Free up space on a MacBook

Steps

1. Read the menu bar first

   The free-space readout is the baseline. Write it down if you want to compare later. Do not expect the number to match the Storage window's categories one-for-one. Purgeable space and System Data are why.

2. Open Smart Clean and read the preview

   Look for caches and node_modules you recognize. Leave anything that belongs to a project you will open today. The preview is mandatory: Disk Housekeeper always shows it before a clean.

3. Let removals go to the Trash

   That is the default. Space is not fully returned until the Trash is emptied, which is a good reason to wait. Open one project and confirm it still builds or installs before you empty anything.

4. Turn on a low-space alert

   The alert is a nudge when free space is tight. It does not run a clean by itself. The savings history is where you later read what this clean actually moved.

Before you start

• Do not empty the Trash in the same minute as the clean. Confirm a project you depend on still opens.
• APFS snapshots can hold space that a cache clean does not touch. Disk Housekeeper does not describe snapshot deletion. See APFS snapshot.