A handy interactive Bash script to inspect and optionally clean up disk space used by common development tools and system caches on Ubuntu (or any Linux system).

check-disk-usage.sh

#!/bin/bash

GREEN="\e[32m"
RED="\e[31m"
YELLOW="\e[33m"
CYAN="\e[36m"
NC="\e[0m"

echo -e "${YELLOW}📦 Checking disk usage of common development folders...${NC}"
echo

FOLDERS=(
  "$HOME/.npm"
  "$HOME/.yarn"
  "$HOME/.bun"
  "$HOME/.nvm"
  "$HOME/.sdkman"
  "$HOME/.gradle"
  "$HOME/.m2"
  "$HOME/.vscode"
  "$HOME/.eclipse"
  "$HOME/.docker"
  "$HOME/snap"
)

for FOLDER in "${FOLDERS[@]}"; do
  if [ -d "$FOLDER" ]; then
    SIZE=$(du -sh "$FOLDER" 2>/dev/null | cut -f1)
    echo -e "${CYAN}$FOLDER${NC} → ${GREEN}$SIZE${NC}"
    echo -en "${YELLOW}Do you want to delete this folder? (y/N): ${NC}"
    read -r CONFIRM
    if [[ "$CONFIRM" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
      rm -rf "$FOLDER"
      echo -e "${RED}Deleted $FOLDER${NC}"
    else
      echo -e "${CYAN}Skipped $FOLDER${NC}"
    fi
    echo
  fi
done

echo -e "${YELLOW}🧾 Checking system-level caches...${NC}"
echo

# APT cache
if [ -d "/var/cache/apt/archives" ]; then
  APT_SIZE=$(sudo du -sh /var/cache/apt/archives | cut -f1)
  echo -e "${CYAN}APT cache${NC} → ${GREEN}$APT_SIZE${NC}"
  echo -en "${YELLOW}Clean APT cache? (y/N): ${NC}"
  read -r CLEAN_APT
  if [[ "$CLEAN_APT" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    echo -e "${GREEN}→ Cleaning APT...${NC}"
    sudo apt autoremove -y && sudo apt clean
  else
    echo -e "${CYAN}Skipped APT cleanup.${NC}"
  fi
  echo
fi

# Journal logs
if [ -d "/var/log/journal" ]; then
  JOURNAL_SIZE=$(sudo du -sh /var/log/journal | cut -f1)
  echo -e "${CYAN}Journal logs${NC} → ${GREEN}$JOURNAL_SIZE${NC}"
  echo -en "${YELLOW}Vacuum journal logs (older than 7 days)? (y/N): ${NC}"
  read -r CLEAN_JOURNAL
  if [[ "$CLEAN_JOURNAL" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    echo -e "${GREEN}→ Cleaning journal logs...${NC}"
    sudo journalctl --vacuum-time=7d
  else
    echo -e "${CYAN}Skipped journal logs cleanup.${NC}"
  fi
  echo
fi

# Docker system
if command -v docker &> /dev/null; then
  echo -e "${CYAN}Docker disk usage:${NC}"
  docker system df
  echo -en "${YELLOW}Prune Docker system (remove unused data)? (y/N): ${NC}"
  read -r CLEAN_DOCKER
  if [[ "$CLEAN_DOCKER" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    echo -e "${GREEN}→ Cleaning Docker system...${NC}"
    docker system prune -a -f
  else
    echo -e "${CYAN}Skipped Docker cleanup.${NC}"
  fi
  echo
fi

echo -e "${GREEN}✅ Done. Disk cleanup process finished.${NC}"

🧹 Script: check-disk-usage.sh

A handy interactive Bash script to inspect and optionally clean up disk space used by common development tools and system caches on Ubuntu (or any Linux system).

🔍 What it does:

• Scans common dev tool folders (e.g. .npm, .yarn, .m2, .gradle, .nvm, snap, etc.) and shows their sizes.

• Prompts for deletion of each folder individually.

• Reports disk usage of:

  • APT package cache
  • journalctl system logs
  • Docker system (images, volumes, containers)

• Prompts separately before cleaning:

  • APT cache (sudo apt autoremove && apt clean)
  • Systemd journal logs (journalctl --vacuum-time=7d)
  • Docker unused data (docker system prune -a)

✅ Features:

• Simple interactive prompts for safe manual control
• Works well on local dev machines or CI runners with disk pressure
• Requires no dependencies besides standard Linux tools

🚀 Usage

Download and run:

chmod +x check-disk-usage.sh
./check-disk-usage.sh

Or run directly from Gist in one line:

bash <(curl -L https://go.khuong.dev/check-disk-usage)