Apps
Homebrew Cache
Homebrew keeps a local download cache of bottle tarballs, source archives, patch files, API metadata, and temporary fetch artifacts so installs and upgrades can be retried without downloading everything again. It also writes verbose build and fetch logs during formula installs, source builds, and failed dependency checks. Kudu removes these cached downloads and Homebrew log files from the standard cache locations, without touching installed formulae, casks, taps, user data, or configuration.
Why clean Homebrew Cache?
- Old bottle tarballs and source archives accumulate after repeated upgrades, so Homebrew starts consuming multiple gigabytes of disk space even though the installed packages themselves are elsewhere
- A corrupted cached bottle or interrupted source download can make brew install or brew upgrade fail with checksum, extraction, or unexpected end-of-file errors until the bad archive is removed
- Stale patch files or outdated cached API metadata can cause Homebrew to keep retrying a broken fetch path, which shows up as repeated download failures for a formula that should otherwise install normally
- Verbose build logs from failed source compilations pile up under the Homebrew logs directory, making the cache grow after every error and leaving users with less free space on small SSDs
- When Homebrew falls back from bottles to source builds, leftover cached source tarballs and temporary fetch artifacts remain behind, so disk usage keeps rising even after the package was successfully installed
- On slower or metered connections, users often keep old downloads for convenience, but over time the cache becomes a graveyard of superseded bottle versions that no longer match current formula revisions and only wastes storage
- Large cache directories can make it harder to inspect current download and failure state, because fresh logs and artifacts are buried among obsolete files from earlier installs and upgrades
What gets cleaned
Cache paths Kudu targets
macOS
~/Library/Caches/Homebrew |
~/Library/Logs/Homebrew |
Linux
~/.cache/Homebrew |
Frequently asked
Common questions about Homebrew Cache
Related cleaners
Free & open source
Download Kudu and reclaim your disk space.
Available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. No account required, no feature gates, no telemetry without consent. All cleaning targets are open source and community-auditable.