MacOS Cleaner

Fast, transparent, and 100% private macOS cleaner and app uninstaller.
Built natively with Swift 6 and SwiftUI. Moves files to Trash by default — never silently destroys your data.

   

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🛡️ Trust & Safety by Design

System cleaning requires absolute trust. Unlike commercial or opaque utilities, MacOS Cleaner is built with five non-negotiable safety principles:

Principle	Guarantee
🚫 Zero Telemetry	100% Offline. No analytics, tracking, background daemons, or remote logging.
🗑️ Trash-First Safety	Files are moved to macOS Trash (trashItem(at:)) — never permanently destroyed. Everything is recoverable.
🔒 Protected System Paths	Fail-closed security. Hardcoded protection for SIP, /System, /Library, /usr, ~/.ssh, and sensitive user data.
📖 100% Open Source	Auditable Swift 6 codebase. Every rule, path, and file operation is open for public inspection.
⚡ 100% Local Processing	Traversal, hashes, and Apple Intelligence (FoundationModels) explanations run strictly on-device.

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✨ Key Advantages

• 🛠️ Developer-Centric — Deep cleanup for Xcode, Docker, Rust (target), Go (pkg), Node (node_modules), Python (.venv), Android Studio, and JetBrains.
• 🔬 Forensic Uninstaller — 30 evidence types, transparent "Why this file?" explanations, and rollback snapshots.
• ⚙️ Process & Daemons Control — Live CPU/RAM process monitor and safe LaunchAgents / LaunchDaemons manager.
• 🧠 On-Device Apple Intelligence — Native FoundationModels integration explains unknown files and caches completely offline.
• ⚡ Pure Swift 6 & Native UI — Low memory footprint, responsive Liquid Glass design, zero web/Electron runtime.
• 🆓 100% Free & Open — Fully featured, no paywalls, no subscriptions, no ads.

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📸 Screenshots

📷 View all high-resolution screenshots

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🚀 Quick Download & Install

1. Direct Download: Grab the latest .dmg from GitHub Releases.
2. Mount & Drag: Open the .dmg and drag MacOSCleaner.app into /Applications.
3. First Launch (Gatekeeper): If macOS shows a Gatekeeper warning on locally built/unnotarized apps:

   sudo xattr -r -c /Applications/MacOSCleaner.app

   Note: This removes the quarantine attribute set by macOS. It does not modify app files, system security, or grant persistent permissions.

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✨ Core Features

🔍 Smart Cleanup

Scans 54 categories across 1,770 rule definitions for 251 apps and 66 developer toolchains using parallel actor-based disk traversal:

• Caches & Containers — Browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Arc), messengers, system/WebKit caches, and dynamic Electron discovery.
• Developer Workspaces — Xcode DerivedData & Simulators, Android SDK/Studio, JetBrains, VS Code, Cursor, Docker, and build artifacts (Rust target, Go pkg, Python .venv, Node node_modules, Flutter/Dart).
• System Maintenance — APFS purgeable space, Time Machine local snapshots, Mail downloads, crash reports, QuickLook thumbnails, and DNS cache flushing.
• Leftovers & Junk — Orphaned remnants, .DS_Store, __MACOSX, broken symlinks, old DMGs/PKGs, large archives, and unused apps.
• Local AI Models — Detects cache/model directories from Ollama, Hugging Face, LM Studio, Jan, MLX, PyTorch, and Whisper.

🗑️ App Uninstaller

Complete application removal with deep residual detection:

• 30 Evidence Types — Correlates Bundle ID, Team ID, Spotlight metadata, Launch Services, and filesystem heuristics to find associated preferences, helpers, and caches.
• Privileged Uninstallation — Removes root-owned apps from /Applications with a single administrative authorization prompt.
• Transparency ("Why this file?") — Explains the exact forensic evidence behind every suggested residue file.
• Rollback Snapshots — Stores pre-removal states to verify complete uninstallation and assist recovery.

🧬 Duplicate File Finder

Fast, zero-dependency duplicate scanner using a 3-stage validation pipeline:

1. File size grouping
2. 4 KB header checksum
3. Full SHA-256 hash comparison with smart original selection

📁 Disk Space Analyzer

Visual directory explorer with breakdown by file types (Videos, Audio, Photos, Documents, Archives). Reveals items in Finder or moves them directly to Trash.

⚙️ Process Manager & Startup Services

• Process Manager — Live CPU, Memory, and Thread monitoring. One-click termination and force-quit with automatic protection for critical system daemons (kernel_task, launchd, WindowServer).
• Startup Services — Manages user and system LaunchAgents/LaunchDaemons with vendor filtering, permission escalation, and safety locks.

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🍎 Native macOS Integrations

• 🧠 Apple Intelligence (macOS 26+) — On-device explanations powered by FoundationModels. Operates completely offline to explain what specific caches, files, or processes do before you remove them.
• 🎙️ Siri & App Intents — Native Shortcuts support. Automate cleanup routines, check available disk space, or clean developer caches via voice or scheduled workflows.
• ✨ Liquid Glass Interface — Designed specifically for macOS 27 with native materials, activity rings, and full keyboard navigation (⌘,, ⌘C, ⌘F, ⌘R).
• 🌍 10 Languages — Fully localized (English, Deutsch, 日本語, Français, 简体中文, Italiano, Português-BR, Español, Русский, Українська).

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🛠️ Tech Stack & Build from Source

• Language: Swift 6 (Strict concurrency, actors, structured TaskGroup)
• UI: SwiftUI (@Observable, NavigationSplitView, Charts, Liquid Glass)
• Frameworks: AppIntents, FoundationModels, CryptoKit, OSLog
• Build System: XcodeGen

Build Prerequisites: macOS 26.0+, Xcode 18+, XcodeGen

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/AlexTkDev/MacOSCleaner.git
cd MacOSCleaner/MacOSCleaner

# Generate Xcode project & open
xcodegen
open MacOSCleaner.xcodeproj

Press ⌘R to build and run, or ⌘U to execute tests.

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⭐️ Support & Discovery

Building a native, privacy-first cleaner takes continuous maintenance and testing. If MacOS Cleaner helped you reclaim disk space and keep your Mac fast:

• 💬 Discussions & Feature Requests: GitHub Discussions
• 🚧 What's in development (2.2.0): MacOSCleaner 2.2.0 — in development
• 🐛 Issue Tracker: GitHub Issues
• 📖 Documentation: MacOSCleaner Wiki

Note: Contributions are subject to the project's Contributor License Agreement (CLA).

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👨‍💻 Author

Aleksandr (AlexTkDev)

Academic or research reference: CITATION.cff

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License

Dual-licensed under:

• GNU GPLv3 + Commons Clause v1.0 (Non-Commercial) for open-source use, personal study, and community distribution. Commercial resale or re-licensing is prohibited.
• Commercial License for enterprise or proprietary distribution. Contact the author for licensing inquiries.

Trademark Notice: The license does not grant permission to use the project name ("MacOSCleaner"), logos, or branding in derivative works.