Some folders bend spacetime. Delete them.
Dechonk scans your machine, finds every node_modules, Rust target, Go go-build, and Gradle or Maven build blackhole, and weighs them in chonk units. One click sends them past the event horizon. Your code stays. The gravity goes.
The two staples are free forever; Pro unlocks the other 21 kinds.
The problem
You don't have a storage problem.
You have a node_modules problem.
Every npm install leaves a folder that never stops eating. Cargo compiles quietly into target/ and never leaves. Go tucks gigabytes into go-build and the module cache, far from any project folder. Multiply that by every project you've ever touched, and your free space quietly falls into orbit. Dechonk finds them all, then shames them properly.
Actual Dechonk output, minus the actual Dechonk. Scan your own machine for the real numbers.
The unit of measurement
Know your chonk.
Every folder gets graded on the internationally recognized chonk scale. There is no appeal process.
Noticeable. The SSD has started to hold opinions about your choices.
≥ 200 MB
That's a feature-length movie. It's not a movie. It's dependencies.
≥ 500 MB
Spacetime visibly curved. Somewhere, an npm install left a mark.
≥ 1 GB
Badges are awarded automatically, because shaming works better than unit tests. Post your biggest chonk →
How it works
Three steps. Zero regret.
Scan
A parallel Rust walker sweeps your home folder, all drives, or anywhere you point it. Nested installs are deduplicated and junk folders are skipped before they can waste a millisecond. Every kind counts only on its own terms: Rust target folders with cargo's CACHEDIR.TAG, Go's caches at their canonical locations with Go's own markers, Gradle and Maven outputs under a real build script or pom, web build caches with their well-known files inside, and the npm, pnpm, and yarn caches at their canonical locations. Lookalikes are never touched.
Assess
Sizes stream in live as it walks. Sort by chonk, filter by how long nobody has touched it, and deal with the biggest offenders first.
Dechonk
One click sends folders past the event horizon: your OS Trash, and the only horizon in physics with a return policy. Need them gone for good? Drop them into the singularity: permanent deletion, always behind a confirmation that tells you exactly what it frees.
Peer-reviewed*
Field notes from the event horizon
The one-way principle
Anything that crosses the event horizon (npm install) cannot escape. It can only be duplicated, elsewhere, at 3 a.m., during a build.
Extreme density
A single 400 MB node_modules can contain over 30,000 files. Nothing else on your disk achieves this density. Physicists are not okay.
Time dilation
You told yourself you'd clean it up "this weekend." That was four fiscal quarters ago. Time genuinely bends near a chonker.
*Not peer-reviewed. Reviewed by your disk.
Safety
What Dechonk will never do
Touch your source files
Only build-artifact folders are targets: dependency folders, toolchain build caches, web build caches, and the shared Go, Gradle, Maven, npm, pnpm, and yarn caches. Your code isn't even scanned, let alone moved.
Follow symlinks into the void
Symlinks are never followed. Whatever lives outside the folder stays outside the folder.
Delete without asking
Everything stops at the event horizon first: your OS Trash, fully recoverable. The singularity (permanent delete) always asks, and always says exactly what it will free.
Phone home
The scanner never touches the network. Two optional connections exist: starting the trial (one anonymous check that sends only a salted hardware hash, never the identifier itself, so a reinstall cannot restart the trial) and activating a Pro license key. No telemetry, no accounts, no tracking.
Pricing
Free to dechonk. Pro to devour.
The staples are free forever. One license unlocks every blackhole on the machine.
Free
$0
- node_modules hunting, the original blackhole
- Cargo target folders, marker-gated
- Every scan scope: home, all drives, picked folders
- Trash-safe deletes, chonk badges, smart selection
- No account, no nagging
Dechonk Pro
$19 one-time · 1 year of updates
- All 23 blackhole kinds, 21 beyond the free two
- Go, Gradle, Maven: build output and shared caches
- Web build caches: Next.js, Turbo, Parcel, Angular, SvelteKit
- npm, pnpm, and yarn global stores
- Xcode DerivedData, Unity Library, CocoaPods Pods
- pip and HuggingFace caches, plus future kind packs
Oh Lawd, Lifetime
$49 once, forever
- Everything in Pro
- Every future update, never expiring
- Every future blackhole kind, day one
- Maximum respect for your disk
Prefer a subscription? Dechonk Pro is $14/year: every Pro blackhole kind while active, cancel anytime.
