Changelog — What's new in Prune

v0.9.9 October 7, 2026

Duplicate files, dead startup items, and Mail attachments

Prune now finds the same file stored twice, including AI models kept by more than one tool, and the startup items left behind when an app or its updater was removed.

Duplicate Files. Identical copies are found by comparing contents, not names. Prune understands AI model stores, so the same weights sitting in Ollama, LM Studio and the Hugging Face cache show up as one set, with each copy labelled by where it lives. Your Desktop, Documents and Downloads are checked too (files of 10 MB and up). You choose which copies go; nothing is pre-selected, removed copies go to the Trash, and Prune won’t let you remove every copy.
Startup Items. Login items (macOS) and sign-in entries (Windows) whose program is no longer installed are listed under Applications. They free almost no space, so Prune shows how many there are rather than a size. On Windows, a backup .reg file goes to the Recycle Bin first, so a removed entry can be restored with a double-click.
Mail attachments (macOS). The copies Mail saves when you open an attachment are now cleaned with other app caches. The originals stay in your email.
Fix. Adding anything to the Keep List no longer hides every repository under Git Dead Refs.

v0.9.8 October 6, 2026

Undo for your own files, and one honest number

Prune now treats your own files differently from app caches: they go to the Trash, where you can still get them back. The headline number counts only what is genuinely safe to clean.

Your own files go to the Trash (the Recycle Bin on Windows). Large & Old Files, Stale Downloads, VM images, app leftovers, and anything you pick in Explore Disk are moved there, so a wrong pick can be restored. Caches are still deleted outright, since the apps that made them rebuild them. After a clean, Prune offers to empty the Trash so the space actually comes back.
One honest number. The dashboard and header now lead with what is safe to clean: caches only. Your own files are shown separately as “worth a look” and are never counted as junk. Categories with nothing in them fold into a single line.
The free scan shows everything. File names, paths, and the explanation for each item are visible before you upgrade, and Explore Disk is free to browse. Cleaning is the Pro step.
Clearer cleaning. The confirmation says what is permanent and what goes to the Trash. The finish screen shows your free space before and after. If something can’t be removed, Prune says why and what to do (“Quit that app, then clean again”) instead of showing a raw system error.
Cleaning History. Settings now lists every file each clean removed, with a button to copy the list. It never leaves your computer.
Real scan progress (“Step 5 of 17”) instead of a bar that was always full.
Safer by default. Prune always stays inside your user folder; the setting that could turn that off is gone. File paths are checked more strictly before anything is removed.
Fixes. A stopped clean no longer loses track of what it already removed. Settings switches that fail now tell you, instead of silently flipping back. On macOS, the disk header no longer reads “1% used” on a disk that is far fuller.

v0.9.7 September 16, 2026

Sizes that match your disk

Some files reserve far more space than they actually use, and Prune was counting the reservation — so a Docker disk holding under 10 GB could show up as hundreds of gigabytes of junk.

Every size now counts the space a file really occupies. That is also exactly what deleting it gives back. The change applies everywhere sizes appear: the dashboard, every category, Large & Old Files, Stale Downloads, and the space reported after a clean — on both macOS and Windows.
If you use Docker, OrbStack, or a VM app, expect the “found” total to drop sharply. The files are the same as before; only the numbers are now honest. Docker Desktop’s disk image and the virtual disks behind VMs and AI sandboxes were the common culprits.
macOS sizes now match Finder. A drive Finder calls 1 TB no longer shows as 926 GB inside Prune.

v0.9.6 August 31, 2026

Asked once, not every scan

macOS no longer interrupts every scan asking for the same folders — and every category finally has a colour of its own.

One permission ask instead of one per scan. Prune looks through Desktop, Documents, and Downloads to find large and long-forgotten files, and macOS guards each of those folders separately — so the same three questions came back every time you scanned. Prune now offers Full Disk Access once, up front, which replaces all of them permanently. The offer only appears if the grant is missing, and disappears the moment you give it.
A Full Disk Access row in Settings. It shows whether access is granted and takes you straight to the right System Settings pane, so you can find it again after dismissing the notice. To be clear about what it does: Full Disk Access lets Prune look. It changes nothing about what Prune may delete — you still pick every file yourself.
macOS prompts now say why. When macOS does ask for a folder, the dialog now explains what Prune is looking for there, instead of appearing with no reason attached.
Every category has its own colour. The newer categories — VM & Sandbox Images, Orphaned Tool Caches, Old Toolchains, Git Dead Refs, Stale Downloads, and Build Output — were borrowing colours from older ones, which made the dashboard cards and the removable-space bar hard to read at a glance. All fifteen categories now carry a distinct colour, and it's the same colour everywhere that category appears: the dashboard card, the results sidebar, the clean-confirmation list, and the space breakdown in the header.

v0.9.5 August 20, 2026

You choose which disks get scanned

Prune now scans your startup disk and leaves everything else alone until you say otherwise.

