RillDisk

See where your disk went, and what you can safely get back. A native disk analyzer for Windows, Linux and macOS that knows what coding agents leave behind, with a CLI and an MCP server built on the same engine.

Download · Git worktrees · Clean up safely · AI assistants · Known limits

_{The app's own scripted tour (--tour video) on a synthetic disk from scripts/make_demo_fixture.py: invented paths and drives, real Git repositories, Git's own verdicts. Frames play at a fixed rate, not in real time. Captioned MP4 (39 s).}

What it does

• Shows where space went. A GPU-drawn treemap and a sunburst, a folder list, the largest files and space by file type. Right-click any folder or file to show it in Explorer (Finder, or your file manager), copy its path or scan just that folder.
• Finds what can go. node_modules, target, .next, .venv, Unity Library, package caches, temp folders and Git worktrees, including the ones Claude Code, Codex, T3 Code, Cursor and Conductor create. Each candidate has a safety class, a reason, idle time, a suggested command, and the space removing it would actually free once hard links are counted.
• Asks Git about worktrees. Uncommitted changes, commits that exist only in that worktree, locks and the last commit, from your own git, read-only.
• Removes only what you confirm. Ticked folders go to the Recycle Bin / Trash after a confirmation that lists every path. Every folder is checked again right before it is moved.
• Works from scripts and AI assistants. A CLI with JSON output and a local stdio MCP server that can scan and explain but never delete.

Overview: the drive, what you can get back and where the space went.	Git worktrees: counts, scope, size against what removal frees, and Git's verdict for each.
Explore: nested map beside the folder list.	Right-click: Show in Explorer, copy, or scan one folder.

Install

Download from the latest release:

System	Package	Notes
Windows 10/11 (x64, ARM64)	RillDisk-<version>-x64.msi / -arm64.msi	Start menu entry, rilldisk on PATH, clean uninstall
	rilldisk-<tag>-<arch>-pc-windows-msvc.zip	Portable, no admin rights
macOS 11+ (Apple silicon, Intel)	RillDisk-<version>-arm64.dmg / -x64.dmg	Drag to Applications
Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives	rilldisk_<version>_amd64.deb (also arm64)	sudo apt install ./rilldisk_<version>_amd64.deb
Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE	rilldisk-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm (also aarch64)	sudo dnf install ./…rpm
Any Linux desktop	RillDisk-<version>-x86_64.AppImage / -aarch64	chmod +x, run
Servers, containers	rilldisk-<tag>-<arch>-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz	Static CLI and MCP server

Every release has SHA256SUMS and GitHub build attestations. Builds are not code-signed or notarized yet, so SmartScreen and Gatekeeper may ask you to confirm the first launch. Steps, verification and uninstalling: docs/INSTALL.md.

Each package holds rilldisk-desktop (the app) and rilldisk (CLI and MCP server). No account, and no administrator rights are needed to scan.

Upgrading. The desktop checks GitHub for a newer release once a day if you allow it, and offers it on an update card; nothing is installed until you click Update and restart. Click the version at the bottom of the sidebar to check now. Windows MSI copies download and verify the new MSI, then Windows Installer upgrades after you consent; .zip and .tar.gz copies are replaced in place after a SHA-256 check (rilldisk update does the same from a terminal). Copies installed from a .deb, .rpm, AppImage or .dmg get a link to the new package instead. RILLDISK_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 turns every check off (how updates work).

Git worktrees

Removing a linked worktree folder never deletes commits: they are stored in the main repository and its branch stays. What can be lost is uncommitted work (changed, staged or untracked files) and commits made on a detached HEAD that no branch, tag or remote holds. RillDisk asks your installed git about exactly that, read-only, and gives each worktree a verdict:

Verdict	Meaning
Uncommitted changes	Git reports changed or untracked files that removal would lose
Commits only here	A detached HEAD holds commits nothing else does
Locked	Someone ran git worktree lock
Active	No Git-reported changes, but commits or file changes within the idle threshold
Clean and idle	No Git-reported changes, nothing only there, and idle for the threshold (14 days by default)
Unknown	Git is missing, timed out or could not read the repository; never treated as clean

Each verdict comes with the next step to take (commit or stash, make a branch, unlock, or git worktree remove). Worktrees stay Review first whatever Git says, because Git cannot see everything:

• Ignored files (.env, local settings, scratch files) are not reported by git status.
• A running agent is not detected. An idle time only says nothing changed for a while.
• "Not on any remote" uses your remote-tracking branches as of your last fetch; RillDisk never fetches.

