Package Manager Cache Tab - Visual Guide¶
Main Interface Layout¶
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ PACKAGE MANAGER CACHES ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ [📦 System Package Managers] [📁 Project Folders] ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ ┌─ TAB 1: SYSTEM PACKAGE MANAGERS ────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ □ ✓ pip (Python) │ ║
║ │ □ ✓ npm (Node.js) │ ║
║ │ □ yarn (Node.js) │ ║
║ │ □ conda (Python) │ ║
║ │ □ System Package Manager │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ [🔍 Detect Available Package Managers] │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ │ ✓ Detected: PIP, NPM │ ║
║ │ │ ║
║ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ┌─ CLEANUP OPTIONS ───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║
║ │ Keep cache files newer than: [7] days │ ║
║ │ □ Include orphaned packages │ ║
║ │ ☑ Dry Run (Preview Only - RECOMMENDED) │ ║
║ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║
║ ║
║ [🔍 Scan for Caches] [🧹 Clean Selected Caches] ║
║ ║
║ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ ║ ✓ Found 2 cache locations: 1.7 GB total ║ ║
║ ╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║
║ ║ Name │ Type │ Path │ Size │Files║ ║
║ ╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║
║ ║ pip │ package_manager_cache │ ~/.cache/pip │ 1.2GB │ 850 ║ ║
║ ║ npm │ package_manager_cache │ ~/.npm │ 500MB │ 320 ║ ║
║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Tab 1: System Package Managers 📦¶
What You See¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📦 SYSTEM PACKAGE MANAGERS TAB │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ System Package Managers to Clean │
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ pip (Python) │ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ npm (Node.js) │ │
│ │ ☐ yarn (Node.js) │ │
│ │ ☐ conda (Python) │ │
│ │ ☐ System Package Manager │ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ [🔍 Detect Available Package Managers] │
│ │
│ ✓ Detected: PIP (26.2.1), NPM (9.8.1) │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Steps to Use¶
- Detect - Click "Detect Available Package Managers"
- Shows which package managers are installed on your system
-
Status shows as green ✓ when detected
-
Select - Check which package managers to clean
- pip and npm are checked by default (most common)
-
Uncheck system packages you don't want to clean
-
Scan - Click "Scan for Caches"
- Finds cache directories for selected package managers
-
Shows progress bar during scanning
-
Review - Check results in table
- Name: Package manager name
- Size: Cache directory total size
-
Files: Number of cache files
-
Preview - Keep "Dry Run" checked (default)
- Click "Clean Selected Caches"
-
Shows what would be deleted without actually deleting
-
Cleanup - Uncheck "Dry Run" and run again
- Click "Clean Selected Caches" to actually delete
- Files permanently removed
Tab 2: Project Folders 📁¶
What You See¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📁 PROJECT FOLDERS TAB │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Select Folders to Scan │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Selected Folders: │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ • C:\Users\user\my_project │ │
│ │ • D:\dev\ml-project │ │
│ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ [➕ Add Folder] [➖ Remove Selected] [🗑️ Clear All] │
│ │
│ Python Cache Types to Clean │
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ __pycache__ (Python bytecode) │ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ .egg-info (Egg metadata) │ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ .dist-info (Dist metadata) │ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ .pytest_cache │ │
│ │ ☑ ✓ .mypy_cache │ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Steps to Use¶
- Add Folders - Click "➕ Add Folder"
- File browser opens
- Select a project directory
-
Can add multiple folders
-
Configure - Select cache types to clean
- All types checked by default
- Uncheck types you want to skip
-
Most common: pycache and .egg-info
-
Scan - Click "Scan for Caches"
- Scans each selected folder (limited to 3 levels deep for safety)
-
Shows progress bar
-
Review Results - Check what was found
- Shows cache locations with sizes and file counts
-
Only Python cache patterns shown (source code not included)
-
Preview - Keep "Dry Run" checked (default)
- Click "Clean Selected Caches"
-
See exactly what would be deleted
-
