macOS Cleaner

Overview

Intelligently analyze macOS disk usage and provide actionable cleanup recommendations to reclaim storage space. This skill follows a safety-first philosophy: analyze thoroughly, present clear findings, and require explicit user confirmation before executing any deletions.

Target users: Users with basic technical knowledge who understand file systems but need guidance on what's safe to delete on macOS.

Core Principles

• Safety First, Never Bypass: NEVER execute dangerous commands (rm -rf , mo clean , etc.) without explicit user confirmation. No shortcuts, no workarounds.

• Value Over Vanity: Your goal is NOT to maximize cleaned space. Your goal is to identify what is truly useless vs valuable cache. Clearing 50GB of useful cache just to show a big number is harmful.

• Network Environment Awareness: Many users (especially in China) have slow/unreliable internet. Re-downloading caches can take hours. A cache that saves 30 minutes of download time is worth keeping.

• Impact Analysis Required: Every cleanup recommendation MUST include "what happens if deleted" column. Never just list items without explaining consequences.

• Patience Over Speed: Disk scans can take 5-10 minutes. NEVER interrupt or skip slow operations. Report progress to user regularly.

• User Executes Cleanup: After analysis, provide the cleanup command for the user to run themselves. Do NOT auto-execute cleanup.

• Conservative Defaults: When in doubt, don't delete. Err on the side of caution.

ABSOLUTE PROHIBITIONS:

• ❌ NEVER run rm -rf on user directories automatically

• ❌ NEVER run mo clean without dry-run preview first

• ❌ NEVER use docker volume prune -f or docker system prune -a --volumes

• ❌ NEVER skip analysis steps to save time

• ❌ NEVER append --help to Mole commands (except mo --help )

• ❌ NEVER recommend deleting useful caches just to inflate cleanup numbers

Workflow Decision Tree

User reports disk space issues ↓ Quick Diagnosis ↓ ┌──────┴──────┐ │ │ Immediate Deep Analysis Cleanup (continue below) │ │ └──────┬──────┘ ↓ Present Findings ↓ User Confirms ↓ Execute Cleanup ↓ Verify Results

Step 1: Quick Diagnosis with Mole

Primary tool: Use Mole for disk analysis. It provides comprehensive, categorized results.

1.1 Pre-flight Checks

Check Mole installation and version

which mo && mo --version

If not installed

brew install tw93/tap/mole

Check for updates (Mole updates frequently)

brew info tw93/tap/mole | head -5

Upgrade if outdated

brew upgrade tw93/tap/mole

1.2 Choose Analysis Method

IMPORTANT: Use mo analyze as the primary analysis tool, NOT mo clean --dry-run .

Command Purpose Use When

mo analyze

Interactive disk usage explorer (TUI tree view) PRIMARY: Understanding what's consuming space

mo clean --dry-run

Preview cleanup categories SECONDARY: Only after mo analyze to see cleanup preview

Why prefer mo analyze :

• Dedicated disk analysis tool with interactive tree navigation

• Allows drilling down into specific directories

• Shows actual disk usage breakdown, not just cleanup categories

• More informative for understanding storage consumption

1.3 Run Analysis via tmux

IMPORTANT: Mole requires TTY. Always use tmux from Claude Code.

CRITICAL TIMING NOTE: Home directory scans are SLOW (5-10 minutes or longer for large directories). Inform user upfront and wait patiently.

Create tmux session

tmux new-session -d -s mole -x 120 -y 40

Run disk analysis (PRIMARY tool - interactive TUI)

tmux send-keys -t mole 'mo analyze' Enter

Wait for scan - BE PATIENT!

Home directory scanning typically takes 5-10 minutes

Report progress to user regularly

sleep 60 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Navigate the TUI with arrow keys

tmux send-keys -t mole Down # Move to next item tmux send-keys -t mole Enter # Expand/select item tmux send-keys -t mole 'q' # Quit when done

Alternative: Cleanup preview (use AFTER mo analyze)

Run dry-run preview (SAFE - no deletion)

tmux send-keys -t mole 'mo clean --dry-run' Enter

Wait for scan (report progress to user every 30 seconds)

Be patient! Large directories take 5-10 minutes

sleep 30 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

1.4 Progress Reporting

Report scan progress to user regularly:

📊 Disk Analysis in Progress... ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ Elapsed: 2 minutes

Current status: ✅ Applications: 49.5 GB (complete) ✅ System Library: 10.3 GB (complete) ⏳ Home: scanning... (this may take 5-10 minutes) ⏳ App Library: pending

I'm waiting patiently for the scan to complete. Will report again in 30 seconds...

