DevClean

A CLI tool to clean unused node_modules, build folders, cache, and duplicate files — and reclaim gigabytes of storage in seconds.

What It Does

• Finds unused node_modules folders older than 3 months
• Removes build artifacts like dist, build, .next
• Clears npm, yarn, and pnpm cache
• Detects and removes duplicate files
• Organizes your Downloads folder by file type
• Shows how much space you can recover

Installation

npm install -g dev-storage-clean

Usage

Interactive Mode

Run without any arguments to open the menu:

devclean

? What would you like to do?
❯ 🔍 Scan System
  🧹 Clean Junk Files
  🗑️  Clear Cache
  🔎 Find Duplicates
  📁 Organize Downloads
  📊 View Statistics
  ❌ Exit

Use arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select.

Commands

devclean scan

Scan your system and show what can be cleaned.

devclean scan

Output:

┌───────────────────┬───────┬──────────┬────────────┐
│ Category          │ Items │ Size     │ Status     │
├───────────────────┼───────┼──────────┼────────────┤
│ 📦 node_modules   │ 15    │ 3.40 GB  │ 5 old      │
│ 🏗️  Build Folders │ 6     │ 1.41 GB  │ Can clean  │
└───────────────────┴───────┴──────────┴────────────┘

Total Recoverable: 4.81 GB

Options:

devclean scan --depth 5   # Scan deeper (default: 3)

devclean clean

Delete unused files. Always shows a preview and asks for confirmation before deleting anything.

# Preview only — nothing gets deleted
devclean clean --dry-run

# Actually clean (asks for confirmation)
devclean clean

What gets deleted:

• node_modules folders not touched in 3+ months
• Build folders: dist, build, .next, .nuxt, out
• Log files: .log
• Temp files: .tmp, .cache

devclean cache

Clear package manager cache.

devclean cache

Supports npm, yarn, and pnpm. You will be asked to choose which ones to clear.

devclean duplicates

Find duplicate files using SHA-256 hashing and remove extras.

# Scan home directory
devclean duplicates

# Scan a specific folder
devclean duplicates --path ~/Downloads

How it works:

1. Reads every file in the folder
2. Generates a hash for each file
3. Groups files with the same hash
4. Shows you the duplicates and asks what to delete

devclean organize

Sort files in your Downloads folder into subfolders by type.

devclean organize

Files are moved into:

| Folder | Extensions | |--------|------------| | Images | .jpg .png .gif .svg .webp | | Videos | .mp4 .avi .mov .mkv | | Documents | .pdf .doc .docx .xlsx .pptx | | Archives | .zip .rar .7z .tar .gz | | Audio | .mp3 .wav .flac .aac | | Code | .js .ts .py .html .css | | Executables | .exe .dmg .deb .pkg | | Others | Everything else |

devclean stats

Show how much you have cleaned over time.

devclean stats

┌─────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
│ Metric          │ Value               │
├─────────────────┼─────────────────────┤
│ 🔍 Total Scans  │ 12                  │
│ 🧹 Total Cleans │ 5                   │
│ 💾 Space Freed  │ 23.4 GB             │
│ 📅 Last Scan    │ 2025-01-15 10:30 AM │
│ 🗑️  Last Clean  │ 2025-01-14 02:22 PM │
└─────────────────┴─────────────────────┘

Safety

DevClean never deletes without asking.

• Dry run mode — preview before any action
• Confirmation prompt — always asks yes/no before deleting
• File preview — shows exactly which files will be removed
• Skips system folders — never touches .git, OS files, or critical directories

Troubleshooting

devclean: command not found

# Check npm global bin path
npm config get prefix

# Add to your PATH (Linux/Mac)
export PATH="$(npm config get prefix)/bin:$PATH"

# Then reinstall
npm install -g dev-storage-clean

Permission denied when cleaning

# Fix folder permissions first
chmod -R 755 /path/to/folder

# Or run with sudo (use carefully)
sudo devclean clean

Scan is too slow

# Use a smaller depth value
devclean scan --depth 2

Project Structure

devclean/
├── bin/
│   └── devclean.js       # CLI entry point
├── src/
│   ├── scan.js           # Scanning engine
│   ├── clean.js          # Cleaning logic
│   ├── cache.js          # Cache management
│   ├── duplicate.js      # Duplicate detection
│   ├── organize.js       # File organizer
│   ├── stats.js          # Usage statistics
│   ├── ui.js             # Terminal UI
│   └── utils.js          # Helpers
├── config/
│   └── stats.json        # Saved statistics
└── package.json

Local Development

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/sumitt-wayne/devclean.git
cd devclean

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Link for local testing
npm link

# Run
devclean

Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
3. Make your changes and test them
4. Commit: git commit -m "Add: your feature"
5. Push: git push origin feature/your-feature
6. Open a Pull Request

To report a bug or suggest a feature, open an issue.

Built With

• Commander.js — CLI commands
• Inquirer.js — Interactive prompts
• Chalk — Terminal colors
• Ora — Spinners
• cli-progress — Progress bars
• Boxen — Terminal boxes
• cli-table3 — Tables

License

MIT © Sumit Wayne