Make space without losing what matters.

The third line needs the drive connected, and afterwards those 87.0 GB live only on it — MakeRoom says so on the confirmation, before you agree to it. Nothing above is deleted: cleaning goes to the Trash, and a move copies and verifies before anything here changes.

41.6 GB safe to clean 87.0 GB could move off 24.3 GB needs review

• Local AI 88.6 GB

  Ollama, Hugging Face hub, LM Studio and Whisper model stores. 87.0 GB can move

• Xcode 15.9 GB

  DerivedData, archives, simulator devices and iOS device support. 7.5 GB of it is archives and simulator devices, kept in review. 8.4 GB safe to clean

• Rust 14.2 GB

  Cargo target directories across nine projects, and the registry cache. 1.1 GB of it is rustup toolchains, kept in review. 13.1 GB safe to clean

• Node.js 9.8 GB

  node_modules trees and the npm, pnpm and Yarn caches. 9.1 GB safe to clean

• Android and Gradle 7.4 GB

  Gradle caches and build output, SDK system images, emulators. 4.8 GB of it is system images and virtual devices, kept in review. 2.6 GB safe to clean

• Python 4.9 GB

  pip and uv caches, virtual environments, __pycache__ trees. 3.4 GB safe to clean

• Containers 4.1 GB

  Docker and Podman image stores and build caches. 1.7 GB safe to clean

• Go 2.6 GB

  The build cache. 0.5 GB of it is the module download cache, kept in review. 2.1 GB safe to clean

• Homebrew 1.5 GB

  The download cache. 1.2 GB safe to clean

The rest of the scan — documents, application support, anything MakeRoom does not recognise — is measured and shown, and never recommended for anything. Review means MakeRoom has not established that removing it is safe, so it says so instead of guessing.

Understand

A scan reads names, sizes and dates — never contents — and measures what macOS lets it read as you. Then it names what it did not cover, by location, so a total is never quietly short.

Decide

Every path reaches one of five verdicts: Keep, Clean, Externalize, Review or Protected. A verdict comes from a recipe that had to recognise the layout, not from a filename or an extension.

Act

Cleaning moves items to the Trash. Moving copies them to a drive and links the original path to the copy. Each item is revalidated immediately before either, and anything that changed since the scan is refused with the reason.

Verify

A move is committed only after a BLAKE3 manifest of the copy matches the original file for file, and the link is confirmed to resolve to the drive.

Restore

Bring Back to Mac reverses a move whenever there is room for it here again. Unplug the drive and nothing is deleted — the data is on the drive, the app says which, and the link repairs itself when the drive returns, even at a different mount path.

Copy first

Every file is copied to the drive before anything on this Mac is touched. A preflight refuses a drive that is read-only, formatted wrong, or short on room.

Verify by content

The copy is read back and compared against a BLAKE3 manifest of the original, file by file. A mismatch stops the move with the original untouched.

Swap the path

A sibling backup is kept, then the original path becomes a link to the verified copy. Your tools keep finding their data where they expect it — Ollama still reads from ~/.ollama.

Survive a restart

Every stage is journaled, so a crash, a power cut or an unplugged cable resumes or rolls back cleanly. Drives are identified by volume UUID, never by name or mount path.

And the cost

Afterwards the folder lives only on that drive. A backup of this Mac stores the shortcut rather than the folder, so keep the drive somewhere you would keep the only copy — and bringing it back needs about that much free space here again. MakeRoom says all of this on the confirmation, before you agree to it.

Routines

Save a cleanup you finished and press it again later. One press re-scans, re-resolves the rule, and stops at a review — nothing runs on a timer, at launch, or on low space, and nothing is cleaned until you press the action inside that review.

An agent endpoint

Off until you switch it on. A program you approve can drive the same scans, cleanups and moves you can, over verdicts MakeRoom reached itself, while being unable to decide what is safe to clean or grant itself access to anything.

A local record

History keeps what was cleaned, what was moved, what came back, and who asked for each one. It lives in a SQLite file on this Mac and is yours to clear.

