sccache

Why clean sccache?

• A long-lived cache keeps old object artifacts and result metadata for projects you no longer build, so disk usage climbs into multiple gigabytes and the only obvious symptom is unexpectedly low free space on the system drive
• Entries generated with an older rustc, clang, or MSVC toolchain stop matching after upgrades, causing a sudden drop in cache hit rate and noticeably longer incremental builds until fresh artifacts replace them
• Changed compiler flags, target triples, or environment inputs can leave the cache full of unusable objects, so builds still succeed but sccache reports frequent misses and compile times feel much slower than before
• Corrupted cache records or partial writes after an interrupted build can trigger repeated recompilation of the same files, making CI jobs or local rebuilds take longer even when sources barely changed
• Large shared caches on laptops and developer workstations increase filesystem churn during builds, which shows up as heavy disk activity and slower responsiveness while compiling
• After switching branches or retiring old dependencies, stale cached outputs remain on disk even though they will never be reused, so cleaning recovers space with the only tradeoff being slower next-time compiles

Common questions about sccache

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.