Clarté · Cleanup
Clarté: clean up your Mac one category at a time
Junk files pile up quietly: swelling caches, forgotten logs, AI models downloaded for a quick test, Mail attachments stored twice. In System Settings > General > Storage, much of it hides behind the "System Data" line, with no useful detail.
Clarté takes inventory, sorts every item into an understandable category, shows its size and lets you tick what goes. Nothing is deleted without your say-so.
System junk files
This is the biggest category. Clarté groups together:
- System and user caches: temporary data that macOS and apps recreate on demand.
- Logs: old diagnostic reports and log files.
- Temporary files left behind by installers and updates.
- Developer tools: Xcode DerivedData, archives and simulators, orphaned builds, npm, Homebrew or pip caches.
On a Mac used for two or three years, these items often add up to a few gigabytes, sometimes dozens for developers. To understand what sits behind the "System Data" line, read our article on disk space.
Unneeded AI files (models, caches)
Local AI tools download models that weigh several gigabytes each, plus their caches. You try one for a week, then forget it in a hidden Library folder.
Clarté spots these models and caches that are no longer used and shows their real size. You see at a glance what is sitting on your disk and keep the model you still use. If you need one again later, the tool will simply download it again.
Local Mail attachments
The Mail app keeps a local copy of attachments you have opened or received. With IMAP or Exchange accounts, these files already live on the server: the local copy is only a cache.
Clarté lists these local copies of attachments already stored on the server. Removing them deletes no email; Mail downloads the attachment again when you reopen the message. Years of PDFs and videos can take up several gigabytes.
Trash folders
The Finder Trash is not the only one: every external drive or USB stick has its own hidden trash, which keeps taking up space on that volume. Clarté shows them all, with their contents and size.
Emptying a trash is the only permanent step in the cleanup. Clarté says so clearly and asks for explicit confirmation. Before emptying, make sure nothing important is lying in there: our guide on emptying the Trash safely covers the right habits.
You decide, MacNeat keeps it safe
- Everything goes through the Trash (except emptying trashes): you can get a file back until the Trash is emptied.
- Undoable operations: every cleanup is logged, and "Undo last operation" puts files back.
- Protected areas: sensitive system folders and your own exclusions are never scanned or modified.
- Simulation mode to check a cleanup without moving anything.
- Apple Silicon and Intel, with a fully local scan.
- Free scan, cleanup with a license (7-day trial).
For a quick pass combining cleanup, maintenance and security, use Éclair.