Sweeft

Sweep the cruft. — a Jeffersoft tool

Cross-platform tool (.NET 8) that recursively scans a folder to free up disk space. It detects:

1. Regenerable folders — build artifacts, dependencies and caches (node_modules, bin, obj, .vs, target, .gradle, __pycache__, dist, build, Python virtual environments, etc.).
2. Old, heavy files — files above a minimum size and not modified for more than N days, so you decide what to delete.

It shows a report sorted by size (largest first) and, after your confirmation, deletes the chosen items by sending them to the Recycle Bin (recoverable by default) or permanently.

Install

Package managers (recommended)

# macOS / Linux — Homebrew
brew install jeffaristi92/tap/sweeft

# Windows — Scoop
scoop bucket add sweeft https://github.com/jeffaristi92/scoop-bucket
scoop install sweeft

# Any OS with the .NET SDK — global tool
dotnet tool install -g Sweeft

Windows & antivirus. The native binaries (direct download and Scoop) are not code-signed yet, so some antivirus engines (e.g. McAfee) may raise a false-positive and quarantine sweeft.exe. Until code signing is in place, on Windows the most reliable install is dotnet tool install -g Sweeft — it runs as managed code through the signed dotnet host and isn't flagged. (Code signing via SignPath/Azure Trusted Signing is on the roadmap.)

Verify it yourself. Every release is automatically scanned on VirusTotal (links in each release's notes). The Linux and macOS binaries come back clean (0 detections); the unsigned Windows binary trips ~3 of 70 machine-learning engines (Google, Ikarus, McAfee) with generic/misattributed labels — a known false positive for unsigned .NET NativeAOT executables. The scanned hash matches exactly what Scoop installs and what CI built from source. For v1.1.0: win-x64 · linux-x64 · osx-arm64 · osx-x64

Direct download

Grab a single native binary (no .NET runtime required) from the latest release:

Platform	Asset
Windows (x64)	sweeft-<version>-win-x64.zip
Linux (x64)	sweeft-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
macOS (Apple silicon)	sweeft-<version>-osx-arm64.tar.gz
macOS (Intel)	sweeft-<version>-osx-x64.tar.gz

Unpack and run sweeft (add it to your PATH to use it anywhere):

# Linux / macOS
tar -xzf sweeft-*.tar.gz && chmod +x sweeft && ./sweeft --version

The binaries are built with NativeAOT — they start instantly and need no installed runtime. From source, dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console works too.

Architecture

The logic lives in Core and is reused by both the console and the GUI:

Project	Responsibility
Sweeft.Core	Scan engine, models and deletion. No UI dependency.
Sweeft.Console	Command-line interface (report + confirmation).
Sweeft.Gui	WPF graphical interface (MVVM): type and item selection.

Key Core pieces: FolderScanner (scan + repo tracking), KnownPatterns (folder catalog with toggleable categories), GitService (Git repo state), Cleaner (safe deletion to the Recycle Bin via the native Windows API), ScanOptions / ScanResult / Finding (models).

Graphical interface (WPF)

dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Gui

Flow: pick the folder, choose which types to detect (e.g. turn off .vs), tune the large/old file filter, and click Scan. Results appear in a grid with checkboxes; you select exactly what to clean and confirm.

GUI features:

• Fully parameterizable: thresholds, types to detect, folders to exclude and delete mode. You can add custom types (name + description) from the panel.
• Stale-project filter: optionally clean only regenerable folders of projects you haven't touched in a while (e.g. 90d), so active work is never flagged.
• Type selection before scanning: every known folder (node_modules, bin, obj, .vs, …) can be toggled. Some ambiguous ones (env, vendor, packages) are off by default.
• Git repository detection: each item shows whether it is inside a repo and whether that repo has uncommitted changes (⚠ orange). Those rows are highlighted and not pre-selected, to avoid deleting work in progress by mistake.
• Cautious pre-selection: only regenerable folders in clean repos or outside repos are checked. Large files and items in "dirty" repos stay unchecked.
• Disk-usage treemap: a "Disk usage map" mode draws a squarified treemap of the folder (area ∝ size); double-click a folder to drill in, "Up" to go back. Read-only — it never deletes.
• Deletion progress: a determinate bar (X/N) and per-item status while cleaning.
• Remembered preferences: saves the configuration on scan and on close (and with the «Save configuration» button).

