Stackdust

A macOS disk-space analyzer that knows what developer junk looks like.

Stackdust scans a folder (or the whole disk), shows where the space went as an interactive sunburst chart, and highlights things that are safe to reclaim: Xcode DerivedData, old simulators, package-manager caches, node_modules, Rust target directories, Docker VM disks, and more. Cleanup always moves items to the Trash — nothing is ever deleted permanently.

It ships in two forms sharing the same scanning core:

• Stackdust.app — a SwiftUI app with a sunburst chart, dev-junk highlighting, and one-click Move to Trash.
• stackdust CLI — built for AI coding agents and scripts: JSON output, stable exit codes, never interactive, same Trash-only safety contract.

How this was built

This project was created by Claude, Anthropic's AI models — not written by a human programmer. Claude Opus wrote the code and Claude Fable 5 reviewed and committed it. The human in the loop, @thoughtf00l, provided the idea, high-level direction, and occasional course corrections, but none of the code. The same applies to this README.

Install

Requires macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later. The app is a universal binary (Apple Silicon and Intel).

Homebrew

brew tap thoughtf00l/tap
brew trust thoughtf00l/tap   # one-time, required by Homebrew 6+
brew install --cask stackdust

The app is not notarized; the cask clears the macOS quarantine flag on install, so it opens without a Gatekeeper prompt.

Manual download

Download Stackdust.dmg (or from stackdust.app), open it, and drag Stackdust to Applications. On first launch either allow the app in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway, or clear the quarantine flag yourself:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Stackdust.app

After that, the app keeps itself current: check from the app menu (Check for Updates…) or let it check automatically.

Build from source

Requires Xcode 16 or later.

git clone https://github.com/thoughtf00l/stackdust.git
cd stackdust

# The app
xcodebuild -project Stackdust.xcodeproj -scheme Stackdust -configuration Release build

# The CLI
swift build -c release   # binary lands at .build/release/stackdust

Full Disk Access

Scanning protected locations (~/Library, Desktop, Documents, …) requires Full Disk Access — grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. For the CLI, grant it to the terminal app the CLI runs in, not to stackdust itself. Scanning unprotected paths needs no setup.

The stackdust CLI

stackdust scan ~/dev --json        # disk usage as a size-sorted tree
stackdust dev ~/dev --json         # developer-reclaimable items, largest first
stackdust clean ~/dev --category xcodeBuild --min-size 500M   # prints the plan, touches nothing
stackdust clean ~/dev --category xcodeBuild --min-size 500M --yes   # moves to Trash

Without --yes, clean only prints what it would do. With --yes, selected items are moved to the Trash (recoverable), never unlinked. See AGENTS.md for the full contract: JSON shapes, exit codes, and the recommended agent workflow.

Safety

• Deletion means FileManager.trashItem — everything goes to the Trash and can be put back.
• Only items the classifier recognized as developer artifacts can be selected for cleanup.
• The CLI never prompts and never reads stdin; without --yes it never modifies anything.

License

MIT