Flutter Stole 48GB from My MacBook (And How I Got It Back)

My journey from “disk almost full” to reclaiming nearly 50GB of storage

🚨 The Wake-Up Call

It was 2 PM on a Tuesday when VSCode delivered the dreaded notification: “Your startup disk is almost full.” My MacBook, usually reliable, was gasping for air. If you’re a Flutter developer, this story probably sounds familiar. But how did it happen? I’m not a video editor or someone working with massive datasets. Where could all that space have gone?

The answer would shock me: Flutter and Dart had quietly consumed 48GB of my precious SSD space.

Note: Unfortunately, I didn’t capture the initial “disk almost full” warning since I wrote this blog post after solving the crisis. But trust me, the panic was real! 😅

The Investigation Begins

Like any good developer facing a crisis, I opened Terminal and started digging. What I discovered was both embarrassing and enlightening:

• 21 Flutter versions via FVM (~28GB)
• 17 Dart versions via DVM (~8.6GB)
• Dozens of build/ folders across projects (~8GB)
• Abandoned Git repositories collecting digital dust (~5GB)

“But I need all these versions for testing!” - that’s what I told myself. Spoiler alert: I absolutely didn’t.

🔍 When Flutter Becomes Greedy

The Silent Storage Killer

Here’s the thing about being a passionate Flutter developer: we experiment, we test, we clone repositories, and we install “just one more version” for that specific project. Each action seems harmless:

• Install Flutter 3.32.6 for the latest features? Just 1.2GB.
• Keep that old 3.16.0 for a legacy project? What’s another 1.1GB?
• Don’t clean build/ folders because “I might need them”? They’re only 200MB each…

Multiply this by months of development, and suddenly you’re looking at a storage disaster.

The Moment of Truth

When I ran my first storage audit, the numbers were staggering:

$ du -sh ~/fvm/versions ~/.dvm ~/.pub-cache
28G    /Users/boris-wilfriednyasse/fvm/versions
8.6G   /Users/boris-wilfriednyasse/.dvm  
4.2G   /Users/boris-wilfriednyasse/.pub-cache

Over 40GB just for version managers and the pub cache. That’s like carrying around 10+ HD movies on your development machine for no reason.

🧹 Phase 1: The Great build/ Folder Purge

Every time you run flutter build, a build/ directory appears. These folders can range from 100MB to over 1GB each. Now multiply that by every Flutter project you’ve ever touched.

The Automated Solution

Rather than manually hunting them down, I created a script to find and list all Flutter-related build folders.

#!/bin/bash
# Find all directories named "build"
find . -type d -name "build" -exec sh -c '
    # Get the parent directory of the build folder
    parent_dir=$(dirname "$1")
    # Check if a pubspec.yaml exists to confirm it is a Flutter project
    if [ -f "$parent_dir/pubspec.yaml" ]; then
        # If it is, calculate its size and print it
        size=$(du -sh "$1" | cut -f1)
        echo "$size - $1"
    fi
' sh {} \;

Result: 42 build folders found, 8GB reclaimed with a single command!

Complete scripts are available on my GitHub repository.

🎯 Phase 2: FVM Version Management Reality Check

The Shocking Inventory

$ fvm list
Cache Directory: /Users/boris-wilfriednyasse/fvm/versions
master
stable  
beta
3.32.6
3.32.4
3.29.0 (global)
3.27.0
3.24.4
3.24.0
# ... 15 more versions

21 Flutter versions! Each taking 1-1.5GB. When did I become a Flutter version hoarder?

The Conservation Strategy

Instead of nuking everything, I developed a clear retention policy:

Keep:

• Release channels (master, stable, beta) for testing edge cases.
• The latest 3 stable versions for current projects.

Remove:

• Everything else.

The Automated Cleanup Script

#!/bin/bash
# Define a list of essential versions to keep.
KEEP_VERSIONS=("master" "stable" "beta" "3.32.6" "3.32.4" "3.29.0")

# A function to check if a version is in our keep list.
should_keep_version() {
    local version="$1"
    for keep in "${KEEP_VERSIONS[@]}"; do
        if [ "$version" = "$keep" ]; then
            return 0  # 0 means "true" in bash, so we keep it.
        fi
    done
    return 1  # 1 means "false", marking it for removal.
}

# The script then loops through installed versions,
# checks against this function, and asks for confirmation before deleting.

Result: 28GB reclaimed by removing 15 unnecessary Flutter versions!

🎯 Phase 3: DVM Dart Version Minimalism

The Location Mystery

First challenge: where does DVM actually store Dart versions? The documentation wasn’t crystal clear.

