npkill

p:: Node, CLI f:: npm, pnpm

• npkill.js.org
• GitHub - voidcosmos/npkill

Interactive CLI that lists node_modules (and other target dirs) with disk size and last-modified, then lets you delete selected folders from a TUI. TypeScript, MIT, by Nya García Gallardo and Juan Torres Gómez. Requires Node 14+; on older Node use [email protected].

Install

No install required:

npx npkill -s size

Optional global install via npm:

npm i -g npkill

Unix may need sudo for the global install. Scan starts at the current directory unless you pass -d or -f.

Usage

Key	Action
↓ ↑ / j k	Move between results
Space / Del	Delete the selected folder
o	Open the parent directory
/	Regex search (filter results)
T	Multi-select mode
V	Range select (in multi-select)
A	Select/unselect all (in multi-select)
Enter	Delete all selected (in multi-select)
Q / Ctrl+C	Quit

⚠️ Some apps need their node_modules to run. npkill highlights those with a warning. Prefer --dry-run or -x (--exclude-sensitive) before a bulk delete.

Flags

Flag	Description
-d, --directory	Start search here (default: .)
-f, --full	Search from the user’s home directory
-t, --targets	Comma-separated dir names, e.g. node_modules,.cache
-p, --profiles	Target profile (node by default); lists available if omitted
--config	Custom .npkillrc (else ./.npkillrc then ~/.npkillrc)
-E, --exclude	Comma-separated dirs to skip, quoted: "ignore1, ignore2"
-x, --exclude-sensitive	Skip sensitive directories
-D, --delete-all	Delete every match (pair with -x; -y skips the warning)
--dry-run	Simulate deletes, nothing is removed
-s, --sort	size, path, or age
--size-unit	auto, mb, or gb
--json	One JSON object at end of scan
--json-stream	One JSON object per line as results are found
-e, --hide-errors	Hide errors
-nu, --no-check-update	Skip update check

Examples

npkill -d ~/projects
npkill -d ~/backups/ --delete-all
npkill -d ~/projects --exclude "progress, ignore-this"
npkill --json > results.json
npkill --json-stream | jq '.result.path'

--json / --json-stream are for scripting; there is also a Node API for embedding npkill in scripts.

Gotchas

• CLI can freeze while a folder is deleting
• Size calculations can come out higher than they should
• Sorting (especially by path) slows down when there are many results