cargo clean: how to clear the Cargo cache on Mac

What cargo clean deletes

Every Cargo project builds into its own target folder next to Cargo.toml: compiled dependencies, debug and release builds, documentation, incremental build data. Cargo makes all of it again from your code and the downloaded crates, so deleting it costs only build time.

This command shows what would be deleted and how much, without deleting anything. Run it in the project folder:

How to run cargo clean

This command deletes the whole target folder of the project you are in. Your code, Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock and the Cargo cache stay. The next cargo build compiles everything again, which takes minutes on a big project:

To delete less, cargo clean --release removes only the release build, and cargo clean --doc only the documentation made by cargo doc. In a workspace, one run cleans all its members.

Delete target folders of old projects

A project keeps its target folder for years after you last built it. Projects you no longer work on are the easiest space to free: run cargo clean in each, or move its target folder to the Trash. The code stays, and the next build makes the folder again.

How to clear the Cargo cache

Cargo keeps the crates it downloaded in ~/.cargo, shared by all projects:

• ~/.cargo/registry/index — information about crates: their versions and dependencies.
• ~/.cargo/registry/cache — downloaded crates as .crate archives.
• ~/.cargo/registry/src — the same crates unpacked for the compiler.
• ~/.cargo/git/db and ~/.cargo/git/checkouts — dependencies taken from Git repositories.

Cargo has no stable command that clears all of it. The Cargo Book says any part of the cache can be removed: Cargo unpacks or downloads again what a build needs. To clear it by hand:

1. Quit your code editor and wait for running builds to finish.
2. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G), type ~/.cargo/registry and press Return.

3. Move the cache and src folders to the Trash. To clear Git dependencies too, open ~/.cargo/git the same way and move checkouts and db to the Trash.

4. Empty the Trash.

Don’t delete ~/.cargo/bin: it holds cargo, rustc and the tools you installed with cargo install. Leave ~/.cargo/config.toml too: it is Cargo’s settings, not cache.

Does Cargo clear its cache by itself?

Partly, since Rust 1.88. During builds Cargo deletes files in ~/.cargo it hasn’t used for a while: downloaded ones after 3 months, ones it can make again offline after 1 month. Old target folders are never cleaned automatically: they stay until you run cargo clean or delete them.

cargo-cache, a third-party tool the Cargo Book mentions, shows the size of each part of the cache and clears the parts you pick. The built-in cargo clean gc exists only in nightly Rust so far.