---
title: "Smart Clean · MacMelon"
description: "Smart Clean is Disk Housekeeper's pass over developer caches — npm, Gradle, Cargo, Xcode DerivedData — and node_modules, always with a preview."
url: "https://macmelon.com/glossary/smart-clean"
---

# Smart Clean

Disk Housekeeper's cleaner for developer caches and node\_modules, behind a preview.

Smart Clean is the feature that gathers the heavy, recreatable developer files: caches such as npm, Gradle, and Cargo, Xcode DerivedData, and node\_modules. It is not a scan that deletes System Data as a blob, and it is not a snapshot tool.

Like every clean in [Disk Housekeeper](https://macmelon.com/apps/disk-housekeeper), it previews first and sends removals to the Trash by default. Choose the items you recognize. The guide [How to clean developer files on macOS](https://macmelon.com/guides/how-to-clean-developer-files-on-macos) links the per-cache pages.

## Apps

[Make room for what matters. Clear clutter with confidence. ### Disk Housekeeper](https://macmelon.com/apps/disk-housekeeper)

## Related guides

[### How to clean developer files on macOS](https://macmelon.com/guides/how-to-clean-developer-files-on-macos)

## Related use cases

[### Clean npm, Gradle, and Cargo caches](https://macmelon.com/use-cases/clean-developer-caches)[### Delete node\_modules safely](https://macmelon.com/use-cases/delete-node-modules-safely)[### Clear Xcode DerivedData](https://macmelon.com/use-cases/clear-xcode-deriveddata)

## Related terms

[Files a developer tool keeps so the next build or install can skip a download or a compile. ### Developer cache](https://macmelon.com/glossary/developer-cache)[A required look at the files a clean will touch, before anything is removed. ### Preview before cleaning](https://macmelon.com/glossary/preview-before-cleaning)[The folder where a JavaScript project keeps its installed dependencies. ### node\_modules](https://macmelon.com/glossary/node-modules)[Xcode's build cache: indexes, module caches, and intermediate products that the next build can recreate. ### DerivedData](https://macmelon.com/glossary/deriveddata)