I built a disk cleaner that tells you where your gigabytes actually went

If you've ever gotten the "your disk is almost full" warning and thought "that can't be right, my files aren't that big" — you're right. It's almost never your files. It's the invisible stuff: years of app and package caches, Docker layers from projects you deleted, WSL virtual disks that never shrink on their own, local AI models you pulled once to try something and never touched again, and ordinary Windows clutter piling up quietly.

I got tired of hunting these down by hand, so I built Sparewise — a free Windows disk cleaner for everyone, with deep insight for developers and local-AI users: https://sparewise.app

What it finds

Sparewise scans your drive and breaks down usage by category, so you can see exactly where the gigabytes went:

• Developer caches — npm, pip, Cargo, and more
• Local AI models — Ollama, LM Studio, and Hugging Face models, listed one by one so you can spot the ones you forgot about
• AI coding-tool caches — the leftovers from your AI-assisted workflow
• Docker and WSL virtual disks — the ones that silently balloon and never shrink
• Project and build folders — node_modules, target, dist, and friends
• Editor caches and ordinary Windows clutter

Safety first, always

This was the part I was most careful about. Scanning changes nothing. You get the full picture first, and Sparewise asks before cleaning anything up. Removed items generally go to the Recycle Bin or an undo window, so if you ever nuke something you wanted, you can restore it. (The one exception is Windows Disk Cleanup, which is irreversible by nature — that's called out clearly in the app.)

Privacy

No account. No telemetry. Nothing about your PC is sent anywhere — the whole thing runs locally.

Install options

• Microsoft Store — the signed build, easiest path
• Direct installer from sparewise.app (not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may flag it — the Store build is the signed one; release checksums are published)
• Portable ZIP — no install at all
• npx sparewise — for the terminal-inclined

Windows 10/11, x64 and ARM. Free to use.

What's next

I'm actively working on it and I'd love to hear what's eating your drive that Sparewise doesn't find yet. Drop a comment — I read everything.