# Is it safe to delete ~/.gradle/caches on Mac?

- URL: https://moreroom.app/folders/gradle-caches
- Item: Gradle caches
- Location: `~/.gradle/caches`
- Verdict: Safe to remove — Rebuilt or re-downloaded automatically when needed.
- Comes back on its own: yes
- Typical size: 5–50 GB
- Source: MoreRoom rules catalogue (2026-10-17), by Yando Pte. Ltd.

## What is it?

Gradle’s shared cache: every dependency downloaded from Maven repositories, transformed and compiled artifacts, compiled build scripts, the local build cache and caches for each Gradle version you have used. Gradle removes entries unused for a while on its own, but on Android or JVM developer Macs it typically holds 5 to 50 GB.

## What happens if you delete it?

Everything is downloaded or rebuilt on the next build, which can take a long time and a lot of bandwidth for large projects. Offline builds fail until the dependencies have been fetched again.

## How to remove it properly

Stop the Gradle daemons first with `./gradlew --stop` in a project (or `gradle --stop`), quit Android Studio or IntelliJ IDEA, then move `~/.gradle/caches` to the Trash. To reclaim space without a full reset, removing only the subfolders of Gradle versions you no longer use (such as `caches/7.6`) is gentler.

## Before you delete it

Avoid deleting it while a build is running or right before you need to work offline.