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uv cache on Mac: safe to delete? How to clear it

Safe to deleteRegenerated automatically; Thermo deletes it outright.

Quit first: uv

Where it is

  • ~/.cache/uv
  • ~/Library/Caches/uv

What it is

uv, Astral's fast Python package manager, keeps a global cache of downloaded and built distributions, git checkouts, and the environments it creates for tools run with uvx. Virtual environments are populated from this cache by cloning or linking files, which is a big part of why uv is fast.

Why it gets so big

uv keeps every version it has resolved for every project, and each uvx tool, including MCP servers launched that way, adds its own cached environment. Heavy machine learning packages make it grow quickly.

Is it safe to delete?

Yes. Make sure no uv command is running first, since uv locks the cache while it works. Afterwards the next install or uvx run downloads what it needs again. Virtual environments created with uv's default link mode keep working because their files are cloned or copied, not referenced.

Tip

uv's cache prune subcommand removes only unused entries, a gentler alternative to a full clean.

See how much space it uses

du -sh "$HOME/.cache/uv" "$HOME/Library/Caches/uv" 2>/dev/null

Clean it with the tool’s own command

uv cache clean

Delete it by hand

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

rm -rf "$HOME/.cache/uv"/*
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Caches/uv"/*

Related locations

All cleanup guides →