A prompt before the scan starts. If you have more than one drive attached, Prune asks which ones to include — listing each by name, whether it's internal or external, and how much space is free. Your startup disk is always scanned; everything else stays untouched until you tick it. With only one disk attached, nothing changes and the scan starts straight away.
No more surprise trips to your external drive. Previously every attached writable drive was pulled into the scan automatically, just for being plugged in — which on a large or slow external disk meant a long wait you never asked for. Background pre-measuring did the same thing quietly, and now respects your choice too.
Your choice sticks. A drive you include stays included next time you open Prune, and one you unplug simply drops off the list. Explore Disk is unaffected — you can still browse any attached drive by hand — and what Prune is allowed to delete hasn't changed.

v0.9.4 August 11, 2026

Behind-the-scenes maintenance release

No changes to the app itself in this release — it ships alongside internal site tooling we use to track how Prune is doing.

Internal analytics dashboard. Added a password-gated dashboard for our own use, pulling in traffic and performance data, so we can spot issues and prioritize what to build next.

v0.9.3 July 22, 2026

Windows: seamless background updates

"Check for Updates" on Windows now updates Prune without you having to leave the app.

Background download and silent install. Instead of opening the installer in a browser for you to download and run by hand, Prune now downloads the new version in the background and installs it silently while the app keeps running. Once it's ready, you'll see a "Restart to Update" prompt — restarting applies the update automatically, no separate uninstall/install step.
Takes effect from the next update. This is the first release with the new updater wired in, so upgrading to 0.9.3 itself still uses the old manual download — the seamless flow kicks in starting with the update after this one. macOS is unchanged for now; "Check for Updates" still opens the DMG download in your browser.

v0.9.2 July 22, 2026

Prune now checks before it cleans

Clearing an app's cache while it's still running can cause errors, or the app can just recreate the files immediately. Prune now catches that before anything gets deleted.

Running-app detection before cleanup. If any of the apps you selected caches for — a browser, Slack, Claude Desktop, Ollama, and more — are currently running, Prune shows you which ones and asks you to close them first. Close them and hit "Check again" and cleaning proceeds automatically.

v0.9.1 July 13, 2026

Prune now watches your disk, even when you're not looking

Running out of space always happens at the worst moment. Prune can now stay in your menu bar or system tray, keep an eye on free space, and nudge you before your machine grinds to a halt — all opt-in, all under your control.

Background disk-space monitoring. Turn it on and closing the window keeps Prune quietly running in the menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows). When free space drops below 1 GB, you get a notification so you can jump straight into a scan and reclaim space.
Launch at login. Enabling monitoring also starts Prune hidden at login, so protection is always on from the moment you sit down. A separate toggle in Settings lets you control it independently.
Automatic daily update checks. Prune now checks for a new version once a day by itself and shows a small, dismissible prompt when one is available — no pop-ups, no interruptions.

v0.9.0 July 12, 2026

Know exactly what you're deleting

Bare file paths don't inspire confidence. Every item Prune identifies now comes with a plain-English explanation of what it is, whether it's safe to remove, and what brings it back.

Plain-English explanations for every category. Each identified item on the review screen now tells you what it is, whether it's safe to remove, and how it regenerates — like "Chrome's web page and GPU caches. Safe to remove — Chrome recreates them as you browse." All explanations are built into the app; nothing about your files ever leaves your machine.
Honest guidance where it matters. Items that take effort to rebuild — like downloaded AI models — say so, and personal files in Large & Old Files are clearly marked as yours to review, not app junk.

v0.8.4 July 11, 2026

A clearer, safer cleaning flow

This update is all about making it obvious what Prune will remove — before it removes anything.

Review before you clean. Pressing Clean now shows a summary of exactly what will be removed, broken down by category, so nothing is ever deleted without a final look.
See what's selected at a glance. Every category in the review sidebar now shows how much you've selected out of what was found — like "1.2 GB of 3.6 GB" — with a clear checkmark showing whether all, some, or none of it is ticked.
The Clean button tells you the size. It now reads "Clean 1.3 GB" — the total across all categories you've selected from — so there's no guessing what one press will do.

v0.8.3 July 9, 2026

Smarter cleanup, live progress, and a public launch

Our first public release notes — here's everything that's landed in Prune so far.

Prune is live for macOS and Windows. Find and safely clear out the AI models, developer caches, and system junk that quietly eat up your disk space.
More junk Prune can find. Added detection for leftover snapshots, dependencies from projects you've abandoned, and old files you probably forgot about.
Leftover files from uninstalled apps. Prune now recognizes junk left behind by apps you've already removed, so it can clean that up too — with a clear confidence indicator so you always know what's safe to delete.
Real-time progress while cleaning. When you clean selected items, you now see exactly what's happening instead of staring at a frozen screen.
Clearer warnings. If something gets skipped during cleanup, Prune now shows a heads-up so you're never left guessing what happened.
Your Recycle Bin is off-limits. Prune no longer scans inside the Windows Recycle Bin — what's already there stays yours to manage.
See it before you download it. Added real screenshots and a walkthrough of the app to the website, plus a few readability fixes.