disktidy

A conservative, cross-platform command-line tool that analyzes where your disk space went and helps you safely reclaim it — from Docker, package manager caches, and other well-known space hogs.

It follows one rule, borrowed from good cleanup tools everywhere: looking is free and safe; anything destructive requires an explicit flag.

Why

Developer machines fill up in predictable ways: a Docker .vhdx that never shrinks, gigabytes of npm/pnpm/pip cache, bloated .git histories, Windows Store apps. disktidy finds those automatically and tells you exactly how to get the space back — instead of you hunting through folders by hand.

Install

pip install disktidy
# or, for isolation:
pipx install disktidy

Run it from source without installing:

python -m disktidy report

Quick start

# Drive overview + biggest known consumers (this is the default command)
disktidy
disktidy report

# Biggest folders under any path (add --files for biggest single files)
disktidy analyze C:\Users\me --top 20 --files

# Docker: see what's reclaimable (dry-run — nothing is deleted)
disktidy docker

# Docker: actually prune junk AND compact the virtual disk
disktidy docker --apply --compact          # (compact needs admin on Windows)

# Package caches: inspect, then clean
disktidy caches
disktidy caches --apply

# Machine-readable output for scripts/CI
disktidy report --json

Commands

Safety

• Dry-run by default. docker and caches only report until you pass --apply.
• Never touches your data. The Docker path removes build cache, dangling images, and stopped containers only — never volumes or tagged images.
• No symlink following when sizing directories.
• Compaction is opt-in (--compact), Windows/WSL2-only, and requires an elevated (Administrator) terminal — it stops Docker and WSL first, then runs diskpart.
• No telemetry, no network calls.

Development

python -m pip install -e .
python -m pytest
python -m disktidy report

License

MIT