1.5 Present Final Findings

After scan completes, present structured results:

📊 Disk Space Analysis (via Mole) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Free space: 27 GB

🧹 Recoverable Space (dry-run preview):

➤ User Essentials • User app cache: 16.67 GB • User app logs: 102.3 MB • Trash: 642.9 MB

➤ Browser Caches • Chrome cache: 1.90 GB • Safari cache: 4 KB

➤ Developer Tools • uv cache: 9.96 GB • npm cache: (detected) • Docker cache: (detected) • Homebrew cache: (detected)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Total recoverable: ~30 GB

⚠️ This was a dry-run preview. No files were deleted.

Step 2: Deep Analysis Categories

Scan the following categories systematically. Reference references/cleanup_targets.md for detailed explanations.

Category 1: System & Application Caches

Locations to analyze:

• ~/Library/Caches/*

• User application caches

• /Library/Caches/*

• System-wide caches (requires sudo)

• ~/Library/Logs/*

• Application logs

• /var/log/*

• System logs (requires sudo)

Analysis script:

scripts/analyze_caches.py --user-only

Safety level: 🟢 Generally safe to delete (apps regenerate caches)

Exceptions to preserve:

• Browser caches while browser is running

• IDE caches (may slow down next startup)

• Package manager caches (Homebrew, pip, npm)

Category 2: Application Remnants

Locations to analyze:

• ~/Library/Application Support/*

• App data

• ~/Library/Preferences/*

• Preference files

• ~/Library/Containers/*

• Sandboxed app data

Analysis approach:

• List installed applications in /Applications

• Cross-reference with ~/Library/Application Support

• Identify orphaned folders (app uninstalled but data remains)

Analysis script:

scripts/find_app_remnants.py

Safety level: 🟡 Caution required

• ✅ Safe: Folders for clearly uninstalled apps

• ⚠️ Check first: Folders for apps you rarely use

• ❌ Keep: Active application data

Category 3: Large Files & Duplicates

Analysis script:

scripts/analyze_large_files.py --threshold 100MB --path ~

Find duplicates (optional, resource-intensive):

Use fdupes if installed

if command -v fdupes &> /dev/null; then fdupes -r ~/Documents ~/Downloads fi

Present findings:

📦 Large Files (>100MB): ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. movie.mp4 4.2 GB ~/Downloads
2. dataset.csv 1.8 GB ~/Documents/data
3. old_backup.zip 1.5 GB ~/Desktop ...

🔁 Duplicate Files:

• screenshot.png (3 copies) 15 MB each
• document_v1.docx (2 copies) 8 MB each

Safety level: 🟡 User judgment required

Category 4: Development Environment Cleanup

Targets:

• Docker: images, containers, volumes, build cache

• Homebrew: cache, old versions

• Node.js: node_modules , npm cache

• Python: pip cache, pycache , venv

• Git: .git folders in archived projects

Analysis script:

scripts/analyze_dev_env.py

Example findings:

🐳 Docker Resources:

• Unused images: 12 GB
• Stopped containers: 2 GB
• Build cache: 8 GB
• Orphaned volumes: 3 GB Total potential: 25 GB

📦 Package Managers:

• Homebrew cache: 5 GB
• npm cache: 3 GB
• pip cache: 1 GB Total potential: 9 GB

🗂️ Old Projects:

• archived-project-2022/.git 500 MB
• old-prototype/.git 300 MB

Cleanup commands (require confirmation):

Homebrew cleanup (safe)

brew cleanup -s

npm _npx only (safe - temporary packages)

rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx

pip cache (use with caution)

pip cache purge

Docker cleanup - SPECIAL HANDLING REQUIRED:

⚠️ NEVER use these commands:

❌ DANGEROUS - deletes ALL volumes without confirmation

docker volume prune -f docker system prune -a --volumes

✅ Correct approach - per-volume confirmation:

1. List all volumes

docker volume ls

2. Identify which projects each volume belongs to

docker volume inspect <volume_name>

3. Ask user to confirm EACH project they want to delete

Example: "Do you want to delete all volumes for 'ragflow' project?"

