Quickstart

npkill - Node Modules Cleanup Tool

Overview

npkill is a CLI tool that finds and removes old node_modules directories to free up disk space. It scans your filesystem for node_modules directories and allows you to selectively or automatically delete them.

Quick Start

Scan a directory for node_modules

sc npkill scan directory

Delete all node_modules in a directory

sc npkill delete all --directory ~/projects

Stream results in real-time as JSON

sc npkill stream results --directory ~/projects

Passthrough to npkill CLI

sc npkill _ <npkill-args>

Key Features

• JSON Output: Use --json to output results as a single JSON object, or --json-stream for real-time JSON output
• Automatic Deletion: Use --delete-all to automatically delete all found node_modules
• Selective Deletion: Interactive mode lets you choose which directories to delete
• Size Analysis: Shows the size of each node_modules directory
• Filtering: Exclude specific directories with --exclude

Installation

npm install -g npkill

Usage Examples

Find node_modules larger than 100MB

npkill --json | jq '.results[] | select(.size > 104857600)'

Automatically delete node_modules in backups

npkill -d ~/backups/ --delete-all

Stream results for monitoring

npkill --json-stream 2>/dev/null | jq -s '.' > clean-results.json

Notes

• npkill is non-interactive when using --delete-all or JSON output flags
• The tool respects .npkillrc configuration files for customization
• Use --exclude to skip specific directories from scanning