How to clear the npm cache on a Mac

Where the npm cache is on a Mac

npm keeps its cache in ~/.npm, the hidden .npm folder in your home folder, unless you have changed its cache setting. To check:

npm config get cache

Inside it, two folders take the space:

• _cacache: every package and registry response npm has downloaded, on any project, with any version of Node.
• _npx: the packages npx installed to run a command once.

To see how big they are:

du -sh ~/.npm/_cacache ~/.npm/_npx 2>/dev/null

npm's own documentation is plain about why it gets big: npm will not remove data by itself, and the cache grows as new packages are installed.

Is it safe to clear?

Yes. npm calls it strictly a cache, not a store to rely on. Your projects' packages are in their own node_modules folders, and global packages are installed elsewhere, so neither is touched. What clearing costs is time: the next npm install downloads everything it needs again, so it is slower and needs a network connection.

It will not fix a broken install, either. npm checks every file going in and out of the cache and fetches again, or reports an error, if anything doesn't match. That is why its documentation says clearing is only worth doing to get disk space back.

Clear it

To tidy first without emptying it, ask npm to check the cache and remove what it no longer needs:

npm cache verify

To empty it:

npm cache clean --force

The --force is required; without it npm refuses and explains why it thinks you don't need to. The command removes the _cacache folder and nothing else in ~/.npm.

The npx cache is separate

npm cache clean --force leaves ~/.npm/_npx alone. On npm 11 there is a command for it (npm cache npx ls lists what is there first):

npm cache npx rm --force

On older npm, which has no such command, move the folder to the Trash instead. The trash command is built into macOS 15 and later:

trash ~/.npm/_npx

The next npx command installs what it needs again. Empty the Trash once you are happy, since nothing is freed until you do.

What clearing the cache doesn't free

• node_modules. Each project's own copy of its packages is usually far bigger than the cache. See how to find and delete node_modules.
• Yarn and pnpm. They keep caches of their own, which npm's commands don't touch.
• Other tools' caches. Homebrew keeps its downloads elsewhere; see cleaning the Homebrew cache.

Where the app comes in

In the download edition, RefreshYourMac measures this as NPM Cache: ~/.npm/_cacache, the npx installs in ~/.npm/_npx and npm's logs in ~/.npm/_logs. It is rated Safe for auto removal, so it can go in Clean All Safe or a scheduled clean, which keeps it from creeping back. Yarn's and pnpm's caches are their own row beside it. The Mac App Store edition does not have NPM Cache; it has Yarn's cache only. For everything else development tools leave on a Mac, see the Mac cleaner for developers.