Permanently delete

Cleanup goes to the Trash, so you can put it back yourself until you empty it. There is no other delete path in the product, and no Empty Trash button.

Move, then hope

A move copies first, verifies a BLAKE3 manifest of every file, keeps a sibling backup, links the original path, verifies the link, and only then commits.

Act on stale evidence

Every item is revalidated immediately before an action. Anything that changed since the scan is refused, with the reason — including a folder whose owning application is running right now.

Follow a symlink

Not while scanning, copying, building a manifest, rolling back or cleaning.

Open your libraries

Photos, Music and TV libraries and iCloud documents are refused by bundle type, in every permission state.

Send a path anywhere

No path, filename, inventory, size, count, recipe match, volume name, machine code or key is transmitted, ever. MakeRoom contacts nothing: an install that has run for a year and moved a terabyte has opened no socket.

Phone home about a crash

No analytics SDK and no crash reporter ships. A failure is recorded in a local log that writes [REDACTED] in place of every path, and if you want someone to read it you export the archive, see what it holds before it exists, and send it yourself.

Update itself behind you

The one contact MakeRoom may ever make is a version check you switch on in Settings. It carries two version strings, reads one number, and opens a download page compiled into the app — never an address the answer supplied. It downloads nothing and installs nothing.

Trust a drive by name

Drives are identified by volume UUID. A same-name drive with a different UUID is rejected; the same drive at a new path repairs itself.

Run as root

No privileged helper and no root entitlement. MakeRoom runs as you, with the access you already have.

Let a program decide

The agent endpoint is off until you switch it on. It drives the same operations you do, one at a time, and cannot decide what is safe to clean, grant itself access to a folder, resolve a judgement, or switch itself back on.

Lock you out of restore

Bringing data back, repairing a link and reconnecting a drive are never gated, in any entitlement state, including none at all.

Cleaning this Mac

Free forever. Scanning, classification, inspection, history and Move to Trash need no key, no account and no network connection, now or ever.

Moving off this Mac

Free: a 14-day trial, then a free key. Moving is the one capability a key covers. The trial starts the first time you move something, not the day you installed — moving needs a drive you may not own that day. After it, a key keeps it open. When a key lapses, moving is shown disabled with the reason and one next step; it is never hidden.

What a key costs

Nothing. MakeRoom is free while we can keep it that way — there is nothing to pay, nothing to cancel, and nowhere to enter a card. If that ever has to change, the portal will say so there before it does, and a term already running is untouched by it.

Getting one

Register the Mac on the portal. Sign in at makeroom.dynesoft.com, register this Mac by the short code MakeRoom shows you, and download the file that comes back. Registering the Mac is what starts its term, on the day you register it, and the portal states the date it ends. Register as many Macs as you use MakeRoom on: each gets its own term and its own key, and there is no limit on how many.

When a term ends

Register that Mac again and another term starts the same day — free, no limit on how often, and nobody has to approve it. If you would rather not wait for one to run out, ask in the portal: extensions are free and given out by hand.

Activation

Offline, on this Mac. A key is a file you open here. MakeRoom registers no account, stores no credential, and makes no request to obtain, validate or refresh it — a key is checked on this Mac against keys inside the signed bundle, so a flight or an outage changes nothing. One key names exactly one Mac.

Bringing data back

Never gated. Restore, link repair and reconnecting a drive work in every state, including with no key at all. Nothing MakeRoom moved is ever held behind a key.

Register a Mac, get a key

macOS

macOS 15 Sequoia or later.

Hardware

Apple silicon. MakeRoom is a hardened direct download, in beta and not yet notarized by Apple — whole-disk inspection is not possible inside the App Sandbox, so it is not on the Mac App Store.

Permissions

None to start. MakeRoom scans everything macOS lets it read as you, and names what it left out. Full Disk Access is offered afterwards, in the result it would widen, and never as a gate to opening the app.

Release

Version 0.9.0, in beta. The main journey works end to end and parts are still being finished, so you may meet rough edges. What beta does not change: cleanup goes to the Trash rather than being deleted outright, and nothing leaves this Mac before its copy on the drive has been verified.