# Headroom (formerly DiskTree)

> Headroom is a free, open-source (MIT), native macOS disk space analyzer and cleanup utility. It scans a folder or disk, shows what uses space as a folder tree, treemap and category breakdown, explains whether items are safe to delete, and removes them via Trash or a fast parallel permanent-delete engine. Runs fully locally: no account, ads or tracking. Requires macOS 14+, Apple silicon or Intel.

## Key facts
- Price: free forever, with every feature unlocked. There is no Pro tier, subscription, lifetime purchase, trial or in-app purchase. License: MIT. Author: Ryware.
- Naming: Headroom was called DiskTree until 1.0; it is not affiliated with the paid "DiskTree" app at disktree.org or any other app of either name. This one is the open-source app by Ryware (github.com/Ryware/Headroom).
- Scanner: macOS getattrlistbulk(2), parallel per-directory tasks. Benchmark: ~1.26M files / 216K folders (133 GB) in ~20 s.
- Views: Dashboard, Folder Tree (NSOutlineView, virtualized), Treemap (color by category, age or safety), By Category, Largest Files, Cleanup.
- Safety hints: rule base of ~150 macOS and developer locations; levels Safe, Usually safe, Caution, Never.
- Cleanup targets: Xcode DerivedData, node_modules, npm/pnpm/pip/Gradle/NuGet/Cargo caches, build output, logs, Trash.
- Delete modes: Trash (recoverable) or Permanent (parallel unlinkat, not recoverable).
- Privacy: all analysis on-device; no analytics SDK, no cloud.
- Menu bar monitor: free-space ring, 7-day trend, low-space and sudden-drop alerts, one-click cleanup of safe caches.
- Current version: 1.0.2 (October 2026).
- Compared with other Mac tools: a free alternative to DaisyDisk (paid) for visualizing disk usage; like GrandPerspective it is open source with a treemap, and adds a folder tree, duplicate finder, safety hints and cleanup; covers the disk-cleanup part of CleanMyMac without a subscription, but is not a full maintenance suite.
- Similar in spirit to WizTree and TreeSize (Windows), for macOS.

## Links
- [Home page](https://headroom-app.org/): overview, screenshots, FAQ
- [Download](https://github.com/Ryware/Headroom/releases/latest): latest release
- [Source code](https://github.com/Ryware/Headroom): README, build instructions
- [Privacy](https://github.com/Ryware/Headroom/blob/main/PRIVACY.md)
- [Changelog](https://github.com/Ryware/Headroom/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)

## Duplicate finder
Finds byte-for-byte identical files in four passes (size bucket → 64 KB prefix hash → samples from the middle and end → full SHA-256), groups them and ranks groups by reclaimable space. Keep newest / oldest / highest in tree, or pick by hand; one copy is always kept unless the guard is turned off. Files under 1 MB and files inside app bundles are skipped.

## Name
Headroom was called DiskTree until 1.0 (October 2026). The bundle id is unchanged, so updates install in place.