Subscribe yearlyEvery download starts with a 14-day Dechonk Pro trial: all 23 blackhole kinds, no account, nothing to remember. Prices in USD; VAT and sales tax are handled at checkout by our merchant of record. The scanner itself needs no account.
FAQ
Questions from the event horizon
Is deleting node_modules safe?
Yes. Your source code is never touched, and everything Dechonk removes is regenerable: dependencies come back with npm install (or pnpm/yarn/bun; Dechonk doesn't judge), Rust build output with cargo build, Go caches with go build and go mod download. They're the multi-gigabyte folders on your machine you're actually supposed to delete.
Does Dechonk delete Rust target folders?
Yes, but carefully. A folder named target is only ever reported when cargo's own CACHEDIR.TAG marker file is inside it, which is how cargo flags its build cache. A plain folder that happens to be named target is walked past, never reported, never deleted.
Does Dechonk delete Go caches?
Yes. Dechonk finds Go's build cache and module cache at their canonical locations, and only reports them when Go's own marker files are inside, so lookalike folders are never touched. They're shared by every Go project on this machine, and the next go build or go mod download rebuilds them. Hunting them is part of Dechonk Pro.
Does Dechonk delete Gradle or Maven caches?
Yes. Gradle's dependency cache counts only once modules-2 exists inside it, and Maven's local repository only when Maven's own artifacts sit under org/apache/maven, so unused lookalike folders are never touched. They're shared by every Gradle or Maven project on this machine, and the next gradle build or mvn package rebuilds them. Hunting them is part of Dechonk Pro.
Does Dechonk delete web build caches?
Yes. Next.js, Turborepo, Parcel, Angular, and SvelteKit caches only count when their own well-known files are inside them, so lookalike folders are never touched. The npm, pnpm, and yarn caches are found at their canonical locations; they're shared by every project on this machine, and the next npm install, pnpm install, or yarn install re-fetches everything. Hunting them is part of Dechonk Pro.
Is Dechonk free?
The core is free forever, no account: finding and deleting node_modules and cargo target folders across every scope. The other 21 blackhole kinds belong to Dechonk Pro, as a $19 one-time license (includes 1 year of updates), a $49 lifetime license, or a $14/year subscription.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, and it starts itself: the first launch of the app begins 14 days of full Dechonk Pro, all 23 blackhole kinds, no account. The start is anchored to your machine with one anonymous, salted-hash check, so reinstalling does not restart it. When it ends the two staples stay free forever, and a license lifts the wall again whenever you are ready.
What does Dechonk Pro add?
Every blackhole the free staples leave behind: Go's build and module caches, Gradle and Maven build output and their shared caches, the Next.js, Turborepo, Parcel, Angular, and SvelteKit build caches, the npm, pnpm, and yarn global stores, plus Xcode DerivedData, Unity's Library folder, CocoaPods Pods, the pip cache, and the HuggingFace cache. New kind packs land in Pro over time.
What happens when the update year ends?
Nothing breaks. A Pro license keeps working forever on every version you already have; after a year it simply stops receiving new feature updates. Renew, subscribe yearly, or hold the lifetime license to keep getting new blackhole kinds.
Does Dechonk delete anything permanently?
No. Folders always stop at the event horizon first (your OS Trash, fully recoverable). Dropping them into the singularity (permanent deletion) is opt-in and always behind a confirmation dialog that tells you exactly how much space it frees.
How fast is the scan?
The walker is written in Rust and runs discovery and size enrichment in parallel. Whole-drive scans typically finish in seconds, and you watch the numbers land live while it works.
Which platforms does it support?
macOS, Windows, and Linux. The app is built with Tauri, weighs about 4 MB, and opens instantly. The core hunt is free and needs no account; Pro unlocks inside the app with a license key.
Why is it called Dechonk?
Because the internet decided oversized folders are "chonky," and we are not strong enough to fight the internet. Dechonking is the act of restoring a folder to a reasonable mass. See also: the chonk scale.
Stop feeding the blackhole.
Download Dechonk, scan once, and reclaim the space your dependencies buried.
latest builds live on GitHub Releases