4. Delete specific volumes only after confirmation

docker volume rm ragflow_mysql_data ragflow_redis_data

Safety level: 🟢 Homebrew/npm cleanup, 🔴 Docker volumes require per-project confirmation

Step 3: Integration with Mole

Mole (https://github.com/tw93/Mole) is a command-line interface (CLI) tool for comprehensive macOS cleanup. It provides interactive terminal-based analysis and cleanup for caches, logs, developer tools, and more.

CRITICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• TTY Environment: Mole requires a TTY for interactive commands. Use tmux when running from Claude Code or scripts.

• Version Check: Always verify Mole is up-to-date before use.

• Safe Help Command: Only mo --help is safe. Do NOT append --help to other commands.

Installation check and upgrade:

Check if installed and get version

which mo && mo --version

If not installed

brew install tw93/tap/mole

Check for updates

brew info tw93/tap/mole | head -5

Upgrade if needed

brew upgrade tw93/tap/mole

Using Mole with tmux (REQUIRED for Claude Code):

Create tmux session for TTY environment

tmux new-session -d -s mole -x 120 -y 40

Run analysis (safe, read-only)

tmux send-keys -t mole 'mo analyze' Enter

Wait for scan (be patient - can take 5-10 minutes for large directories)

sleep 60

Capture results

tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Cleanup when done

tmux kill-session -t mole

Available commands (from mo --help ):

Command Safety Description

mo --help

✅ Safe View all commands (ONLY safe help)

mo analyze

✅ Safe Disk usage explorer (read-only)

mo status

✅ Safe System health monitor

mo clean --dry-run

✅ Safe Preview cleanup (no deletion)

mo clean

⚠️ DANGEROUS Actually deletes files

mo purge

⚠️ DANGEROUS Remove project artifacts

mo uninstall

⚠️ DANGEROUS Remove applications

Reference guide: See references/mole_integration.md for detailed tmux workflow and troubleshooting.

Multi-Layer Deep Exploration with Mole

CRITICAL: For comprehensive analysis, you MUST perform multi-layer exploration, not just top-level scans. This section documents the proven workflow for navigating Mole's TUI.

Navigation Commands

Create session

tmux new-session -d -s mole -x 120 -y 40

Start analysis

tmux send-keys -t mole 'mo analyze' Enter

Wait for initial scan

sleep 8 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Navigation keys (send via tmux)

tmux send-keys -t mole Enter # Enter/expand selected directory tmux send-keys -t mole Left # Go back to parent directory tmux send-keys -t mole Down # Move to next item tmux send-keys -t mole Up # Move to previous item tmux send-keys -t mole 'q' # Quit TUI

Capture current view

tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Multi-Layer Exploration Workflow

Step 1: Top-level overview

Start mo analyze, wait for initial menu

tmux send-keys -t mole 'mo analyze' Enter sleep 8 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Example output:

1. Home 289.4 GB (58.5%)

2. App Library 145.2 GB (29.4%)

3. Applications 49.5 GB (10.0%)

4. System Library 10.3 GB (2.1%)

Step 2: Enter largest directory (Home)

tmux send-keys -t mole Enter sleep 10 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Example output:

1. Library 144.4 GB (49.9%)

2. Workspace 52.0 GB (18.0%)

3. .cache 19.3 GB (6.7%)

4. Applications 17.0 GB (5.9%)

...

Step 3: Drill into specific directories

Go to .cache (3rd item: Down Down Enter)

tmux send-keys -t mole Down Down Enter sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Example output:

1. uv 10.3 GB (55.6%)

2. modelscope 5.5 GB (29.5%)

3. huggingface 887.8 MB (4.7%)

Step 4: Navigate back and explore another branch

Go back to parent

tmux send-keys -t mole Left sleep 2

Navigate to different directory

tmux send-keys -t mole Down Down Down Down Enter # Go to .npm sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Step 5: Deep dive into Library

Back to Home, then into Library

tmux send-keys -t mole Left tmux send-keys -t mole Up Up Up Up Up Up Enter # Go to Library sleep 10 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

Example output:

1. Application Support 37.1 GB

2. Containers 35.4 GB

3. Developer 17.8 GB ← Xcode is here

4. Caches 8.2 GB

Recommended Exploration Path

For comprehensive analysis, follow this exploration tree:

mo analyze ├── Home (Enter) │ ├── Library (Enter) │ │ ├── Developer (Enter) → Xcode/DerivedData, iOS DeviceSupport │ │ ├── Caches (Enter) → Playwright, JetBrains, etc. │ │ └── Application Support (Enter) → App data │ ├── .cache (Enter) → uv, modelscope, huggingface │ ├── .npm (Enter) → _cacache, _npx │ ├── Downloads (Enter) → Large files to review │ ├── .Trash (Enter) → Confirm trash contents │ └── miniconda3/other dev tools (Enter) → Check last used time ├── App Library → Usually overlaps with ~/Library └── Applications → Installed apps

