Is it safe to delete VS Code caches?

Yes - VS Code rebuilds them. Locations: ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode, Application Support/Code/Cache and CachedData. workspaceStorage keeps per-workspace extension state, so skim folder names before deleting it.

How do I clear JetBrains IDE caches?

In-app: File → Invalidate Caches. On disk: ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/ . The bigger win is deleting cache folders of IDE versions you no longer run - every yearly release keeps its own.

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VS Code & JetBrains cache locations

CacheCleaner guides · Updated July 18, 2026

IDEs cache aggressively and never garbage-collect projects you stopped opening. Indexes, logs, workspace storage and whole old IDE versions add up to 5-20 GB per editor family.

VS Code

~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode
~/Library/Application Support/Code/Cache
~/Library/Application Support/Code/CachedData
~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/workspaceStorage

All safe to delete – VS Code rebuilds them. workspaceStorage keeps a folder per workspace ever opened, including deleted projects; extensions' per-workspace state (like unsaved notebook outputs) lives there, so skim the folder names if that matters to you.

JetBrains (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, CLion…)

~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/<Product><Version>

Indexes and compile caches, rebuilt on next open (first re-index of a big project takes minutes). The bigger win: caches of old versions – every yearly release keeps its own folder. Deleting folders of versions you no longer run is pure profit. In-app: File → Invalidate Caches for the current version.

Old IDE leftovers

~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains   # plugins & settings per old version
~/Library/Logs/JetBrains

CacheCleaner covers VS Code and the whole JetBrains family in its IDE caches section – including versions you forgot you ever installed.

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