Xcode Cache Cleaner

Scan and clean build caches for iOS/macOS developers — with first-class Xcode support (global DerivedData, iOS/watchOS/tvOS/macOS DeviceSupport, Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode, CoreSimulator unavailable devices) plus per-project cleanup (SPM .build, Pods, Carthage, xcresult, and generic node_modules/Gradle/Rust target/Python __pycache__). Use when user asks to clean Xcode caches, reclaim disk from Xcode, remove DerivedData, free space on a Mac dev machine, or clear build artifacts in a project folder. Triggers on phrases like "clean Xcode", "清理 Xcode 缓存", "remove DerivedData", "free disk space", "why is this folder so big", "clear build files".

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

Cache	Pattern	Ecosystems
SPM .build	.build/ dirs	Swift / iOS
DerivedData	DerivedData/ dirs	Xcode
xcresult	*.xcresult bundles	Xcode tests
Pods	Pods/ dirs	CocoaPods
Carthage/Build	Carthage/Build/	Carthage
node_modules	node_modules/	Node.js
Gradle .gradle	.gradle/ dirs	Android / Java
Gradle build	build/ under .gradle	Android / Java
Rust target	target/ next to Cargo.toml	Rust
Python pycache	__pycache__/ dirs	Python
.pytest_cache	.pytest_cache/ dirs	Python
.mypy_cache	.mypy_cache/ dirs	Python

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.