Cleanup - Uncheck "Dry Run" and confirm
- Click "Clean Selected Caches"
- Caches permanently removed, source code preserved
Common Options (Same for Both Tabs)¶
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLEANUP OPTIONS │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Keep cache files newer than: [7] days │
│ │
│ □ Include orphaned packages │
│ │
│ ☑ Dry Run (Preview Only - RECOMMENDED) │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Settings Explained¶
- Keep cache files newer than: 7 days (default)
- Cache files newer than this are preserved
- Old caches (older than 7 days) are deleted
-
Change to higher value to preserve more recent caches
-
Include orphaned packages: (For system caches only)
- Unchecked by default
-
When checked: also removes unused packages
-
Dry Run (Preview Only): ☑ CHECKED by default
- Shows what will be deleted WITHOUT deleting
- Highly recommended to always check first
- Uncheck only after verifying results
Results Table Format¶
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Scan Results │
├───────┬──────────────────────┬────────────────────┬──────────┬───────────┤
│ Name │ Type │ Path │ Size │ Files │
├───────┼──────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────────┼───────────┤
│__pyc │ python_cache │ project/src/__pycache__ │ 450 MB │ 12,000 │
├───────┼──────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────────┼───────────┤
│.egg │ python_cache │ venv/lib/egg-info │ 280 MB │ 1,500 │
├───────┼──────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────────┼───────────┤
│pip │ package_manager_cache│ ~/.cache/pip │ 1.2 GB │ 850 │
├───────┼──────────────────────┼────────────────────┼──────────┼───────────┤
│ ... │ ... │ ... │ ... │ ... │
└───────┴──────────────────────┴────────────────────┴──────────┴───────────┘
✓ Found 3 cache locations: 1.93 GB total
Action Buttons¶
🔍 Scan for Caches¶
- What it does: Searches for caches
- When to click: After selecting folders or package managers
- What happens: Progress bar shows, results populate table
- Time: 1-30 seconds depending on folder size
🧹 Clean Selected Caches¶
- What it does: Deletes found caches
- When to click: After reviewing Scan results
- What happens: If "Dry Run" checked, shows preview. If unchecked, actually deletes.
- Requires: Scan must be run first
Typical User Experience¶
Scenario 1: Clean System Caches (5 minutes)¶
User opens Cortex Cleaner
↓
Goes to "Package Manager Caches"
↓
Clicks "Detect Available Package Managers" ← Sees: pip, npm detected ✓
↓
Clicks "Scan for Caches" ← Sees: pip 313.3 MB, npm 450 MB
↓
Checks "Dry Run" (default), clicks "Clean Selected Caches" ← Preview shown
↓
Unchecks "Dry Run", clicks "Clean Selected Caches" ← Caches deleted ✓
↓
Result: ~760 MB freed! ✓
Scenario 2: Clean Project Caches (10 minutes)¶
User opens Cortex Cleaner
↓
Goes to "Package Manager Caches" → "Project Folders" tab
↓
Clicks "Add Folder" → Selects C:\Users\me\my_project
↓
Folder appears in list ✓
↓
Clicks "Scan for Caches" ← Sees: __pycache__ 850 MB, .egg-info 120 MB
↓
Checks "Dry Run" (default), clicks "Clean" ← Preview shows 970 MB
↓
Unchecks "Dry Run", clicks "Clean" ← Caches deleted ✓
↓
Result: 970 MB freed, project still works! ✓
Safety Guardrails¶
Before You See Deletion¶
1. "Dry Run" is CHECKED by default
└─ Must manually UNCHECK to actually delete
2. Confirmation dialog asks:
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ Are you sure you want to DELETE? │
│ │
│ [Cancel] [Yes, Delete] │
└──────────────────────────────────┘
3. Source code is NEVER targeted
└─ Only cache patterns selected
4. Depth limited to 3 levels
└─ Won't scan deep nested structures
Undo / Recovery¶
If files are accidentally deleted:
1. Backups created:
Location: ~/.cortex_cleaner_backups/
These are package list backups (can help verify what was installed)
2. Git recovery:
If project is in git: git checkout (restores from history)
3. Recache:
First project load will rebuild caches
But the key is: Dry Run mode prevents this in the first place!
Color Meanings¶
- 🟢 Green - Success, detected, working
- 🟠 Orange - Warning, requires attention
- 🔵 Blue - Information, clickable, important
- 🔴 Red - Error, something failed
In UI: - Green checkmarks (✓) = Detected, ready - Blue buttons = Important actions - Orange/bold text = Important warning (Dry Run)
Keyboard Shortcuts¶
- Enter = Click focused button
- Tab = Move between controls
- Space = Check/uncheck checkboxes
- Ctrl+A = Select text in input fields
This visual guide shows exactly what users will see and how to use the new tab interface!