Build

dotnet build Sweeft.slnx -c Release

CLI usage

sweeft <path> [options]

Examples:

# Report + delete confirmation (to Recycle Bin)
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects

# Report only, delete nothing
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects --report-only

# Tune the "old and large file" thresholds
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects --min-size 500MB --min-age 365

CLI options

Scan

Option	Description
-p, --path <path>	Root folder (or first positional argument).
-s, --min-size <val>	Minimum file size (e.g. 100MB, 1.5GB).
-a, --min-age <days>	Minimum file age in days.
--only-folders	Analyze folders only; skip files.
--with-files	Force file analysis.
--stale <window>	Only clean regenerable folders of projects idle ≥ this long (e.g. 90d, 6mo).
-g, --global	Scan global package-manager caches (npm, NuGet, pip, Gradle, Cargo, Go…) instead of a folder.
--top [N]	"Where did my space go?" — show the N largest items under <path> (default 20). Read-only, never deletes.
-t, --types <list>	Detect only these types. E.g. node_modules,bin,obj.
-x, --exclude <list>	Folders to skip entirely during traversal.
--custom <spec>	Add a custom type: name|Category|Description (repeatable).
--git / --no-git	Enable/disable Git repository state detection.

Output

Option	Description
--list-types	List the catalog of detectable types and exit.
--json	Print the result as JSON (for scripting/jq); does not delete.
--report-only	Only show the report; never delete.

Deletion

Option	Description
-i, --tui	Interactive terminal picker (↑/↓, space to toggle, Enter to clean).
-y, --yes	Do not ask; select everything for deletion.
--recycle	Send to the Recycle Bin (recoverable).
--permanent	Permanent, irreversible deletion.
--force	Required to combine --yes with --permanent (safety guard).

Configuration (shared with the GUI)

Option	Description
--save-config	Save the parameters used as the defaults.
--config <path>	Use a specific configuration file.
--no-config	Ignore the saved configuration.
-h, --help	Help.
-v, --version	Show the version and exit.

Persistent configuration

Both the GUI and the CLI read and write the same configuration at:

%APPDATA%\Sweeft\config.json

It remembers: last folder, thresholds, enabled types, custom types, excluded folders and the delete mode. The GUI saves it automatically on scan and on close; the CLI does so with --save-config.

Advanced CLI examples:

# See all types and which are enabled
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects --list-types

# Only certain types, no Git, JSON output to process with jq
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects --types node_modules,bin,obj --no-git --json

# Add a custom type and save it as a preference
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects --custom "logs|Other|Old logs" --save-config

# Unattended deletion to the Recycle Bin
dotnet run --project src/Sweeft.Console -- C:\Projects -y --recycle

Safety

• By default it sends items to the Recycle Bin (recoverable).
• Unattended permanent deletion (--yes --permanent) is refused unless --force is also given.
• It does not descend into detected regenerable folders (reported as a block).
• It ignores symbolic links and junctions (reparse points) to avoid cycles and double counting.
• Access errors are tolerated: they are logged as warnings and the scan continues.

License

Released under the MIT License © 2026 Yeferson Guarin (Jeffersoft).

Hardening for untrusted repositories

Because the scanner runs git inside repositories it discovers (which may be attacker-controlled), GitService:

• resolves the absolute path of git from PATH and never runs a bare name (prevents picking up a malicious git from the current directory);
• runs git status with -c core.fsmonitor=, ignores system config (GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM), disables credential prompts and optional locks — so a hostile repo's config cannot execute commands during the scan;
• drains both stdout and stderr to avoid a process deadlock on chatty output.