nm-wipe

Interactive node_modules cleaner CLI for macOS and Linux.

nm-wipe scans a directory tree for node_modules folders, lets you interactively filter and select them, and then deletes them (or simulates deletion in dry‑run mode). It’s designed to safely reclaim disk space from old projects.

Warning
This tool deletes directories. Always start with --dry-run until you’re comfortable with what it will remove.

Install

npm install -g nm-wipe
# or
pnpm add -g nm-wipe
# or
yarn global add nm-wipe

After installation you’ll have an nm-wipe binary on your PATH.

Usage

nm-wipe [root] [--dry-run]

• root (optional): directory to scan.
  • Defaults to your desktop: ~/Desktop.
• --dry-run: simulate deletions without removing anything.
• --help / -h: show help.
• --version / -v: show version.

Examples

# Safely preview what would be deleted under ~/Desktop
nm-wipe --dry-run

# Scan a specific projects folder (recommended: first run with --dry-run)
nm-wipe ~/dev --dry-run

# Actually delete selected node_modules under ~/dev
nm-wipe ~/dev

Interactive flow

1. Scan: nm-wipe scans root (default ~/Desktop) up to a configurable depth for node_modules folders.
2. Filter & sort:
   • Filter by:
     • Path segment (e.g. Axon, core, cenizaslabs-ai).
     • Size (e.g. >500M, <1G, >2G).
     • Age (last modified) (e.g. 30d, 6m, 1y).
   • Sort by:
     • Writable first (default).
     • Size (largest / smallest first).
     • Path A→Z.
3. Select:
   • Use the checkbox UI to select which node_modules folders to delete.
   • Read‑only or no‑access directories are shown but disabled.
4. Confirm:
   • nm-wipe shows how many folders are selected and an approximate total size to be freed.
   • You must confirm before anything is deleted.
5. Wipe:
   • Deletions run one by one with a progress spinner.
   • Failures are reported and can be retried.

Environment variables

• WIPEIT_DEPTH
  Maximum directory depth to scan from the root (default 8, hard‑capped at 50).

  WIPEIT_DEPTH=12 nm-wipe ~/dev --dry-run

Safety characteristics

• Never follows symlinks.
• Never recurses into node_modules contents (only removes the directory itself).
• Uses filesystem permission checks to show whether a directory is writable, read‑only, or not accessible.
• Uses du -sh to estimate sizes; timeouts and permission errors degrade gracefully without crashing the CLI.

Development

This repo uses TypeScript and ships compiled JavaScript in dist/.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+

Install dependencies (recommended: bun, but npm/pnpm also work):

bun install

Build and stamp the CLI:

bun run build
bun run postbuild

Run in dev mode (TS directly with tsx):

bun run dev

Run the built CLI locally:

node dist/index.js --dry-run

License

MIT © Boopathy Ganesh K