In the desktop the check runs in the background after a scan (Settings can turn it off or change the idle threshold). Select clean idle worktrees ticks only clean and idle ones. Right before a worktree is removed, Git is asked again, and the worktree is skipped if Git now reports changes, a lock, commits only there, new activity since it was judged idle, or cannot answer.

> rilldisk reclaim D:\code --git --min-size 1MB
      SIZE       FREES  SAFETY         IDLE  KIND                       PATH
  12.0 MiB    12.0 MiB  Review first     0d  Git worktree               D:\code\atlas-web\.claude\worktrees\add-search
                        git: Uncommitted changes - 1 changed file and 1 untracked item would be lost; last work today; branch add-search (no remote; kept in the repository).
  12.0 MiB    12.0 MiB  Review first    25d  Git worktree               D:\code\atlas-web\.claude\worktrees\spike-cache
                        git: Commits only here - 1 commit on a detached HEAD exists nowhere else; last work 25 days ago; detached HEAD.
  12.0 MiB    12.0 MiB  Review first    41d  Git worktree               D:\code\atlas-web\.claude\worktrees\fix-login
                        git: Clean and idle - No changes Git reports (ignored files are not checked); last work 41 days ago; branch fix-login (no remote; kept in the repository).

_{From a synthetic test repository; suggested commands omitted.}

The CLI asks Git only with --git (--stale-days N sets the threshold; JSON gains candidates[].git). With --git --delete, worktrees that Git did not report as clean, including unknown ones, are left out. The MCP server never runs Git. Folders left in an agent's worktrees directory without a .git are listed as orphaned agent folders: Git no longer knows them, so there is nothing to ask. Exact commands and safeguards: docs/proposals/git-inspection.md.

Clean up safely

Safety	Meaning	Examples
Regenerable	Rebuilt from source by project tooling	node_modules, target, .next, bin/obj, __pycache__, .venv, Unity Library
Cache	Re-downloaded or recreated on demand	npm, pnpm, pip, uv, Cargo, NuGet and Gradle caches, temp folders, shader caches
Review first	May hold unique work	Git worktrees, orphaned agent folders, Recycle Bin / Trash, model downloads

Candidates are recognised from names and marker files (target beside Cargo.toml, a .git file, pyvenv.cfg), never by reading file contents. SIZE is what the folder holds; FREES is what removing it frees on disk: allocated space, without files hard-linked elsewhere in the scan (pnpm and Cargo hard-link a lot, and sparse or compressed files take less than their length, so the two can differ greatly; scan the whole drive for the most accurate figure). The desktop's Size / On disk switch changes the size figures; what removal frees is always on disk. It reads "at least" only when every allocation is known, and "about" when some sizes fell back to file length.

Clean up has two halves: Safe to delete (Regenerable and Cache folders that tools rebuild or re-download) and Review first (folders that may hold unique work, such as worktrees). One All kinds menu narrows either half to one kind. Tick folders, or in Safe to delete tick a kind's heading or press Select all safe; Review-first items are never ticked for you, and empty folders are not listed. Move to Recycle Bin opens a confirmation listing every path and the total. Right before each folder is moved, RillDisk checks again that it:

• is still a real folder at the same place, not a link or junction, with no link above it;
• is the same folder the scan found, not a different one created at that path since;
• is not a drive root, mount point, your home folder, a system folder or the scan root;
• for Git-checked worktrees, still has no Git-reported changes (see above).

Anything that fails is skipped and reported. Permanent deletion is a separate, explicit choice. RillDisk never runs git worktree prune; the result tells you when to. From a terminal, rilldisk reclaim <path> --delete lists what it would move and asks first (--safety picks classes, --permanent, --yes, --format json). Rules and threat model: docs/proposals/cleanup.md.