Time Expectations

Directory Scan Time Notes

Top-level menu 5-8 seconds Fast

Home directory 5-10 minutes Large, be patient

~/Library 3-5 minutes Many small files

Subdirectories 2-30 seconds Varies by size

Example Complete Session

1. Create session

tmux new-session -d -s mole -x 120 -y 40

2. Start analysis and get overview

tmux send-keys -t mole 'mo analyze' Enter sleep 8 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

3. Enter Home

tmux send-keys -t mole Enter sleep 10 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

4. Enter .cache to see dev caches

tmux send-keys -t mole Down Down Enter sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

5. Back to Home, then to .npm

tmux send-keys -t mole Left sleep 2 tmux send-keys -t mole Down Down Down Down Enter sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

6. Back to Home, enter Library

tmux send-keys -t mole Left sleep 2 tmux send-keys -t mole Up Up Up Up Up Up Enter sleep 10 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

7. Enter Developer to see Xcode

tmux send-keys -t mole Down Down Down Enter sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

8. Enter Xcode

tmux send-keys -t mole Enter sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

9. Enter DerivedData to see projects

tmux send-keys -t mole Enter sleep 5 && tmux capture-pane -t mole -p

10. Cleanup

tmux kill-session -t mole

Key Insights from Exploration

After multi-layer exploration, you will discover:

• What projects are using DerivedData - specific project names

• Which caches are actually large - uv vs npm vs others

• Age of files - Mole shows ">3mo", ">7mo", ">1yr" markers

• Specific volumes and their purposes - Docker project data

• Downloads that can be cleaned - old dmgs, duplicate files

Anti-Patterns: What NOT to Delete

CRITICAL: The following items are often suggested for cleanup but should NOT be deleted in most cases. They provide significant value that outweighs the space they consume.

Items to KEEP (Anti-Patterns)

Item Size Why NOT to Delete Real Impact of Deletion

Xcode DerivedData 10+ GB Build cache saves 10-30 min per full rebuild Next build takes 10-30 minutes longer

npm _cacache 5+ GB Downloaded packages cached locally npm install redownloads everything (30min-2hr in China)

~/.cache/uv 10+ GB Python package cache Every Python project reinstalls deps from PyPI

Playwright browsers 3-4 GB Browser binaries for automation testing Redownload 2GB+ each time (30min-1hr)

iOS DeviceSupport 2-3 GB Required for device debugging Redownload from Apple when connecting device

Docker stopped containers <500 MB May restart anytime with docker start

Lose container state, need to recreate

~/.cache/huggingface varies AI model cache Redownload large models (hours)

~/.cache/modelscope varies AI model cache (China) Same as above

JetBrains caches 1+ GB IDE indexing and caches IDE takes 5-10 min to re-index

Why This Matters

The vanity trap: Showing "Cleaned 50GB!" feels good but:

• User spends next 2 hours redownloading npm packages

• Next Xcode build takes 30 minutes instead of 30 seconds

• AI project fails because models need redownload

The right mindset: "I found 50GB of caches. Here's why most of them are actually valuable and should be kept..."

What IS Actually Safe to Delete

Item Why Safe Impact

Trash User already deleted these files None - user's decision

Homebrew old versions Replaced by newer versions Rare: can't rollback to old version

npm _npx Temporary npx executions Minor: npx re-downloads on next use

Orphaned app remnants App already uninstalled None - app doesn't exist

Specific unused Docker volumes Projects confirmed abandoned None - if truly abandoned

Report Format Requirements

Every cleanup report MUST follow this format with impact analysis:

Disk Analysis Report

Classification Legend

Findings

Recommendation

Only items marked 🟢 are recommended for cleanup. Items marked 🟡 require your judgment based on usage patterns. Items marked 🔴 require explicit confirmation per-item.

