The command-line tool, wombit, uses the same scan engine and the same catalog as the app. It's free and open source, under Apache-2.0. Everything it does happens on your Mac.
What only reads
These commands never change or delete anything:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
scan <path> | Scans a folder, or the whole disk with /, and shows where the space goes. --save <file> keeps the scan to read again later. |
analyze <path> | Prints the scanned tree, largest items first. --depth and --limit set how much; --mode sorts by space on disk, file length or, with --freeable, what deleting would free. |
space | How the disk's space is used: free, purgeable, macOS, your data and snapshots. |
breakdown <path> | Sorts a scan into named buckets: System Data, explained, and Developer Data. |
explain <path> | Looks a file or folder up in the catalog: what it is, its level and how it's removed. Nothing is scanned. |
changes | Measures the places the catalog knows by a fixed path and shows what changed since last time. It keeps its own measurements. |
Sizes are space on disk, with hard links and APFS clones counted once, the way macOS counts them. Every command takes --json for scripts.
Cleaning up
clean only shows what it would do. It moves anything only when you add --execute:
wombit clean wombit clean --execute
- It scans your home folder, or the folder you name, and takes only items inside your home folder.
- It takes only Safe items, unless you name rules with
--rule <id>, which also takes their Usually safe and Review first items.explainshows an item's rule. - Items go to the Trash, never straight to deletion. Tools with their own cleanup command, such as npm, go or Xcode's preview simulators, run that command instead, and that part can't be put back.
- Items changed in the last few minutes, and items whose app is open, are left alone.
history lists the cleanups it ran, newest first, and undo puts back what the latest one moved (or the one you name). Items go back where they were unless something new is there; nothing is overwritten.
The tool keeps its logs and measurements in ~/.
Full Disk Access
To reach every folder, the terminal app you run it from needs Full Disk Access, in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access. Without it, scans skip the folders macOS keeps private.
What the app adds
The app shows the same scan as a map, runs cleanups through a review sheet, can use the helper for items that need an administrator, and keeps history in the menu bar. The command-line tool never uses the helper.