Claude Code Disk Space on Mac: Sessions, Logs, and What to Keep
Sessions, debug logs and file snapshots do different jobs, so measure each one before you decide what to remove. A big folder can still hold conversation history or recovery records you need.
What’s inside ~/.claude
Each session is a file at ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-path>/<uuid>.jsonl, and it can include inline images. Some sessions also have a companion directory with the same name, which can hold tool results and subagent transcripts. Treat that directory and its session file as a pair.
Logs written while debugging is on go in ~/.claude/debug/. ~/.claude/file-history/<session>/ keeps pre-edit snapshots of your files for checkpoint recovery. If you delete the snapshots, those recovery copies are gone.
Keep your configuration and memory files, including settings.json, CLAUDE.md and the project memory directories. The CLI cache can also sit outside this folder, at ~/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs/.
Claude Code removes some application data on its own under its retention rules. What it removes depends on the version, your configuration and what triggers the cleanup, so read the current Claude Code docs on this directory instead of assuming nothing is ever trimmed. If CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR is set, use that location instead of ~/.claude.
Measure first, then review
To compare the top-level folders, run this read-only command: du -h -d 1 "${CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR:-$HOME/.claude}" | sort -hr
If du reports permission or missing-path errors, the totals are incomplete. Either way, du shows where the space goes. It can’t tell you what’s safe to delete.
- Stop any running Claude tasks, including sessions in other terminals, before you change their files.
- Back up the conversations and recovery records you still need.
- Look at debug logs separately from sessions, and remove a log only once you no longer need it for diagnosis. CLI caches can be recreated when needed, so that space may fill up again.
- In projects/, remove only the sessions you’ve decided you don’t need, along with their companion directories if they have one. Age can narrow the list, but an old session isn’t automatically safe to delete. Don’t delete project memory directories along with session data.
- Leave file-history/ alone unless you no longer need its recovery copies. Move what you pick to the Trash first, and check before you decide whether to empty it. Files in the Trash still take up space.
Deleting a transcript removes the conversation
Removing a session removes its text and any images stored in it, and you can no longer resume it locally. A memory note that points to the session may then refer to a record that’s gone, though deleting the session doesn’t delete or damage the note itself.
Don’t remove the whole ~/.claude directory as a cleanup shortcut. Besides session data, it holds your configuration and memory.
What Mint adds
Mint shows Claude’s storage in the Disk tab. A measured size isn’t a suggestion to clean. Check what each record is for and whether you still need it before you pick an action.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to delete ~/.claude/projects?
Not as a whole. It can hold conversations, companion records and project memory. Go through the sessions one at a time and keep the ones you still want to resume or look back at.
Why is ~/.claude so large?
It depends on the Mac. Measure sessions, debug logs and file snapshots separately with the read-only command above, because the biggest one differs from machine to machine.
See how much space Claude Code is using
Run a scan and look for Claude in the Disk tab.