High-Quality Report Template

After multi-layer exploration, present findings using this proven template:

📊 磁盘空间深度分析报告

分析日期: YYYY-MM-DD 使用工具: Mole CLI + 多层目录探索 分析原则: 安全第一，价值优于虚荣

总览

🟢 绝对安全可删除 (约 X.X GB)

废纸篓内容预览:

• [列出主要文件]

🟡 需要你确认的项目

1. [项目名] (X.X GB) - [状态描述]

问题: [需要用户回答的问题]

2. Downloads 中的旧文件 (X.X GB)

建议: 手动检查 Downloads，删除已不需要的文件。

3. 停用的 Docker 项目 Volumes

注意: 我不会使用 docker volume prune -f，只会在你确认后删除特定项目的 volumes。

🔴 不建议删除的项目 (有价值的缓存)

📋 其他发现

推荐操作

立即可执行 (无需确认):

# 1. 清空废纸篓 (XXX MB)
# 手动: Finder → 清空废纸篓

# 2. npm _npx (X.X GB)
rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx

# 3. Homebrew 旧版本 (XX MB)
brew cleanup --prune=0

预计释放: ~X.X GB

需要你确认后执行:

- [项目1] - [确认问题]

- [项目2] - [确认问题]

- Docker 项目 - 告诉我哪些项目确定不用了

### Report Quality Checklist

Before presenting the report, verify:

- [ ] Every item has "Impact If Deleted" explanation
- [ ] 🟢 items are truly safe (Trash, _npx, old versions)
- [ ] 🟡 items require user decision (age info, usage patterns)
- [ ] 🔴 items explain WHY they should be kept
- [ ] Docker volumes listed by project, not blanket prune
- [ ] Network environment considered (China = slow redownload)
- [ ] No recommendations to delete useful caches just to inflate numbers
- [ ] Clear action items with exact commands

