Built-in rules

purgeit ships with a default ruleset ported from the original CLEANUP.sh and substantially expanded since. Every rule below is rendered directly from purgeit’s source (RULE_CATALOG in src/rules/catalog/) — this page can’t drift out of sync with what the CLI actually matches, because it’s generated from the same data the scan engine compiles against.

Always-safe vs. gated

Rules come in three kinds:

• always-safe — deletable wherever the name appears in a project tree, no further proof needed. Once matched, the walker stops descending into it (no point looking for node_modules inside node_modules).
• gated — the name alone is too generic to trust (build, bin, vendor, …), so it’s only reported when a sibling manifest in the same parent directory proves it’s really generated output for a specific ecosystem — e.g. Pods/ only counts next to a Podfile.
• pruned (version control metadata) — never descended into at all, and never itself a deletion candidate.

Expand a section below for that ecosystem’s rules. Names repeated across sections (like build or vendor) are genuinely polyglot — gated on whichever ecosystem’s manifest happens to be present, so one rule definition safely covers all of them.

64 built-in rules across 16 ecosystems, generated directly from purgeit's source — see how always-safe and gated differ.

64 rulesExpand allCollapse all

JavaScript / TypeScript25 safe1 gated

Name	Kind	Description
.angular	safe	Angular CLI build cache
.astro	safe	Astro build cache
.cache	safe	Generic framework cache (Parcel, Gatsby, and others)
.contentlayer	safe	Contentlayer generated content cache
.docusaurus	safe	Docusaurus build cache
.expo	safe	Expo cache
.next	safe	Next.js build output
.nuxt	safe	Nuxt dev/type-generation cache
.nyc_output	safe	nyc raw coverage data
.output	safe	Nuxt 3 build output (Nitro)
.parcel-cache	safe	Parcel cache
.serverless	safe	Serverless Framework packaged build artifacts
.svelte-kit	safe	SvelteKit build output
.swc	safe	SWC compiler cache
.turbo	safe	Turborepo cache
.vite	safe	Vite cache
bower_components	safe	Bower dependencies (legacy)
coverage	safe	Test coverage reports (Istanbul/nyc/Jest/Vitest, also SimpleCov for Ruby)
dist	safe	Generic build output (also used by many other ecosystems' bundlers)
jspm_packages	safe	JSPM dependencies (legacy)
node_modules	safe	npm / yarn / pnpm dependencies
out	safe	Generic build output (e.g. Next.js static export)
playwright-report	safe	Playwright HTML report output
storybook-static	safe	Storybook build output
test-results	safe	Playwright test results
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml

Python11 safe1 gated

Name	Kind	Description
__pycache__	safe	Python bytecode cache
.eggs	safe	setuptools egg build cache
.hypothesis	safe	Hypothesis property-testing cache
.ipynb_checkpoints	safe	Jupyter notebook checkpoint snapshots
.mypy_cache	safe	mypy type-checker cache
.pytest_cache	safe	pytest cache
.ruff_cache	safe	Ruff linter cache
.tox	safe	tox test environments
.venv	safe	Virtual environment
htmlcov	safe	coverage.py HTML report output
venv	safe	Virtual environment
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml

Rust2 safe2 gated

Name	Kind	Description
registry	safe	Cargo crate registry cache (~/.cargo/registry/), regenerable via cargo build
target	safe	Cargo build output — also Maven's default build output directory
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml
vendor	gated	Composer's PHP dependency directory, a Go module's vendored dependencies, Cargo's vendored crates, or Bundler's vendored gems — gated on whichever manifest is present Requires a sibling: composer.json or go.mod or Cargo.toml or Gemfile

Go1 gated

Name	Kind	Description
vendor	gated	Composer's PHP dependency directory, a Go module's vendored dependencies, Cargo's vendored crates, or Bundler's vendored gems — gated on whichever manifest is present Requires a sibling: composer.json or go.mod or Cargo.toml or Gemfile

Apple / Xcode / Swift3 safe3 gated

Name	Kind	Description
.build	safe	Swift Package Manager build output (`swift build`)
.swiftpm	safe	Xcode's local Swift Package Manager cache
DerivedData	safe	Xcode derived data
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml
Carthage	gated	Carthage build/checkout output, fully regenerable via `carthage bootstrap` Requires a sibling: Cartfile or Cartfile.resolved
Pods	gated	CocoaPods dependencies — only meaningful next to a project's Podfile Requires a sibling: Podfile

