How to delete all node_modules directories from your computer

At 3/31/2024

Nice tip from Chris Ferdinandi:

My node_modules directories contained 50mb of stuff on the small side, and over 200mb of files in some cases. Over a few dozen projects, that really adds up!

Two dozen projects with 200 MB worth of node_modules? That’s nearly 5 GB of space for a bunch of stuff you’ve probably forgotten is even there, isn’t doing anything, and if you need again is a single command away. I feel like there should almost be a reaper app for these folders, deleting them if they haven’t been touched in a few weeks.

Nuke ’em:

# Mac/Linux
find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -print | xargs du -chs

# Windows
FOR /d /r . %d in (node_modules) DO @IF EXIST "%d" echo %d"

Direct Link →