Manage Rust build artifacts and disk usage
MintDisk finds the target folders of Cargo projects you have not worked on for a while, shows their size, and leaves your source and Cargo.toml alone.
Scanning is free. Cleaning and deleting are included in the free 7-day trial and in Pro.
How Rust target directory cleanup works
- 1
Find inactive projects
Developer Pack finds target folders next to a Cargo.toml in projects idle for 30, 60, 90 or 180 days.
- 2
Review
Each project shows its size, how long it has been idle and the restore command, cargo build.
- 3
Move to the Trash
Selected target folders go to the Trash. The project and its Cargo.toml stay.
When it helps
Large target folders
Debug and release builds of a single Rust project can take gigabytes.
Cargo registry and git caches
Deep cleanup lists ~/.cargo/registry/cache and ~/.cargo/git/db, which Cargo downloads again when needed.
Unused Rust toolchains
Deep cleanup can uninstall rustup toolchains you no longer use; the default, active and pinned toolchains are protected.
Good to know
- Activity is based on file changes and git metadata; uncommitted changes are not checked.
- The next build of a cleaned project is a full build.
- Cargo caches and toolchains cleaned in Deep cleanup are removed permanently; target folders from Developer Pack go to the Trash.
- Cleaning Cargo's extracted sources needs cargo, rustc and rust-analyzer to be stopped.
Questions and answers
Is it safe to delete a Rust target folder?
Yes. It holds build output only, and cargo build creates it again. Your source and Cargo.toml are not touched.
Does MintDisk clean the Cargo registry?
Deep cleanup lists the registry cache and the git database and pre-selects them as recommended. Extracted sources are listed separately.
Which toolchains can it remove?
Toolchains installed with rustup that are not the default, not active and not pinned by an override or a rust-toolchain file. It uses rustup toolchain uninstall.
Is Rust target cleanup free?
Scanning is free. Removing needs the free 7-day trial or a Pro license.
Keep exploring
Try it on your Mac
MintDisk runs on macOS 12 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Start the 7-day trial in the app, no card needed.