Your First Scan
After installing Cluttered, you're ready to reclaim some disk space.
Step 1: Open Cluttered
Launch Cluttered from your Applications folder or Spotlight.
Step 2: Start a Scan
Click the "Scan" button in the main window. Cluttered will search your home directory for development projects.
The scan typically takes 10-30 seconds depending on how many projects you have.
Step 3: Review Results
After scanning, you'll see a list of detected projects with:
- Project name and path
- Activity indicator (green = active, yellow = idle, red = dormant)
- Reclaimable space per project
- Artifact breakdown (node_modules, build folders, etc.)
Step 4: Select What to Clean
Click on projects to select them for cleaning. Cluttered shows you:
- Total space to be recovered
- Number of projects selected
- Safety warnings (if any)
Tip: Focus on red (dormant) projects first—these are safest to clean.
Step 5: Clean
Click "Clean Selected" to remove the artifacts. Everything goes to Trash first, so you can recover if needed.
Understanding Activity Indicators
Cluttered uses color-coded indicators to help you identify safe cleanup targets:
| Color | Meaning | Safe to Clean? |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Green | Active in last 7 days | Use caution |
| 🟡 Yellow | Active in last 30 days | Usually safe |
| 🔴 Red | Dormant (30+ days) | Very safe |
What Gets Cleaned
When you clean a project, Cluttered removes only build artifacts—never your source code:
node_modules/- npm dependenciestarget/- Rust build outputDerivedData/- Xcode caches__pycache__/- Python bytecode- And many more...
Next Steps
- Learn about protected paths
- Configure automatic cleaning
- Explore all supported ecosystems