Java / JVM (Gradle, Maven, Android, Eclipse)1 safe4 gated

Name	Kind	Description
target	safe	Cargo build output — also Maven's default build output directory
.cxx	gated	Android NDK/CMake native build cache (Android Studio) Requires a sibling: build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or settings.gradle or settings.gradle.kts
.gradle	gated	Gradle project/build cache Requires a sibling: build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or settings.gradle or settings.gradle.kts
bin	gated	.NET build output next to a C#/VB#/F# project or solution file — also Eclipse's default Java output directory next to a .classpath Requires a sibling: *.csproj or *.vbproj or *.fsproj or *.sln or .classpath
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml

.NET1 safe2 gated

Name	Kind	Description
.vs	safe	Visual Studio's local solution cache
bin	gated	.NET build output next to a C#/VB#/F# project or solution file — also Eclipse's default Java output directory next to a .classpath Requires a sibling: *.csproj or *.vbproj or *.fsproj or *.sln or .classpath
obj	gated	.NET intermediate build output next to a C#/VB#/F# project or solution file Requires a sibling: *.csproj or *.vbproj or *.fsproj or *.sln

PHP1 gated

Name	Kind	Description
vendor	gated	Composer's PHP dependency directory, a Go module's vendored dependencies, Cargo's vendored crates, or Bundler's vendored gems — gated on whichever manifest is present Requires a sibling: composer.json or go.mod or Cargo.toml or Gemfile

Ruby1 safe2 gated

Name	Kind	Description
.yardoc	safe	YARD documentation generation cache
pkg	gated	Gem build output from `rake build`/`gem build`, only next to a Gemfile Requires a sibling: Gemfile
vendor	gated	Composer's PHP dependency directory, a Go module's vendored dependencies, Cargo's vendored crates, or Bundler's vendored gems — gated on whichever manifest is present Requires a sibling: composer.json or go.mod or Cargo.toml or Gemfile

Dart / Flutter1 safe1 gated

Name	Kind	Description
.dart_tool	safe	Dart/Flutter tooling cache (pub, build_runner, analyzer)
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml

Elixir1 safe2 gated

Name	Kind	Description
.elixir_ls	safe	ElixirLS language server cache
_build	gated	Mix compiled build output, regenerable via `mix compile` Requires a sibling: mix.exs
deps	gated	Mix fetched dependencies, regenerable via `mix deps.get` Requires a sibling: mix.exs

C / C++ (CMake)1 gated

Name	Kind	Description
build	gated	Generic build output directory name, reused by npm scripts, Python setuptools, CocoaPods/Xcode, CMake, Gradle, Flutter, and Cargo — gated on whichever manifest is actually present Requires a sibling: Podfile or *.xcodeproj or *.xcworkspace or CMakeLists.txt or package.json or pyproject.toml or requirements.txt or build.gradle or build.gradle.kts or pubspec.yaml or Cargo.toml

Haskell2 safe

Name	Kind	Description
.stack-work	safe	Stack build output
dist-newstyle	safe	Cabal (new-style) build output

Elm1 safe

Name	Kind	Description
elm-stuff	safe	Elm compiler cache and dependencies

Zig2 safe

Name	Kind	Description
zig-cache	safe	Zig compiler cache
zig-out	safe	Zig build output

Version control metadata

Name	Kind	Description
.git	pruned	Git metadata
.hg	pruned	Mercurial metadata
.svn	pruned	Subversion metadata

Customizing the ruleset

You can extend, replace, or narrow these defaults with a purgeit.config.ts.

Restrict the CLI to a subset of rules:

purgeit --targets node_modules,dist

Disable all gated rules and only match always-safe directories:

purgeit --no-gated

Don’t see your ecosystem, or want a rule removed? See Configuration for alwaysSafe/gated/alwaysSafeRemove/gatedRemove, or open an issue/PR — Contributing has the recipe for adding a new ecosystem to the catalog (one file, a handful of lines).

Where the defaults come from

The built-in catalog lives in src/rules/catalog/ — one file per ecosystem (javascript.ts, python.ts, rust.ts, apple.ts, dotnet.ts, java-jvm.ts, ruby.ts, dart-flutter.ts, elixir.ts, haskell.ts, elm.ts, zig.ts, vcs.ts), plus shared.ts for names used unqualified across multiple ecosystems (build, vendor). default-rules.ts and gate-conditions.ts derive the flat name lists and compiled gate predicates the scanner actually uses from this catalog — nothing scan-relevant is hand-duplicated. It’s also exported from the package’s public API (see API reference) as RULE_CATALOG, so this same data is available to anything built on top of purgeit as a library, not just this page.