Keep the work. Vacuum the rebuildable weight.
AI coding tools are excellent at creating fresh workspaces. Tidying them up is apparently beneath their pay grade.
VibeVac is an open-source, local macOS control center for the storage they leave behind. It separates source code and Git state from dependencies, framework output, test reports, and other data that can be rebuilt. Then it shows the evidence and lets you decide what happens next.
When the evidence is incomplete, VibeVac does the least exciting — and most useful — thing a cleaner can do: nothing.
Download VibeVac 0.1.0 for macOS
The current prerelease is a signed and notarized universal app for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 12 or newer. It does not want an account, your email, a subscription, telemetry permission, or a small background daemon “for your convenience.”
Scanning never removes anything. Cleanup requires an explicit scope, a complete preview, fresh safety checks, and typed confirmation.
Most cleaners begin with a list of folders they know how to delete. VibeVac starts with a stricter question:
Can this machine prove that the data is rebuildable?
Source is not dirt. An old checkout is not automatically abandoned. A familiar directory name is not proof. VibeVac combines filesystem boundaries, Git state, activity, running-process checks, ignore rules, and reconstruction evidence before it offers an action.
The hesitation is the feature.
The first Mac scanned by VibeVac was the one used to build it:
115 coding workspaces and repositories
113 GB total footprint
83 GB verified rebuildable caches
63 GB available at the Full cache level
30 GB source + Git retained
No real caches were deleted to produce those numbers. Even vacuum cleaners should dogfood dry-run mode first.
The control center gives every workspace an evidence trail instead of a mystery badge:
- total, rebuildable, and retained size;
- latest activity and active-process signals;
- Git branch, uncommitted work, upstream, and default-branch merge evidence;
CANDIDATE,KEEP,REVIEW, andPROTECTrecommendations;- a four-level cache cleanup slider that immediately changes the visible plan;
- a separate
Entire worktreesscope that is never selected automatically; - expandable cache inventories and per-directory selection;
- single-workspace and batch cleanup previews;
- typed confirmation and an audit record after cleanup;
- linked-worktree removal with branch preservation and reconstruction guidance.
Cleanup level only decides what may enter a plan. It never turns a wider cache selection into worktree deletion.
VibeVac recognizes a deliberately narrow allowlist of generated directories, including:
node_modules;.nuxt,.next, and.svelte-kit;.turboand.parcel-cache;- ignored
dist,build, andoutdirectories; coverage,playwright-report, andtest-results.
A name match is not enough. Every directory must also be ignored by Git.
node_modules additionally requires a repository lockfile, and symlinks are
never accepted as cleanup targets.
Complete worktree removal is a separate operation with a much higher bar. The worktree must be registered, clean, synced, merged, old enough, process-free, and free of ignored data outside the narrow rebuildable allowlist. Standalone repositories are never eligible.
VibeVac does not roam across the entire disk hoping to find something dramatic. It scans explicit, bounded sources that exist on the Mac:
~/.codex/worktrees;~/conductor/workspaces;- common project folders such as
~/Code,~/Developer,~/Projects,~/repos,~/src,~/workspace, and~/workspaces; ~/.openclaw/workspace;- any additional folder the user chooses in the Sources panel.
Within those roots, Git evidence determines what a directory is. A .git file
identifies a linked worktree; a .git directory identifies a standalone
repository. Registered worktrees are discovered even when Cursor, Claude,
Hermes, Codex, or another tool placed them outside the original project folder.
VibeVac does not inspect agent conversations, credentials, memories,
application databases, or IDE workspaceStorage.
Before removing selected caches, VibeVac:
- repeats Git and cache inventory checks;
- rejects arbitrary, changed, or newly introduced paths;
- checks for processes working inside the workspace;
- resolves canonical paths and rejects symlinks or traversal;
- shows the exact directories and bytes;
- requires a workspace-specific or batch-specific typed confirmation;
- checks the complete plan again at execution time;
- records the result in
~/.vibevac/audit.jsonl.
The cache flow never removes the workspace, source files, branch, or Git
history. The worktree flow uses git worktree remove, preserves the branch and
common Git repository, and records reconstruction guidance.
See the complete safety model.
The desktop app runs scanning and cleanup through application-local Tauri
commands. There is no account, telemetry, remote API, model, GitHub access, or
listening HTTP server. It invokes the system git, du, and lsof tools and
reads only the workspace roots shown in the UI.
The optional contributor command vibevac ui uses a localhost compatibility
server bound to 127.0.0.1. Mutating requests require a random in-memory session
token and matching browser origin.
The scanner and inspector also work without the desktop UI:
vibevac scan
vibevac scan --stale-after 30
vibevac scan --root ~/worktrees
vibevac inspect ~/.codex/worktrees/4c66/my-app
vibevac scan --json > vibevac-report.json| Recommendation | Meaning |
|---|---|
CANDIDATE |
Clean, remotely recoverable, merged, stale, and no process was detected. Still requires a human decision. |
KEEP |
Recently used or currently held by a running process. |
REVIEW |
Recoverable, but one intent signal cannot be proven. |
PROTECT |
Contains local-only work, is a standalone repository, or inspection was incomplete. |
Cache cleanup eligibility is independent from whole-workspace status. A dirty workspace may still contain verified ignored build caches while its source changes remain protected.
Contributions are welcome, especially reproducible edge cases, new fixtures,
and changes that make destructive code more boring. Safety changes need tests;
probably fine is not a storage format.
pnpm install
pnpm check
pnpm desktop:dev
pnpm desktop:buildBuilding the desktop app requires Node.js, pnpm, Rust, and the platform's Tauri prerequisites. The TypeScript and Rust test suites use real temporary Git repositories and perform destructive cleanup only inside disposable fixtures.
For CLI development:
pnpm dev scan --no-size
pnpm dev:ui
pnpm build
node dist/cli.js scanSee the release guide for signing, notarization, and GitHub Release steps.
- Desktop app: macOS 12+, universal Apple Silicon and Intel release.
- CLI: macOS and Linux with Node.js 20+.
- System tools: Git,
dufor disk sizing, andlsoffor active-process protection.
- 0.1.x: distribution, first-run trust, anonymized feedback, truthful scan progress, cancellation, incremental rescans, Pin, and Ignore.
- 0.2: cleanup history and package-manager-aware restore guidance.
- 0.3: canonical repository grouping, safe provenance, orphan review, and workspace lifecycle controls.
- Later: local growth budgets and cross-platform packages after the macOS safety loop is proven.
VibeVac will not become another agent framework. Its job is to make the local infrastructure around coding agents understandable, reclaimable, and — when necessary — reconstructable.