After some detective work, I found them hiding in ~/.dvm/darts/:

$ ls ~/.dvm/darts
2.18.0  3.0.5   3.1.3   3.3.0   3.5.3   3.7.2
3.0.0   3.0.6   3.2.0   3.3.3   3.5.4   3.8.3
3.0.1   3.1.0   3.2.3   3.5.0   3.7.0

17 Dart versions consuming precious storage space.

The Minimalist Approach

For Dart, I went nuclear with a simple rule:

Keep: Only version 3.8.3 (the latest stable I needed). Remove: Everything else.

Why? Unlike Flutter, I rarely need multiple Dart SDKs for compatibility testing. The latest stable version handles 99% of my use cases.

#!/bin/bash
KEEP_VERSIONS=("3.8.3")

# Clean everything except the latest

Result: 8.6GB reclaimed!

📊 Phase 4: Git Repository Archaeology

The Forgotten Projects

In my github/ and gitlab/ directories, dozens of repositories were gathering digital dust. But which ones were still relevant?

A Note for macOS & Linux Users: The project analysis script is designed for a Unix-like environment. It works out-of-the-box on macOS. On Linux, the date command might need a slight adjustment (e.g., using date -d "6 months ago"). For best results on macOS, you can install coreutils with brew install coreutils to get access to gdate.

The Activity Analysis Script

This script identifies projects that haven’t been touched in over six months.

#!/bin/bash
# A function to get the date of the last commit.
get_last_activity() {
    local project_dir="$1"
    if [ -d "$project_dir/.git" ]; then
        cd "$project_dir"
        # Log the last commit date in a simple format (YYYY-MM-DD)
        git log -1 --format="%ci" 2>/dev/null | cut -d' ' -f1
        cd - >/dev/null
    fi
}

# Define the date for 6 months ago.
six_months_ago=$(date -v-6m +%Y-%m-%d) 
# The script then compares each project's last activity to this date.

Result: Additional 5GB reclaimed by archiving or deleting old projects.

🎉 Mission Accomplished: 48GB Recovered!

🛠 The Toolkit: Scripts That Saved My SSD

All scripts are available on my GitHub repository with detailed documentation.

Core Scripts

• flutter_build_cleaner.sh: Build folder cleanup.
• fvm_cleaner.sh: Flutter version management.
• dvm_cleaner.sh: Dart version management.
• project_analyzer.sh: Git repository analysis.

📚 From Digital Hoarding to Intentional Development

This cleanup taught me more than just storage management. It was a lesson in resourcefulness.

The Psychology of “Just in Case”

As passionate developers, we accumulate resources:

• “This version might be useful later.”
• “This test project isn’t that big.”
• “I’ll clean up when I have time.”

Reality check: Storage is a finite, valuable resource. A clean environment improves performance, simplifies maintenance, and reduces cognitive overhead. An intentional approach to our tools is as important as an intentional approach to our code.

The Real Cost of Bloat

Beyond storage space, version bloat impacts:

• IDE performance (slower indexing)
• Build times (more artifacts to scan)
• Mental clarity (decision fatigue choosing versions)
• Backup size (unnecessary cloud storage costs)

🚀 Best Practices for a Lean Dev Environment

1. Proactive Build Cleanup: Add an alias to your shell profile (.zshrc, .bash_profile).

   alias flutter-clean-all="find . -name 'build' -type d -exec rm -rf {} + 2>/dev/null"
   

2. Strategic Version Management:

   • FVM: Keep a max of 5-6 versions (channels + 2-3 recent stable).
   • DVM: Keep a max of 2-3 Dart versions.

3. Monthly Audits: Schedule a recurring 15-minute calendar event to review old projects and SDKs.

💡 Your Turn: The 5-Minute Storage Audit

I challenge you to run these two commands right now:

# 1. How much space are your SDKs using?
du -sh ~/fvm/versions ~/.dvm

# 2. How many build folders are hiding in your current directory?
find . -name "build" -type d | wc -l

Tweet me @bwnyasse with your results using the hashtag #FlutterCleanup! Let’s see who can reclaim the most space.

🤝 Join the Conversation

• GitHub: Download the complete script collection.
• Twitter: Share your cleanup wins with #FlutterCleanup.
• LinkedIn: Connect and share your storage optimization stories.

Remember: 48GB recovered in one afternoon with reusable scripts. Your SSD (and your sanity) will thank you.

Happy coding with a cleaner environment! 🧹✨

A huge thank you to the Flutter and Dart communities for the continuous inspiration. As a Flutter GDE, it’s incredibly rewarding to share practical solutions that make our development lives easier. Let’s continue to build amazing things while keeping our environments clean and efficient!