maol-kill

Find and delete node_modules, .next, dist and other dev caches with an interactive TUI. Like npkill, but hunts every build artifact that eats your disk — grouped by project, monorepo-aware.

maol-kill ✔ /Users/you/projects  241 found · 21.0 GB releasable · 4.2 GB freed 🎉
❯    3.1 GB ▾    3d job-index-v2 (2)
     2.8 GB   ├ .next
   300.0 MB   └ node_modules
     2.1 GB ▾   12d morsis (3)
     1.4 GB   ├ apps/api/.wrangler
   600.0 MB   ├ apps/web/.next
    80.0 MB   └ node_modules
   540.1 MB ▸ 1277d old-experiment (1)

Usage

npx maol-kill                # scan the current directory
npx maol-kill ~/projects     # scan a specific directory

Sizes stream in live while the scan runs. Results are grouped by project — the nearest ancestor with a .git (so monorepo apps group under their repo) or package.json. Deleting a group header deletes every cache inside that project.

Deletion is permanent (rm -rf, no trash) and happens on a single keypress — deleted rows stay in place, struck through, so you keep your bearings.

Keys

| Key | Action | | --- | --- | | ↑ ↓ / j k | Move cursor | | space / backspace / delete | Delete selected target — or every target in the project when on a group header | | a (twice) | Delete everything in the list — the only key with a confirm, since it nukes every project at once | | enter / ← → | Collapse / expand the project group | | g | Toggle view: grouped by project ⇄ flat list | | o | Open the project folder in Finder / file manager | | s | Toggle sort: size ⇄ path | | q / esc | Quit |

Options

--dir, -d      Directory to scan (default: current directory)
--targets, -t  Comma-separated dir names to hunt
--exclude      Comma-separated dir names to skip while scanning

Default targets: node_modules, .next, .turbo, .wrangler, dist, build, out, coverage, .cache, .nuxt, .output, .vercel, .parcel-cache, .vite.

Reading the output

• days column — how long since the project (its package.json) was touched. Green means stale (>180 days): a safe kill.
• ⚠ — dist/build/out can occasionally hold real source or deploy output; double-check before deleting.
• Sizes are disk usage (via du), so they match what you actually get back.

Notes

• Symlinks are never followed, so pnpm's store and circular links are safe.
• .git directories are never scanned or listed.
• Nested targets (a dist inside node_modules) are freed along with their parent.

License

MIT