## Step 4: Present Recommendations

Format findings into actionable recommendations with risk levels:

```markdown
# macOS Cleanup Recommendations

## Summary
Total space recoverable: ~XX GB
Current usage: XX%

## Recommended Actions

### 🟢 Safe to Execute (Low Risk)
These are safe to delete and will be regenerated as needed:

1. **Empty Trash** (~12 GB)
   - Location: ~/.Trash
   - Command: `rm -rf ~/.Trash/*`

2. **Clear System Caches** (~45 GB)
   - Location: ~/Library/Caches
   - Command: `rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*`
   - Note: Apps may be slightly slower on next launch

3. **Remove Homebrew Cache** (~5 GB)
   - Command: `brew cleanup -s`

### 🟡 Review Recommended (Medium Risk)
Review these items before deletion:

1. **Large Downloads** (~38 GB)
   - Location: ~/Downloads
   - Action: Manually review and delete unneeded files
   - Files: [list top 10 largest files]

2. **Application Remnants** (~8 GB)
   - Apps: [list detected uninstalled apps]
   - Locations: [list paths]
   - Action: Confirm apps are truly uninstalled before deleting data

### 🔴 Keep Unless Certain (High Risk)
Only delete if you know what you're doing:

1. **Docker Volumes** (~3 GB)
   - May contain important data
   - Review with: `docker volume ls`

2. **Time Machine Local Snapshots** (~XX GB)
   - Automatic backups, will be deleted when space needed
   - Command to check: `tmutil listlocalsnapshots /`

Step 5: Execute with Confirmation

CRITICAL: Never execute deletions without explicit user confirmation.

Interactive confirmation flow:

# Example from scripts/safe_delete.py
def confirm_delete(path: str, size: str, description: str) -> bool:
    """
    Ask user to confirm deletion.

    Args:
        path: File/directory path
        size: Human-readable size
        description: What this file/directory is

    Returns:
        True if user confirms, False otherwise
    """
    print(f"\n🗑️  Confirm Deletion")
    print(f"━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━")
    print(f"Path:        {path}")
    print(f"Size:        {size}")
    print(f"Description: {description}")

    response = input("\nDelete this item? [y/N]: ").strip().lower()
    return response == 'y'

For batch operations:

def batch_confirm(items: list) -> list:
    """
    Show all items, ask for batch confirmation.

    Returns list of items user approved.
    """
    print("\n📋 Items to Delete:")
    print("━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━")
    for i, item in enumerate(items, 1):
        print(f"{i}. {item['path']} ({item['size']})")

    print("\nOptions:")
    print("  'all'    - Delete all items")
    print("  '1,3,5'  - Delete specific items by number")
    print("  'none'   - Cancel")

    response = input("\nYour choice: ").strip().lower()

    if response == 'none':
        return []
    elif response == 'all':
        return items
    else:
        # Parse numbers
        indices = [int(x.strip()) - 1 for x in response.split(',')]
        return [items[i] for i in indices if 0 <= i < len(items)]

Step 6: Verify Results

After cleanup, verify the results and report back:

# Compare before/after
df -h /

# Calculate space recovered
# (handled by scripts/cleanup_report.py)

Report format:

✅ Cleanup Complete!

Before: 450 GB used (90%)
After:  385 GB used (77%)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Recovered: 65 GB

Breakdown:
- System caches:        45 GB
- Downloads:            12 GB
- Homebrew cache:        5 GB
- Application remnants:  3 GB

⚠️ Notes:
- Some applications may take longer to launch on first run
- Deleted items cannot be recovered unless you have Time Machine backup
- Consider running this cleanup monthly

💡 Maintenance Tips:
- Set up automatic Homebrew cleanup: `brew cleanup` weekly
- Review Downloads folder monthly
- Enable "Empty Trash Automatically" in Finder preferences

Safety Guidelines

Always Preserve

Never delete these without explicit user instruction:

- ~/Documents
, ~/Desktop
, ~/Pictures
 content

- Active project directories

- Database files (*.db, *.sqlite)

- Configuration files for active apps

- SSH keys, credentials, certificates

- Time Machine backups

Require Sudo Confirmation

These operations require elevated privileges. Ask user to run commands manually:

- Clearing /Library/Caches
 (system-wide)

- Clearing /var/log
 (system logs)

- Clearing /private/var/folders
 (system temp)

Example prompt:

⚠️ This operation requires administrator privileges.

Please run this command manually:
  sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/*

⚠️ You'll be asked for your password.

Backup Recommendation

Before executing any cleanup >10GB, recommend:

💡 Safety Tip:
Before cleaning XX GB, consider creating a Time Machine backup.

Quick backup check:
  tmutil latestbackup

If no recent backup, run:
  tmutil startbackup

Troubleshooting

"Operation not permitted" errors

macOS may block deletion of certain system files due to SIP (System Integrity Protection).

Solution: Don't force it. These protections exist for security.

App crashes after cache deletion

Rare but possible. Solution: Restart the app, it will regenerate necessary caches.

Docker cleanup removes important data

Prevention: Always list Docker volumes before cleanup:

docker volume ls
docker volume inspect <volume_name>

Resources

scripts/

- analyze_caches.py
 - Scan and categorize cache directories

- find_app_remnants.py
 - Detect orphaned application data

- analyze_large_files.py
 - Find large files with smart filtering

- analyze_dev_env.py
 - Scan development environment resources

- safe_delete.py
 - Interactive deletion with confirmation

- cleanup_report.py
 - Generate before/after reports

references/

- cleanup_targets.md
 - Detailed explanations of each cleanup target

- mole_integration.md
 - How to use Mole alongside this skill

- safety_rules.md
 - Comprehensive list of what to never delete

Usage Examples

Example 1: Quick Cache Cleanup

User request: "My Mac is running out of space, can you help?"

Workflow:

- Run quick diagnosis

- Identify system caches as quick win

- Present findings: "45 GB in ~/Library/Caches"

- Explain: "These are safe to delete, apps will regenerate them"

- Ask confirmation

- Execute: rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*

- Report: "Recovered 45 GB"

Example 2: Development Environment Cleanup

User request: "I'm a developer and my disk is full"

Workflow:

- Run scripts/analyze_dev_env.py

- Present Docker + npm + Homebrew findings

- Explain each category

- Provide cleanup commands with explanations

- Let user execute (don't auto-execute Docker cleanup)

- Verify results

Example 3: Finding Large Files

User request: "What's taking up so much space?"

Workflow:

- Run scripts/analyze_large_files.py --threshold 100MB

- Present top 20 large files with context

- Categorize: videos, datasets, archives, disk images

- Let user decide what to delete

- Execute confirmed deletions

- Suggest archiving to external drive

Best Practices

- Start Conservative: Begin with obviously safe targets (caches, trash)

- Explain Everything: Users should understand what they're deleting

- Show Examples: List 3-5 example files from each category

- Respect User Pace: Don't rush through confirmations

- Document Results: Always show before/after space usage

- Educate: Include maintenance tips in final report

- Integrate Tools: Suggest Mole for users who prefer GUI

When NOT to Use This Skill

- User wants automatic/silent cleanup (against safety-first principle)

- User needs Windows/Linux cleanup (macOS-specific skill)

- User has <10% disk usage (no cleanup needed)

- User wants to clean system files requiring SIP disable (security risk)

In these cases, explain limitations and suggest alternatives.