How JClean keeps your files safe

A storage cleaner deletes files, so one bug could destroy someone's work. JClean is built so that it can't.

Four levels of risk

• Safe to clean

  Comes back on its own when needed, like package caches and build folders of projects you haven't touched. Cleaning it loses nothing. Only these are ever ticked for you.

• Needs review

  Probably fine to clean, but take a look first: old installers, large files, projects you're still working on. Your own files go to the Trash or Recycle Bin so you can put them back.

• Caution

  May hold data that can't be recovered, like iPhone backups or Docker volumes. JClean always asks a second time and spells out what you'd lose.

• For your information

  Shown so you can see where space goes, like your Photos library. JClean never cleans these.

Risk is always shown with a label and an icon, never by colour alone. If there's any doubt about something, it's marked "Needs review", not "Safe".

Checked again, right before cleaning

Scans can go stale, so every item passes these checks at the moment it's cleaned, not just when it was found:

1. It's inside a folder its rule is allowed to clean, after following any shortcuts in the path.
2. It isn't a protected location, or a folder that contains one.
3. It isn't a link to somewhere else. Links are removed as links and never followed.
4. It hasn't changed since the scan. Anything that grew or was modified is skipped.
5. The app that uses it isn't open. JClean asks you to close it first.

All deletion goes through one small, heavily tested piece of code, and every action is written to a log you can read and export.

What JClean never touches

• ✓Your home folder and the top level of Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Videos
• ✓Your SSH, GPG, AWS and Kubernetes keys, and where passwords are kept: the Keychain on Mac, Credential Manager on Windows, keyrings on Linux
• ✓Mail, browser profiles, and anything inside a Git repository's .git folder
• ✓The system itself: macOS's /System and /usr, the Windows folder and Program Files, and Linux's /usr, /etc and /var (except package caches, which apt and dnf clear themselves)
• ✓Files that are only in iCloud or OneDrive: they're never opened, so they're never downloaded
• ✓Anything in a folder containing a file named .jclean-keep

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