AI assistants (MCP)

rilldisk mcp --root <folder> is a local stdio MCP server confined to the roots you give it. The desktop's home page detects Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex CLI, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Zed, OpenCode and Cline, shows the exact config change before writing it (with a backup), and checks the connection (rilldisk mcp setup and rilldisk mcp doctor do the same from a terminal).

Tool	What it does
allowed_roots	Configured scope and limits
start_scan, scan_status, cancel_scan	Background scan with progress; partial results stay queryable
query_entries	Children, largest files or path search, paginated
find_reclaimable	Cleanup candidates with safety, reason, idle days and suggested command
file_types	Space by extension

There is no delete, move, shell, Git or content-read tool: your assistant proposes, you decide. See docs/MCP.md.

CLI

rilldisk drives                                  # capacity and free space
rilldisk scan D:\ --top 30                       # largest files
rilldisk scan D:\ --format jsonl -o inventory.jsonl
rilldisk reclaim $HOME --git --format json       # candidates with Git verdicts

Exit status: 0 complete, 2 partial, 130 cancelled, 1 failure. Output files must be new; existing files are never overwritten.

Privacy and network

• Read: file and folder names, sizes, dates and attributes. File contents are never opened by RillDisk. The Git check runs your git, which reads repository metadata and compares working files as git status always does.
• Network: only the update check (GitHub release feed), which you can turn off. No telemetry, no accounts, no listening port.
• Programs started: git (read-only commands, when Git checks are on or --git is given) and your file manager (only when you choose Show in Explorer: scope). Never a shell.
• Changes: only the folders you confirm, to the Recycle Bin / Trash by default. RillDisk never elevates on its own (protected folders).

Known limits

• Entry limit. A scan holds as many entries as fit in half of the installed memory, or in the memory it can still allocate when it starts if that is less (Windows: RAM plus page file not yet committed; Linux: available RAM within any container limit). Each entry needs about 240 bytes; the limit is never under 30 million: up to about 35 million on a 16 GB computer, 140 million on 64 GB. A scan that reaches it is marked incomplete everywhere. The desktop offers a rescan with the next larger fixed limit (60M to 480M) when one exists and memory permits; the CLI and MCP server take --max-entries. Counts from an incomplete scan, including worktree counts, are lower bounds.
• Partial scans (unreadable folders, cancellation, unresponsive folders) are marked partial in the app, the CLI exit code, JSON and MCP. Protected system folders need administrator rights (desktop: Restart as administrator).
• Sizes are file allocations, not volume usage: filesystem metadata, alternate streams and snapshots are excluded. Scans are live, not atomic snapshots.
• Folder identity for cleanup is recorded when candidates are found, right after the scan; a folder swapped in during the scan itself is not detected.
• Git checks see what git status sees: not ignored files, not running processes, and remote state only as of your last fetch.
• Platforms. Windows is the primary platform. Linux and macOS builds are built and tested in CI; macOS performance has not been measured. Builds are unsigned.

Measured scan times and memory: docs/PERFORMANCE.md.

Build from source

Rust stable plus, on Windows, Visual Studio C++ Build Tools and the Windows SDK (rc.exe embeds the icon and manifest; set RC_PATH if it is not found). Linux needs pkg-config libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libx11-dev.

cargo build --release --locked
cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --locked -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace --locked
python scripts/test_mcp.py target/release/rilldisk.exe

Demo media is reproducible and synthetic:

python scripts/make_demo_fixture.py "C:\RillDisk Demo"          # ~150 GB of sparse files; real Git worktrees if git is installed
target\release\rilldisk-desktop.exe "C:\RillDisk Demo" --capture shots            # screenshots
target\release\rilldisk-desktop.exe "C:\RillDisk Demo" --capture video --tour video
python scripts/make_demo_video.py video --ffmpeg <ffmpeg> --mp4 tour.mp4 --gif tour.gif

Five crates: rilldisk-core (scanner, accounting, reclaim rules, cleanup, Git inspection), rilldisk (CLI and MCP), rilldisk-desktop (egui and wgpu), rilldisk-update (the only network code) and rilldisk-mcp-setup. See architecture, CONTRIBUTING.md and SECURITY.md.

License

Copyright © 2026 Raed Bahri and RillDisk contributors. Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 only.