Disk cleaner for macOS Tahoe

A disk cleaner that
actually shows its work.

Every other cleaner asks you to trust it. MacSift shows you exactly what it found, groups it by the app it belongs to, moves it to the Trash (so you can always undo), and gets out of your way.

Download for macOS Or build from source

v0.1.0 · Apple Silicon · macOS 26 (Tahoe) · 1.5 MB · free & open source. First launch: right-click → Open (ad-hoc signed, no Developer ID).

MacSift
MacSift main window
01

Groups files by the app that owns them.

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/ might contain fifteen thousand tiny files. Every other cleaner lists them one by one and expects you to ignore the noise. MacSift collapses the whole folder into a single Safari row — one decision, not fifteen thousand.

Grouping is rule-based per category: caches and logs group by bundle id, iOS backups group by device, large files stay individual.

02

Moves to the Trash. Never permanent.

Selected items go through FileManager.trashItem, which puts them in your Finder Trash just like dragging them there yourself. You can restore anything until you empty the Trash — something you can't do with most commercial cleaners.

Dry run is on by default. Deletion above 10 GB shows an extra warning. System paths (/System, /usr, /bin, /sbin) are hard-blocked at the engine level.

03

Doesn't hide anything from you.

Click any row to open the inspector: top 5 largest files, representative path, Reveal in Finder, Quick Look, copy path. Advanced mode shows full paths inline and risk indicators.

Every cleaning operation ends with an itemized report: deleted, failed, total freed. If something couldn't be deleted, you see why.

Eleven categories.
No vague "junk".

Each file is classified into a specific category with a known location and a documented risk level. Nothing lands in "Other".

  • Caches ~/Library/Caches Safe
  • Logs ~/Library/Logs · /private/var/log Safe
  • Temporary files /tmp · NSTemporaryDirectory Safe
  • Xcode junk Developer/Xcode · CoreSimulator Safe
  • Dev caches npm · yarn · pip · cargo · brew Safe
  • Unused app data Orphaned Application Support Review
  • Mail attachments ~/Library/Mail Downloads Review
  • Time Machine snapshots tmutil local snapshots Review
  • Large files Anywhere in your home Caution
  • Old downloads ~/Downloads · older than 90d Caution
  • iOS device backups MobileSync/Backup Caution

Two ways to install.

Pick whichever you trust more — the pre-built zip from GitHub Releases, or clone and build the exact same binary yourself.

Option A · Download the release

MacSift.zip (1.5 MB, Apple Silicon). Unzip, drag MacSift.app to Applications, then right-click → Open the first time to get past Gatekeeper. The app is ad-hoc signed (no paid Developer ID), so macOS asks once and remembers forever.

Option B · Build from source

SwiftPM project, no .xcodeproj, no Xcode GUI required. Produces the same binary the release ships with. 

$ git clone https://github.com/Lcharvol/MacSift.git
$ cd MacSift
$ ./build-app.sh && open MacSift.app

Both options require macOS 26 (Tahoe) on Apple Silicon and Full Disk Access (granted once in System Settings → Privacy & Security on first launch).

Questions you'd ask a friend who wrote this.

Will it delete anything important?

No. Everything goes to the Trash. Dry run is on by default. Destructive cleaning requires explicit confirmation. System paths and installed-app data are hard-blocked. I built this because I didn't trust other cleaners — which is why I wouldn't ask you to trust this one either. Read the cleaning engine source — it's 120 lines.

Why does Gatekeeper warn me on first launch?

The app ships ad-hoc signed, not notarized — I don't have a paid Apple Developer account to notarize with. That means Gatekeeper asks once the first time you open it (right-click → Open → confirm). Every launch after that is silent. If you'd rather trust the source than trust me, option B in the install section produces the exact same binary from scratch in a few seconds.

Does it phone home?

No. MacSift makes zero network connections. You can verify this: it doesn't link any networking frameworks and there's not a single URLSession in the source.

How much space will it actually free?

Depends on how long you've been using your Mac. On a typical developer machine you'll find 5–20 GB of app caches, old iOS backups, and Xcode DerivedData. The first scan is always the most dramatic — after that, weekly runs reclaim a couple of GB at a time.

Why macOS 26 only?

The UI uses the Liquid Glass APIs that only exist on macOS Tahoe. Supporting older versions would mean forking the UI layer, which isn't planned.