Can I safely delete contents of Xcode Derived data folder?

317
votes

I am running low on disk space and checked through a third party utility that among other things that ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData directory is taking about 22GB of disk space.

I searched stackoverflow and found this post

How can I safely delete in my ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData directory?

The accepted answer to this question suggests that I should not touch / remove folders from this directory. so what I did was

  • Found an existing build project folder for an app that I have available on Appstore
  • Deleted the folder from derived dir
  • launched XCode 5
  • Open that project
  • Clean Build
  • Tested and compiled it on a simulator
  • ReArchived
  • Everything worked. Nothing was broken.

Unless I missed something in that posts answer I want to make sure by asking experienced developers that if I delete all the folders from DerivedData it will not hurt me in building, testing and compiling those projects.

12
iosxcode
accepted answer to the referenced question is stackoverflow.com/a/7284632/8047 which doesn't say anything about not deleting from DerivedData... though Archives is important to debug stuff later, but that's a different directory. – Dan Rosenstark

12 Answers

395
votes

Yes, you can delete all files from DerivedData sub-folder (Not DerivedData Folder) directly.

That will not affect your project work. Contents of DerivedData folder is generated during the build time and you can delete them if you want. It's not an issue.

The contents of DerivedData will be recreated when you build your projects again.

Xcode8+ Update

From the Xcode8 that removed project option from the window tab so you can still use first way:

Xcode -> Preferences -> location -> click on small arrow button as i explain in my first answer.

Xcode7.3 Update For remove particular project's DeriveData you just need to follow the following steps:

Go to Window -> Project:

enter image description here

You can find the list of project and you can either go the DerivedData Folder or you can direct delete individual Project's DerivedData

enter image description here

I am not working on Xcode5 but in 4.6.3 you can find DerivedData folder as found in the below image:

enter image description here

After clicking on Preferences..

enter image description here

You get this window

enter image description here

132
votes

I purge derivedData often enough that I have an alias for it. It can fix build problems. I have the following in /Users/Myusername/.bash_profile

alias purgeallbuilds='rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/*'

Then in terminal, I type purgeallbuilds, and all subfolders of DerivedData are deleted.

39
votes

XCODE 10 UPDATE

On the tab:

  1. Click Xcode
  2. Preferences
  3. Locations -> Derived Data

You can access all derived data and clear by deleting them.

34
votes

XCODE 7.2 UPDATE

(Also works for 7.1.1)

  1. Click Window then Projects and then delete Derived Data.

Like this:

enter image description here

And then delete it here:

enter image description here

Hope that helps!

23
votes
 $ du -h -d=1 ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/*

shows at least two folders are huge:

 1.5G   /Users/horace/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
 9.4G   /Users/horace/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport

Feel free to remove stuff in the folders:

 rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/*

and some in:

 open ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS\ DeviceSupport/
18
votes

Just created a github repo with a small script, that creates a RAM disk. If you point your DerivedData folder to /Volumes/ramdisk, after ejecting disk all files will be gone.

It speeds up compiling, also eliminates this problem

xc-launch repo

Best launched using DTerm

12
votes

XCode 8: To delete derived data for your current project:

Click Product menu

Hold Option key

Click Clean Build Folder

4
votes

XCODE 10 UPDATE

Click to Xcode at the Status Bar Then Select Preferences

In the PopUp Window Choose Locations before the last Segment

You can reach Derived Data folder with small right icon

enter image description here

2
votes

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData

1
votes

yes, safe to delete, my script searches and nukes every instance it finds, easily modified to a local directory

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -o errexit
set -o nounset
set -o pipefail
IFS=$'\n\t'

for drive in Swap Media OSX_10.11.6/$HOME
do
   pushd /Volumes/${drive}  &> /dev/null
   gfind . -depth -name 'DerivedData'|xargs -I '{}' /bin/rm -fR '{}'
   popd &> /dev/null
done
-1
votes

I would say it's safe--I often delete the contents of the folder for many kind of iOS projects, this way. And, I haven't had any issues with builds or submitting to the App Store. The procedure deletes derived data and cleans a project's cached assets, for both Xcode 5 and 6.

Sometimes, simply calling rm -rf on the Derived Data directory leaves a lingering file or two, but my script loops until all files are deleted.

-1
votes

The content of 'Derived Data' is generated during Build-time. You can delete it safely. Follow below steps for deleting 'Derived Data' :

  1. Select Xcode -> Preferences..

Step 1

  1. This will open pop-up window. Select 'Locations' tab. In Locations sub-tab you can see 'Derived Data' Click on arrow icon next to path.

Step 2

  1. This will open-up folder containing 'Derived Data' Right click and Delete folder.

Step 3