Your agents start things. Nobody stops them.
Error: Port 3000 is already in use, again.- Yesterday's
next dev, vite and vitest --watch, still running from sessions you closed hours ago.
- An iPhone simulator holding 1.6 GB of memory since lunch.
- A hundred git worktrees, each with its own
node_modules.
SpawnSweep is a free, open-source Mac app that cleans up after AI coding agents. It finds the dev servers, busy ports, simulators, Docker stacks and git worktrees that Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Aider leave behind, tells you which session started each one, and puts them away with a preview first, every time.
Native SwiftUI for macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Free and open source (MIT); SpawnSweep Pro is a one-time $9 for up to 3 Macs. Everything stays on your Mac. No account, no telemetry.
Install
Paste this into Terminal. It downloads the latest release into Applications and opens it, with no macOS warning:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/samirmaikap/spawnsweep/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
Or download SpawnSweep.zip, open it, and move SpawnSweep to Applications. The download includes SpawnSweep Pro, which a license key unlocks; everything free works right away.
If macOS says "SpawnSweep" Not Opened
SpawnSweep isn't notarized by Apple yet. The first time you open a copy downloaded in a browser, macOS says Apple could not verify "SpawnSweep" is free of malware. It shows this for every app that isn't notarized, and it only happens once.
- Click Done, not Move to Bin.
- Open System Settings › Privacy & Security and scroll to the bottom. Next to the message about SpawnSweep, click Open Anyway, then confirm with your password or Touch ID. The button only stays for a while after the warning; if you don't see it, open SpawnSweep again, then come back.
- SpawnSweep opens, and macOS won't ask again.
Or clear the download flag in Terminal and open it normally (change the path if the app isn't in Applications):
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/SpawnSweep.app
Highlights
- Every agent session, and what it left running. Claude Code, the Claude app, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Aider, each with its dev servers, watchers, headless browsers and tunnels. Put a finished session away in one click, or sweep them all at the end of the day.
- A ports board. Every localhost listener with its project, git branch, uptime and the session that started it. Free a port in one click.
- Git worktrees under control. Size and status per repo. Slim the rebuildable folders, push and remove, or recycle merged ones, with
.env and other ignored files saved so Restore brings everything back.
- Simulators and Docker. Booted simulators and emulators, unused simulator devices, and Docker stacks, each stopped as one unit.
- Know when something starts. A notification when an agent session starts, a simulator boots or a worktree appears, each with its own switch.
- Inside Claude. A 🌔 with the count of what's running in Claude's footer opens a pane beside your chat. More below.
- Autopilot. Rules that start as dry runs: simulator bedtime, finished-session leftovers, end of day, battery saver, low disk, merged worktrees.
- Safe by design. A preview before every change, gentle stops, and a log of every change with its way back. The rules.
The menu bar shows what's running right now, memory used, disk free, and one button to put leftovers away.
Inside Claude
A plugin for Claude Code and the Claude desktop app puts what SpawnSweep sees in a pane next to your chat: each agent session with its dev servers, ports and Docker stacks, loose simulators, and your git worktrees. A moon with the count of what's running (🌔 4) sits in the footer; click it, or type /spawnsweep, to open the pane. It refreshes every 30 seconds and needs SpawnSweep in Applications.
The easiest way to add it: open SpawnSweep and click Add to Claude on the Sessions page, or turn on Connections › Claude Code pane. Or, at the prompt of a Claude Code terminal session:
/plugin install spawnsweep --marketplace samirmaikap/spawnsweep
In the desktop app, click + next to the prompt box, then Plugins, Add marketplace with samirmaikap/spawnsweep, then Add plugin. The plugin's source and details are in claude-plugin/.
SpawnSweep also gives agents an MCP server they can ask "is a dev server already running for this repo?" before starting another one, and a Claude Code SessionEnd hook that puts away what a session started when it ends. Both are a click away in Connections.
How it compares
| By hand in Terminal | General Mac cleaners | SpawnSweep |
|---|
| Leftover dev servers, watchers, headless browsers | Find each one with ps or lsof, then kill it | Not their focus | Grouped by the agent session that started them, stopped gently after a preview |
| Busy ports | lsof -i :3000, one port at a time | Not their focus | Every listener with its project, branch and session; free one in a click |
| Which agent started what | Can't tell | Can't tell | Every session: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, Aider |
| Git worktrees | git worktree list and remove; ignored files like .env go with it | Not their focus | Size and status per repo; slim or recycle, and restore later |
| Simulators and Xcode build data | xcrun simctl, delete DerivedData folders | Some clear DerivedData | Sizes listed, unused simulators removed; DerivedData with Pro |
| App caches, logs, large files | du and manual deletion | Their core feature | With Pro |
| Cleans up on its own | Your own scripts | Scheduled scans | Autopilot rules that start as dry runs; acting on their own with Pro |
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
