dusty-mac

A beautiful, interactive TUI Mac cleaner — a free, open-source alternative to CleanMyMac, running entirely in your terminal.

npx dusty-mac

macOS only. Requires Node.js 18+.

Screenshot

   dusty-mac v1.0.0  —  Scanning your Mac...
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ✔   System Caches               3.9 GB
  ✔   Large Files                26.4 GB
  ✔   Duplicate Files             2.9 GB
  ✔   Package Manager Caches      1.1 GB
  ✔   Browser Caches              1.2 MB
  ✔   Temp & .DS_Store          385.9 KB
  ✔   App Leftovers               5.8 MB
  ✔   Login & Launch Items        5.8 KB
  ...

Features

• Smart scan — 17 scanners run in parallel across your entire system
• Dashboard — disk volumes, RAM usage, CPU load, and top processes at a glance
• Interactive results — navigate, inspect, and select/deselect individual files before cleaning
• Detail view — drill into any category to see exactly what will be removed
• Duplicate finder — SHA-256 content hashing to find true duplicates, not just name matches
• RAM optimizer — free up memory with optional sudo, shows before/after comparison
• Software updates — detects outdated Homebrew formulae and global npm packages
• Safe by default — confirmation screen before any deletion; no file is touched without your consent
• No GUI required — runs in any terminal emulator, including SSH sessions

Usage

# Run directly without installing
npx dusty-mac

# Or install globally
npm install -g dusty-mac
dusty-mac

Keyboard shortcuts

| Key | Action | |-----|--------| | ↑ / ↓ | Navigate list | | Enter | View details / confirm | | Space | Toggle item selection | | C | Start cleaning | | R | Open RAM optimizer | | Q / Esc | Quit / go back |

Scanners

| Scanner | What it finds | |---------|---------------| | System Caches | /Library/Caches, ~/Library/Caches | | Log Files | /var/log, ~/Library/Logs, crash reports | | Browser Caches | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Arc, Brave, Edge | | Xcode Junk | Derived data, device support files, archives | | iOS Simulators | Unused simulator runtimes | | iOS Device Backups | Old iPhone/iPad backups in MobileSync | | node_modules | Orphaned node_modules directories | | Package Manager Caches | npm, yarn, pnpm, bun, pip, Poetry, conda, gem, Homebrew | | App Leftovers | Orphaned support files from uninstalled apps | | Trash Bins | Main trash + per-volume .Trashes | | Temp & .DS_Store | Temp directories, .DS_Store, .localized | | Mail Downloads | Attachments stored by Mail.app | | Build Caches | Gradle, Maven, CMake, Bazel, Cargo, Go, Rust, Swift PM | | Large Files | Files ≥ 50 MB across your home directory | | Duplicate Files | True duplicates by size + SHA-256 hash (files ≥ 1 MB) | | Login & Launch Items | LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons plists | | Software Updates | Outdated Homebrew formulae and global npm packages (informational) |

Comparison with CleanMyMac

Legend: ✅ Supported   🟡 Partial   ❌ Not supported   🔧 Planned

Cleaning & Space Recovery

| Feature | dusty-mac | CleanMyMac | |---------|:-----------:|:----------:| | System junk / caches | ✅ | ✅ | | Log files | ✅ | ✅ | | Trash emptying | ✅ | ✅ | | Mail attachments & downloads | ✅ | ✅ | | Browser caches (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Arc, Brave, Edge) | ✅ | ✅ | | Xcode derived data & device support | ✅ | ✅ | | iOS device backups | ✅ | ✅ | | iOS simulators | ✅ | ✅ | | Temp files & .DS_Store | ✅ | ✅ | | node_modules finder | ✅ | ❌ | | Package manager caches (npm, pip, gem, brew, cargo…) | ✅ | 🟡 (brew only) | | Build tool caches (Gradle, Maven, CMake, Bazel…) | ✅ | ❌ | | App leftover files | ✅ | ✅ | | Large file finder (≥ 50 MB) | ✅ | ✅ | | Duplicate file finder (SHA-256) | ✅ | ✅ (via Gemini 2) | | Similar photo finder | ❌ | ✅ | | Old & large files review | 🟡 (large files only) | ✅ | | Cloud storage (iCloud, Dropbox) analysis | ❌ | ✅ | | External drive cleaning | ❌ | ✅ | | Per-item select/deselect before deletion | ✅ | ✅ | | Custom scan paths | ❌ | 🟡 | | Scheduled / automatic cleaning | ❌ | ✅ |

