MIT free native macOS cleaner whose pitch is opening the 'System Data' black box: scans every installed app's real data with disposable caches separated, finds space hogs (old downloads, uninstalled-app leftovers, screen recordings, VM images, device backups, mail/Message attachments, browser caches, node_modules, build output, Docker, Xcode leftovers, local LLM models) and sorts deletions into three safety tiers - Regenerable / Needs admin / Permanent (Trash-first, never bulk-selected). Refuses .git dirs, synced folders, Docker volumes, MySQL data and protected trees; logs every removal locally. Unsigned, distributed via curl|bash installer that skips Gatekeeper; sends one honest anonymous telemetry line a day. Went quiet a week after launch.
Mechanical checks derived from the fields above. Each row is one fact; "not yet checked" means exactly that, not a failure. There is no composite score; read them together.
Same-lane macOS System Data cleaners launched within weeks of each other in 2026.
Research notes
'claude' is a credited contributor with 33 of ~82 commits - AI co-authorship disclosed in the commit history itself, the most literal evidence in the catalog.
curl|bash installer marketed as a feature: 'skips the warning because macOS doesn't flag files downloaded with curl' - dodging Gatekeeper on an unsigned cleaner that wants Full Disk Access.
Not notarized - author cites the $99/year Apple developer account.
Telemetry done with unusual honesty: one anonymous line/day {random UUID, cumulative bytes cleaned, version}, opt-out button on first launch plus DUSTLOFT_NO_METRICS env, aggregate stats public at dustloft.com/stats.
Launch-and-leave: 28 releases in 6 days (v1.0.6->v1.0.57), then silence - last push 2026-09-14, one day after the canonical post.
Domain registered one day after repo creation, four days before launch - the marketing-first pattern.
Safety model is genuinely thoughtful (three recoverability tiers, Trash-first permanent tier, refuses .git/iCloud/Docker volumes/protected trees, symlink-escape re-check) - the responsible end of the wave.
Earliest author promotion found; carries the full problem statement and trust signals.
I built a free, open-source app that shows what's inside "System Data" and cleans it without deleting anything you can't get back — Intro cliche
My 512 GB Mac was down to 20 GB free, and most of it was "System Data" that macOS wouldn't let me look inside. I cleaned it up by hand and got back to 215 GB free. I also came very close to deleting a git repo whose history existed nowhere else. — Problem statement
It will never: delete a `.git` folder (it offers `git gc` instead, and warns when a repo exists only on your disk) - touch Dropbox, iCloud Drive or other synced folders - remove Docker volumes - delete anything inside /System, /usr and other protected folders — Trust signal
Or read the code and build it yourself. It's MIT licensed and only needs the Xcode Command Line Tools. — Virtue
I'd really like feedback, especially if it flags something it shouldn't or misses something big on your Mac. — Engagement hook