Is it safe to delete ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData?
Your tools make it again on their own. The cost is a slower next run.
- What it is
- Build files and search indexes Xcode creates while compiling and browsing your projects. Xcode's own build tool describes this location as where “build products and other derived data” go (xcodebuild -help).
- Made by
- Xcode
- If you remove it
- Source code, git history and project settings are not stored here, so a normal project loses nothing you cannot rebuild. The effect is that the next build of each affected project is slower while Xcode recompiles and re-indexes. If a project uses a custom build script that writes its own output into DerivedData, that output is removed too.
- How it comes back
- Open the project in Xcode and build it (Product → Build, ⌘B), Xcode recreates DerivedData automatically. From Terminal, the equivalent is: xcodebuild build (run from the project directory).
xcodebuild build
The proof
- Verified by
- locally tested
- Checked on
- macOS 26.6.2, Xcode 26.6
- Catalogue
- Spaceific's rules.json 1.2.0, 2 Nov 2026. The whole file.
- Measured
- Frees at least 1.07 GB on the builder's Mac (9 Oct 2026)
Related
- Delete Xcode DerivedData, safely (guide)
- Archives
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/ArchivesNo rule yet - iOS DeviceSupport
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupportNo rule yet - Simulator Devices
~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/DevicesNo rule yet - Xcode app cache
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.XcodeNo 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.