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Why is the .gradle folder so big on my Mac?

~/.gradle

By Parsa Nasirimehr

~/.gradle is Gradle's shared cache for every Android or JVM project you build: downloaded libraries, Gradle distributions, JDKs and build caches. It's safe to delete with Gradle stopped; the next build downloads what it needs again.

How big it gets

On the Mac we measured, a working developer's Mac on macOS 27: 12.8 GB: caches 10.5 GB, JDKs 1.5 GB, wrapper distributions 0.6 GB.

What it is

What writes itEvery Gradle build, from Android Studio, IntelliJ or ./gradlew, for every project on the Mac.
What's insidecaches/ (dependencies in modules-2, transformed artifacts, the build cache), wrapper/dists/ (one Gradle distribution per version your projects used), jdks/ (toolchains Gradle provisioned) and daemon/ logs.
Why it growsEach Gradle and Android Gradle Plugin update brings new versions of everything; old ones from projects you no longer build stay.
Comes back?Yes. The next build downloads what that project needs, which takes time and bandwidth.

How to clear it

  1. Stop the daemons: ./gradlew --stop in a project, or quit Android Studio.
  2. Delete ~/.gradle/caches for the most space, or only the old versions in ~/.gradle/wrapper/dists.
  3. Keep ~/.gradle/gradle.properties if you have one: it holds your settings, and sometimes signing or repository credentials.

What you lose: Download time on the next build of each project.

With Scrubs: Scrubs shows ~/.gradle as a Developer folder on the map with its size, so you can see it before deciding. Download Scrubs; scanning is free.

Related folders

Android emulators (.android/avd)How much space do Android emulators take on a Mac?node_modulesIs it safe to delete node_modules folders on a Mac?~/Library/CachesCan I delete the caches in ~/Library/Caches on my Mac?

Sizes measured with du on 1 November 2026. Paths and commands apply to macOS 15 and later. See also how to free up disk space on a Mac.

About the author: Parsa Nasirimehr is a mobile app developer who builds Scrubs, a disk map for the Mac. Spotted something wrong? Write to support@getscrubs.app.