Performance & System

| Feature | dusty-mac | CleanMyMac | |---------|:-----------:|:----------:| | RAM optimizer (free memory) | ✅ | ✅ | | RAM before/after comparison | ✅ | ✅ | | Disk usage dashboard | ✅ | ✅ | | CPU load monitor | ✅ | ✅ | | Top processes by CPU/RAM | ✅ | ✅ | | Force-quit hanging apps | ❌ | ✅ | | Maintenance scripts (fsck, permissions repair, etc.) | ❌ | ✅ | | Disk health / S.M.A.R.T. status | ❌ | ✅ | | Speed test / benchmarks | ❌ | ❌ | | Battery health info | ❌ | 🟡 |

Apps & Software

| Feature | dusty-mac | CleanMyMac | |---------|:-----------:|:----------:| | App uninstaller (removes leftovers) | 🟡 (detects leftovers, no GUI uninstall) | ✅ | | Software updater (brew / npm) | ✅ (informational) | ✅ (one-click update) | | App store updates checker | ❌ | ✅ | | Broken login items detection | ✅ | ✅ | | Login items manager (enable/disable) | 🟡 (list only) | ✅ | | Launch agents / daemons manager | 🟡 (list only) | ✅ | | Startup items control | ❌ | ✅ | | Browser extensions manager | ❌ | ✅ |

Security & Privacy

| Feature | dusty-mac | CleanMyMac | |---------|:-----------:|:----------:| | Malware / adware scanner | ❌ | ✅ | | Ransomware protection | ❌ | ✅ | | Real-time threat monitor | ❌ | ✅ | | Privacy cleaner (recent files, history) | ❌ | ✅ | | File shredder (secure erase) | ❌ | ✅ | | VPN integration | ❌ | ❌ (separate app) |

Interface & Experience

| Feature | dusty-mac | CleanMyMac | |---------|:-----------:|:----------:| | Terminal / TUI interface | ✅ | ❌ | | GUI (native macOS app) | ❌ | ✅ | | Menu bar icon | ❌ | ✅ | | Dark mode | ✅ (inherits terminal theme) | ✅ | | SSH / headless usage | ✅ | ❌ | | One-command install (npx) | ✅ | ❌ | | Open source | ✅ | ❌ | | Price | Free | $3.35–$9.99/month | | Platform | macOS | macOS | | Virtual/VM disk detection | ✅ (Colima, Docker, Parallels…) | ❌ | | Confirmation screen before deletion | ✅ | ✅ | | Sudo password prompt (no silent escalation) | ✅ | ✅ |

Development

# Clone and install
git clone <repo>
cd dusty-mac
npm install

# Run in dev mode
npm run dev

# Type check
npm run typecheck

# Build
npm run build

# Run built output
node dist/cli.js

Project structure

src/
├── cli.tsx                 # Entry point + macOS platform guard
├── App.tsx                 # Root component, screen state machine
├── scanner/
│   ├── index.ts            # Scanner registry (17 scanners)
│   ├── types.ts            # ScanResult, PathDetail types
│   └── *.ts                # Individual scanner modules
├── screens/
│   ├── WelcomeScreen.tsx
│   ├── DashboardScreen.tsx # Disk / RAM / CPU overview
│   ├── ScanResultsScreen.tsx
│   ├── DetailScreen.tsx    # Per-item select/deselect
│   ├── ConfirmScreen.tsx
│   ├── ProgressScreen.tsx
│   ├── RamScreen.tsx
│   └── SummaryScreen.tsx
├── components/
│   ├── Header.tsx
│   ├── PasswordInput.tsx   # Masked sudo password input
│   ├── ProgressBar.tsx
│   ├── SizeText.tsx
│   └── StatusIcon.tsx
├── cleaner/
│   ├── index.ts            # Deletion executor
│   └── utils.ts
└── utils/
    ├── memory.ts           # RAM stats + purge
    └── system.ts           # Disk volumes, CPU, top processes

Tech stack

| | | |--|--| | Runtime | Node.js 18+ | | UI framework | Ink v5 + React 18 | | Language | TypeScript 5 | | Bundler | tsup (ESM, single file) | | File globbing | fast-glob |

License

MIT