Guide · 4 min read

How to clear Xcode DerivedData (and reclaim gigabytes)

If you build with Xcode, DerivedData is quietly one of the biggest space hogs on your Mac. It caches build products, indexes and intermediates for every project, and it almost never cleans up after itself.

Where DerivedData lives

By default it's here:

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData

Why it's safe to delete

DerivedData is entirely regenerable - Xcode rebuilds it on your next build. Deleting it doesn't touch your source, and it's a common fix for stale-build and indexing issues too.

Clear it by hand

rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/*

Or from Xcode: Settings → Locations → click the arrow next to Derived Data to open it in Finder, then delete the per-project folders.

Tip: Old Simulators and device-support files also use space: check ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport and run xcrun simctl delete unavailable.

Clear it (and the rest) with TidyBar

TidyBar's Developer mode finds DerivedData alongside node_modules, Rust target/, .next and other build junk across all your projects, shows each by size and age, and moves what you pick to the Trash. Scanning is free, so you can see the total first.

FAQ

Is it safe to delete DerivedData?+

Yes - Xcode regenerates it on the next build. It's also a standard fix for stale builds and broken indexing.

How much space does DerivedData use?+

It varies, but on an active Mac it commonly reaches several to tens of gigabytes across projects.

Do it all in one click with TidyBar

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