# Is it safe to delete Anaconda’s pkgs folder?

- URL: https://moreroom.app/folders/conda-pkgs-anaconda
- Item: Conda package cache (Anaconda)
- Location: `~/anaconda3/pkgs`
- Verdict: Safe to remove — Rebuilt or re-downloaded automatically when needed.
- Comes back on its own: yes
- Official command: `conda clean --all`
- Source: MoreRoom rules catalogue (2026-10-17), by Yando Pte. Ltd.

## What is it?

Conda keeps every package it downloads, both the archive and an unpacked copy, in the `pkgs` folder of your Anaconda install (`~/anaconda3/pkgs`). Environments are built by hard-linking files from here, so part of its size is shared with your environments, and old versions stay after updates. It commonly grows to several gigabytes.

## What happens if you delete it?

Packages that are still needed are downloaded again the next time you create or update an environment. Existing environments keep working, because their files are hard links rather than references to this folder.

## How to remove it properly

Run `conda clean --all` in Terminal (add `--dry-run` first to preview), conda’s own command: it removes unused packages, downloaded archives and index caches, and deletes them permanently. Avoid emptying `pkgs` by hand, which frees less than expected because of the hard links.