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Claude Code ~/.claude debug logs & cache: safe to delete?

Safe to deleteRegenerated automatically; Thermo deletes it outright.

Where it is

  • ~/.claude/debug
  • ~/.claude/shell-snapshots
  • ~/.claude/statsig
  • ~/.claude/telemetry
  • ~/.claude/paste-cache
  • ~/.claude/cache
  • ~/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs

⏱ Only items untouched for 30 days

What it is

Claude Code, Anthropic's command-line coding agent, writes several housekeeping folders inside ~/.claude next to your settings and sessions. They hold debug logs, snapshots of your shell environment taken when a session starts, feature-flag and telemetry data, cached pasted content, and a general cache. The Node-based CLI also keeps a cache folder under ~/Library/Caches.

Why it gets so big

Each session can leave a new debug log and shell snapshot behind. If you run many sessions a day, or several agents in parallel, these small files pile up into thousands of entries over a few months.

Is it safe to delete?

Yes, the old files are safe to delete. They're diagnostics and scratch data, not your conversations or settings, and Claude Code recreates what it needs on the next run. Leave the recent ones alone: a session that's running right now may still be writing its debug log or relying on its shell snapshot. Your transcripts live in ~/.claude/projects and aren't part of this cleanup.

Tip

Don't delete ~/.claude as a whole. It also holds your settings.json, your personal CLAUDE.md memory, and the session history you may want to resume.

See how much space it uses

du -sh "$HOME/.claude/debug" "$HOME/.claude/shell-snapshots" "$HOME/.claude/statsig" "$HOME/.claude/telemetry" "$HOME/.claude/paste-cache" "$HOME/.claude/cache" "$HOME/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs" 2>/dev/null

Delete it by hand

Run in Terminal. Deleting cannot be undone, so check the paths first.

find "$HOME/.claude/debug" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$HOME/.claude/shell-snapshots" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$HOME/.claude/statsig" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$HOME/.claude/telemetry" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$HOME/.claude/paste-cache" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$HOME/.claude/cache" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$HOME/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} +

Related locations

All cleanup guides →