v1.0.0 · Windows 10 & 11 · 8.4 MB
Your disk is full of things that rebuild themselves.
Purge finds every cache, build folder and leftover on your PC, explains what each one is in plain English, and moves it to the Recycle Bin.
Single .exe · no installer · no admin rights
what it finds
Four places the space goes, and nowhere else.
App Caches
Browsers, chat apps, updaters and the system temp folder. Everything here is rebuilt the next time you open the app. The only cost is a slightly slower first load.
Dev Tools
The part most Windows cleaners ignore entirely. Package manager caches, IDE caches, and the build folders sitting in every project you have ever cloned. Each one is rebuilt by a single install command.
Large Files
Everything big and old across your personal folders, filtered by size and by how long it has sat untouched. Purge shows you the list. It never picks these for you, because only you know what they are.
Installed Apps
Every program on the machine, measured properly and sorted by what it actually occupies on disk, not the number the installer claimed. Removal hands off to the app's own uninstaller.
two labels, no guesswork
Every item tells you what it costs to lose.
Nothing is presented as a number next to a checkbox. Each item is named, explained, and marked either Safe to Clean or Check First. The one-click button only ever acts on the safe ones.
Google Chrome cache
Web pages and images Chrome saved so sites load faster. Cleared automatically as you browse; pages just reload once more slowly.
pnpm store %LOCALAPPDATA%\pnpm\store
pnpm's shared package store. Every project's node_modules links into this, so clearing it forces a re-download for all of them at once.
- It can only see a published list. Paths outside the shipped allowlist are unreachable, no matter what you click.
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It refuses the places that matter.
Drive roots, your user folder and anything under
C:\Windowsare rejected even if a rule asked for them. - Everything goes to the Recycle Bin. Never straight to delete. Changed your mind? It is still sitting right there.
the whole mechanism
You can read the rules before you run it.
Purge has no cleverness to hide. Every path it can reach lives in plain JSON files in the repository, each with the explanation you see in the app. Nothing outside these files is reachable.
Read all 50 rules on GitHub{ "id": "npm-cache", "name": "npm cache", "category": "dev-tools", "safety": "safe", "explain": "Downloaded package tarballs. npm re-downloads anything it needs, so this only ever costs you time.", "paths": [ "%LOCALAPPDATA%\\npm-cache", "%APPDATA%\\npm-cache" ] }
Windows will warn you the first time.
Purge isn't code-signed, and an unsigned program that deletes files is exactly what SmartScreen is built to distrust. Click More info → Run anyway.
A certificate costs a few hundred dollars a year and this is a free project. Every release publishes its SHA256, and the source is public, so you never have to take the binary on trust.
Verify the download yourself:
Get-FileHash .\Purge.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Compare it against SHA256SUMS.txt on the releases page.
before you download
Frequently asked questions
Is Purge safe to use?
Purge can only touch paths on a fixed allowlist that ships inside the app.
Anything outside that list is unreachable, no matter what you click. It also
refuses drive roots, your user folder and anything under
C:\Windows even if a rule asked for them. Everything it removes goes
to the Recycle Bin, so you can put it back.
What does it actually delete?
Caches and build output that regenerate on their own: browser caches, developer
tool caches, temporary files, logs, and project folders like
node_modules that a single install command rebuilds. Every item is
labelled either Safe to Clean or Check First, and the one-click
button only ever acts on the safe ones.
Will it delete anything permanently?
Not unless you ask it to. The default is the Recycle Bin, always. There is a permanent-delete option in Settings for people who want the space back immediately, but it is off until you turn it on, and the confirmation looks completely different when it is active so you cannot trigger it by accident.
Why didn't my free space go up right away?
Moving files to the Recycle Bin doesn't free disk space, because the bytes sit there until it's emptied. Purge is upfront about this: after every clean it tells you the space isn't reclaimed yet and offers to empty the bin right then.
Why does Windows say it's dangerous?
Because it isn't code-signed. A certificate costs a few hundred dollars a year and this is a free project. SmartScreen treats any unsigned program that deletes files with suspicion, which is honestly fair of it. Verify the SHA256 published with each release, or build it yourself from source. Both are better proof than a certificate.
Does it touch my OneDrive files?
No. Files kept in the cloud show their full size but occupy nothing locally. Deleting one would free zero space and destroy your only local copy, so Purge detects and skips them everywhere.
Is it really free?
Yes. No licence, no trial, no paid tier, nothing bundled in. The full source is on GitHub if you want to read it.
Does Purge collect any data?
No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting. It makes no network requests at all.
How is it different from CCleaner?
Purge is free, open source, and limited to a published allowlist you can read
before you run it. It explains every item in plain English instead of showing you
a progress bar, and it takes developer folders seriously:
node_modules, target, Gradle caches, which most Windows
cleaners ignore entirely.
How do I install it?
Download Purge.exe from the releases page and run it. Nothing else is needed. WebView2, the only dependency, already ships with Windows.
How do I uninstall it?
Through Add or Remove Programs, like anything else. It installs no background services and no startup entries. If you used the portable ZIP, delete the file.
credit where it's due
Purge began on the Mac.
Jithin Sabu built Purge for macOS, and everything good about how this app behaves came from his design. The two labels that decide what's safe. The refusal to touch anything outside a published list. Explaining each item in plain English instead of showing a progress bar and a number. The promise that nothing is ever really gone: the Trash on his side, the Recycle Bin on this one.
This is that idea rebuilt for Windows, because Windows had nothing like it. None of his code is here. The original is Swift and targets macOS paths that don't exist on this platform, so what carried over is the thinking, not the source.
Get the space back.
One executable, no installer, no admin rights. Nothing leaves the Recycle Bin.