How to clear the Gradle cache on a Mac

Where the Gradle cache is

Gradle keeps everything it downloads in its user home, ~/.gradle, unless you have set GRADLE_USER_HOME somewhere else. Android Studio builds with Gradle too, so this is where an Android project's dependencies end up. To see what is taking the space:

du -sh ~/.gradle/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h

What the folders are, from Gradle's own documentation:

• caches: downloaded dependencies and the caches each Gradle version keeps. Usually the big one. Safe to delete.
• wrapper/dists: the Gradle versions the wrapper (./gradlew) downloaded, one per version your projects use. Safe to delete; each comes back the next time a project asks for it.
• daemon: the background Gradle processes' registry and logs. Gradle deletes logs older than 14 days itself.
• jdks: Java versions Gradle downloaded for builds that ask for one. Leave it unless you know your builds will fetch them again.
• gradle.properties and init.d: your own settings and scripts. Keep them. Nothing downloads them again.

Gradle already cleans up after itself

About once a day, when a Gradle daemon stops, Gradle deletes caches for versions you haven't used in 30 days, wrapper downloads nothing uses, daemon logs older than 14 days, and shared cache entries unused for a week or a month, depending on whether they can be rebuilt on your Mac or have to be downloaded. Its documentation says these folders usually need no managing by hand. So a large caches folder is mostly what your projects have used in the last month. Clearing it gets the space back now, and it fills again as you build.

Clear it

1. Stop Gradle. Quit Android Studio, then in each project you have built recently, run:

   ./gradlew --stop

   That stops the daemons started by that project's Gradle version only, so run it in a project for each version. Daemons left idle also stop by themselves after three hours.
2. Move the caches to the Trash. On macOS 15 or later:

   trash ~/.gradle/caches ~/.gradle/wrapper/dists

   Or, in Finder, choose Go → Go to Folder, type ~/.gradle and drag the two folders to the Trash.
3. Build once to check all is well, then empty the Trash. Nothing is freed until you do.

What it costs

• A slower first build in every project, while Gradle downloads its dependencies, and its own distribution, again.
• A network connection for that build. Gradle's documentation is clear that an --offline build fails if a module it needs is not in the cache.
• Nothing else. Your projects, their source and your settings are not in these folders.

One thing that is not a way to clear it: --refresh-dependencies. Gradle's documentation says it checks the cached files again but does not download ones that are unchanged, and it frees no space.

Android emulators are elsewhere

If Android Studio is what filled the disk, the Gradle cache may not be the biggest part. Each emulator is a disk image in ~/.android/avd:

du -sh ~/.android/avd/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h

Delete the ones you no longer use from Android Studio's Device Manager rather than in Finder, so Android Studio's list stays right. An emulator's apps and data go with it.

Where the app comes in

In the download edition, RefreshYourMac measures Gradle Caches: exactly ~/.gradle/caches and ~/.gradle/wrapper/dists, so your gradle.properties, init scripts and downloaded Java versions are never part of it. It is rated Safe for auto removal, and the app says plainly that the next Android build will be slower. Android emulators, emulator system images and each installed NDK version are separate rows, rated Review before deleting, because each costs a download or a lost emulator to get back. None of these are in the Mac App Store edition. For the rest of what development tools leave, see the Mac cleaner for developers.