TidyDrive macOS 14+ / Apple Silicon / by René Weteling

Menu bar app for developers

Your disk is full.
Take it back.

TidyDrive watches your disk and shows what can go: Xcode, simulators, node_modules, package caches, git worktrees, old language versions, Docker and oversized videos and photos.

Download for macOS Source on GitHub

Signed and notarized. Free for noncommercial use.

Macintosh HD461 / 500 GB

92%

90 alert 85 re-arm

Can be removed84.6 GB

Freed0 GB

20+ecosystems of build output

40+global caches

15+version managers

1notification, at 90%

Three screens

Glance. Review. Clean.

That is the whole app.

TidyDrive popover with disk gauge and categories — **01 Popover**Click the menu bar icon. Disk gauge, what can go per category, one Clean button. The icon shows the percentage once you pass 90%.

TidyDrive review window with categories and items — **02 Review window**Categories left. Every item shows what it is, why it can go and how big it is. Click to reveal in Finder.

TidyDrive notification: your disk is 90% full — **03 Notification**One alert when the disk passes 90%. It re-arms below 85%, so you never get the same warning every five minutes.

What it cleans

Twelve places
your disk went.

Safe

A cache the tool rebuilds itself.

Rebuild

Comes back with an install or build. Costs time, not data.

Careful

May be data. Never selected by default.

Category	What	Removed with	Risk
Xcode	DerivedData, DeviceSupport, archives, old Xcode apps	rm, apps to Trash	SafeArchives and apps: careful
Simulators	Unavailable devices, old runtimes	simctl	Rebuild
Projects	node_modules, Rust target, Elixir _build and deps, .venv, Pods, .gradle and more, for 20+ ecosystems	rm	Rebuild
Large files	Files over 500 MB in your project folders	Trash	Careful
Package caches	npm, pnpm, uv, Go, Cargo, Homebrew, Playwright, editor caches and about 30 more	Tool's own clean command	Safe
ML models	Ollama, Hugging Face	Tool's own remove command	Careful
Language versions	asdf, mise, nvm, fnm, volta, rbenv, pyenv, uv, rustup, sdkman, fvm, tfenv	Manager's uninstall	Careful
Docker	Images and volumes per compose project, dangling images, build cache	docker rmi, rm, prune	RebuildVolumes: careful
Android	AVDs, SDK cache, old build-tools and system images	rm	Rebuild
Videos	Large .mov and other videos, re-encoded to H.265 MP4 on the media engine. Same resolution, frame rate and audio. You test the quality on one first	MP4 next to it, original to Trash	Careful
Photos	Large PNG, TIFF and JPEG files as HEIC, same resolution and metadata	HEIC next to it, original to Trash	Careful
Duplicate photos	Exact copies, plus resized and near copies found with Apple Vision. The copy with the most pixels stays	Trash	Careful

How it decides

Four rules.
No guessing.

Marker file

A folder only counts when its marker sits next to it.

target/ beside Cargo.toml is Rust output. A lone target/ stays.

Stale after 60 days

Only stale projects are selected for you.

Uncommitted changes: never stale.

Newest version stays

The newest version of each language is always kept.

Older ones go only if no version file in your projects points at them.

Delete or Trash

Regenerable things are deleted directly.

Large files and Xcode apps go to the Trash.

~/projects/old-api
  Cargo.toml
  target/        <- Rust output, 6.4 GB, goes
~/projects/notes
  target/        <- no marker, stays

Install

Two minutes.

Needs macOS 14 or newer on Apple Silicon.

1
Download
TidyDrive.dmg from the latest release.
2
Move to Applications
Open the disk image and drag TidyDrive onto the Applications folder.
3
Open it
It is signed and notarized, so it opens normally. Allow notifications when asked.
4
Pick your project folder
In Settings, point TidyDrive at where your projects live.

Or build from source

$ git clone https://github.com/reneweteling/tidydrive.git
$ cd tidydrive
$ ./scripts/build.sh
$ cp -R build/TidyDrive.app /Applications/

FAQ

Questions.

Is it safe?

It deletes only what the tool or your build rebuilds, and it never selects Careful items by default. Docker volumes, dumps and language versions need your explicit tick. Large files and Xcode apps go to the Trash, so you can put them back. You see every item and its size before anything is removed.

Why not the App Store?

The sandbox cannot reach ~/Library/Developer, ~/.asdf or the Docker socket. Without those, TidyDrive could not do its job. So it ships as a signed and notarized app on GitHub releases only.

What does it send?

Crash reports through Sentry, and nothing else. No file paths are sent. You can switch crash reports off in Settings. Scanning and cleaning happen on your Mac.

When does it warn me?

Once, when the disk passes 90%. It can only warn again after the disk drops below 85%.

What does it cost?

Free for noncommercial use under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0. The source is on GitHub.

Who made this

One developer.
A fleet of agents.

I'm René Weteling. I orchestrate AI agents that design, code, test and ship, and I bring the engineering judgement that keeps them honest. TidyDrive went from a sketch to a signed, notarized release in a single day.

Want that speed on your own product? Idea to production, CTO as a service, or a second pair of senior eyes.

Start a project weteling.com

More apps by René Loft Drag a file to your menu bar, get a link back. fckr Make your colleagues' Macs talk. From your terminal. HeadsUp Your group chats, turned into one morning to-do list. FooterManager Email signatures that manage themselves. All apps The rest of the shelf on weteling.com.