Is it safe to delete ~/Library/Caches/pip?
Your tools make it again on their own. The cost is a slower next run.
- What it is
- Downloads pip has made and wheels it has built, kept so the next install doesn't fetch or build them again.
- Made by
- pip
- If you remove it
- The next pip install downloads packages again, and rebuilds any wheel it had built, slower, and it needs an internet connection. Installed packages are not touched.
- How it comes back
- Nothing to do, pip fills the cache again the next time it installs something.
The tool's own commands
pip cache dir“to get the cache directory that pip is currently configured to use.” On macOS the default is ~/Library/Caches/pip.From pip.pypa.io/en/stable/topics/caching/, read 3 Nov 2026.pip cache purge“will clear all files from pip's wheel and HTTP caches.”From pip.pypa.io/en/stable/topics/caching/, read 3 Nov 2026.
The proof
- Verified by
- vendor documentation: pip documentation, “Caching”, section “Cache management” (https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/topics/caching/), pip's own command “pip cache purge” clears every file from this cache. Recreation proved in a scratch PIP_CACHE_DIR on 10 Oct 2026 with pip 25.2: cache deleted, pip download filled it again.
- Checked on
- macOS 26.6.2, pip 25.2
- Catalogue
- Spaceific's rules.json 1.2.0, 2 Nov 2026. The whole file.
Related
- npm cache
~/.npm/_cacache - Cargo registry
~/.cargo/registry - pnpm store
~/Library/pnpm/store - npm global
~/.npm-globalNo rule yet - Homebrew cache
~/Library/Caches/HomebrewNo rule yet - rustup toolchains
~/.rustup/toolchainsNo rule yet - conda
~/.condaNo rule yet - swiftpm
~/.swiftpmNo rule yet - Every rule
Spaceific shows this rule for this folder in the app, checks it again at the moment you act, and moves only to the Trash, with Put Back. What Spaceific is.