Hidden Bastard

macOS Hides Gigabytes of Junk

Your Mac says "Storage Almost Full." You delete files. Still full.

Why: macOS creates hidden files everywhere. Cache folders. System logs. Developer cruft. Spotlight indexes. Old iOS backups. Xcode derived data from projects you deleted years ago.

Hidden files = gigabytes wasted.

Hidden Bastard finds them. Shows exactly what's consuming space. Lets you delete them.

What It Finds

.DS_Store Files (Death By A Thousand Cuts)

macOS creates .DS_Store in every folder you open. Stores icon positions, view settings, folder metadata.

The problem: Thousands of these accumulate. Each is small (few KB). Together = megabytes.

Worse: They sync to cloud storage, external drives, network shares. Pollute everything.

Hidden Bastard: Finds all .DS_Store files. Shows total count + size. Deletes them system-wide.

Cache Folders (The 20GB Surprise)

Common cache hogs:

• ~/Library/Caches/ (browser cache, app cache)
• Safari cache (multi-gigabyte easily)
• Chrome cache (even worse)
• Xcode derived data (10GB+ for developers)
• Spotify cache (downloads you forgot about)
• Slack cache (every image ever posted)

Hidden Bastard: Scans all cache locations. Shows size per app. Lets you clear selectively or nuke everything.

iOS Backups (Ancient History)

iTunes/Finder creates local iPhone backups. Old ones never get deleted automatically.

Common scenario:

• Backed up iPhone 8 in 2019 (15GB backup)
• Got new phone in 2020
• Old backup still there
• Consuming space forever

Hidden Bastard: Lists all iOS backups with dates. Shows which devices. Delete ancient ones safely.

Developer Cruft (If You Code)

Xcode DerivedData: 10-30GB for active developers. Contains build artifacts, module cache, logs.

CocoaPods cache: Old pod downloads that don't auto-delete.

npm/node_modules: Every project has full dependency tree. Gigabytes per project.

Python venv: Virtual environments that outlive their projects.

Docker images: Old containers consuming 20GB+.

Hidden Bastard: Targets developer-specific junk. Safely cleans build artifacts, cached dependencies, old environments.

System Logs (The Silent Grower)

System logs accumulate:

• /var/log/ (system logs)
• ~/Library/Logs/ (app logs)
• Diagnostic reports
• Crash logs from 2018

Some logs hit gigabytes. macOS doesn't aggressively rotate them.

Hidden Bastard: Identifies old logs safe to delete. Preserves recent ones (debugging). Clears ancient history.

Trash That Won't Empty

Sometimes Trash gets stuck:

• Files "in use" (locked)
• Permission issues
• Corrupted items

Trash shows empty. Still consuming gigabytes.

Hidden Bastard: Force-empties Trash. Handles locked files. Actually frees the space.

How It Works

Scan phase:

# Traverses file system
- Finds all .DS_Store files
- Identifies cache directories
- Locates iOS backups
- Scans developer cruft
- Checks system logs

# Calculates sizes
- Individual file size
- Total per category
- Grand total recoverable space

Review phase:

Category              Files     Size
─────────────────────────────────────
.DS_Store             2,847     8.2 MB
Browser Cache         1         12.3 GB
Xcode DerivedData     1         18.7 GB
iOS Backups           3         45.2 GB
System Logs           492       2.1 GB
─────────────────────────────────────
Total Recoverable              78.5 GB

Delete phase:

• Select categories (or select all)
• Confirm deletion
• Multi-threaded removal (fast)
• Progress bar shows completion
• Reports freed space

Installation

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/ghostintheprompt/hidden-bastard
cd hidden-bastard

# Install (requires admin for some directories)
sudo ./install.sh

# Run
hidden-bastard scan

Or download app:

• macOS app bundle (GUI version)
• Drag to Applications
• Run directly (no terminal needed)

Usage

Command line:

# Full system scan
hidden-bastard scan

# Scan specific category
hidden-bastard scan --caches
hidden-bastard scan --developer

# Delete category
hidden-bastard clean --caches
hidden-bastard clean --ds-store

# Interactive mode
hidden-bastard interactive

GUI app:

1. Launch Hidden Bastard
2. Click "Scan"
3. Review findings
4. Select categories to clean
5. Click "Delete"
6. Confirm
7. Watch space get freed

What It Doesn't Delete

Safe by default:

Won't touch:

• User documents
• Photos/Music/Videos
• Application binaries
• System files (unless you force it)
• Active project files
• Recent caches (< 7 days by default)

Only targets:

• Hidden junk files
• Old caches
• Ancient backups
• Obsolete logs
• Developer build artifacts
• Trash contents

Safety Features

Scan before delete: Shows exactly what will be removed. No surprises.

Category selection: Clean only what you want. Not forced to nuke everything.

Backup restore: Can restore recently deleted items (24-hour window).

Dry run mode: See what WOULD be deleted without actually deleting.

Safe defaults: Conservative settings. Aggressive mode available for experts.

Real-World Results

Common recovery amounts:

Casual user:

• .DS_Store: 5-15 MB
• Browser cache: 2-5 GB
• System logs: 500 MB - 1 GB
• Total: ~3-7 GB freed

Developer:

• Xcode DerivedData: 10-30 GB
• npm node_modules: 5-15 GB (all projects)
• Docker images: 10-20 GB
• Browser cache: 5 GB
• Total: ~30-70 GB freed

Long-time Mac user (never cleaned):

• iOS backups: 30-50 GB (multiple old devices)
• Cache folders: 20 GB
• System logs: 3-5 GB
• Developer cruft: 40 GB
• Total: ~100+ GB freed

Why This Exists

macOS has no built-in solution.

Storage Management UI is useless:

• Shows large files (you already know about)
• Suggests deleting user documents
• Doesn't target hidden junk
• Forces manual hunting

CleanMyMac costs $40/year:

• Subscription model for basic cleanup
• Closed source (what is it actually doing?)
• Upsells constantly
• Over-engineered UI

Hidden Bastard is free:

• Open-source (verify the code)
• One-time install
• No subscriptions
• Does one thing well

Ghost Says...

Built this after "Storage Almost Full" warning on 512GB MacBook Pro. Deleted 100GB of user files. Still full.

Started investigating. Found:

• 18GB Xcode DerivedData (hadn't coded in months)
• 25GB iOS backups (iPhone 7 from 2017, iPhone X from 2019)
• 12GB browser cache
• 8GB system logs
• 3,000+ .DS_Store files polluting everything

No built-in tool cleaned this. CleanMyMac wanted $40/year subscription for basic functionality.

Built Hidden Bastard. Open-source. Multi-threaded scanning. Safe defaults. Actually shows what's consuming space before deleting.

One scan freed 78GB. Mac ran faster. No more storage warnings. Problem solved.

If you're on Mac: This tool finds junk you didn't know existed. Shows exactly what it is. Lets you reclaim gigabytes.

If you're suspicious: Read the code. It's open. No telemetry. No tracking. Just file system traversal and deletion.

Free. Open-source. Does what macOS should do automatically.

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GitHub: github.com/ghostintheprompt/hidden_bastard

Download: Releases - macOS app bundle

Your Mac. Your space. No junk.