Find and delete every node_modules on your Mac
Deleting node_modules is always safe.
It contains only downloaded packages listed in the project's lockfile –
npm install (or pnpm/yarn/bun) restores it exactly. Every
project you cloned once and forgot still carries 200 MB–2 GB of it.
List them all, biggest first
find ~ -name node_modules -type d -prune -exec du -sh {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -30
-prune stops find from descending inside each
match, so nested node_modules aren't double-counted and the
scan is fast.
Delete the ones you don't need
rm -rf ~/old-project/node_modulesOr wipe all of them under an archive folder you no longer touch:
find ~/Archive -name node_modules -type d -prune -exec rm -rf {} +Don't forget the package manager caches
npm, pnpm, yarn and bun each keep a global download cache on top of per-project folders – often another 5-20 GB:
npm cache clean --force
pnpm store prune
yarn cache clean
bun pm cache rm
CacheCleaner scans your whole disk for node_modules, Rust
target, SwiftPM .build, Gradle builds and
virtualenvs, shows every one with its size, and deletes only what you
tick – plus the global npm/pnpm/yarn/bun caches in the same pass.