, and old Node and Java versions with the command that removes each.