Application Support is huge.
Which parts are safe to delete.

What Application Support is for

macOS gives every app a place to keep the files it needs but that you do not open directly. Browsers keep profiles there, chat apps keep message databases, code editors keep project history, and AI apps keep downloaded runtimes and virtual machines. Apple's guidelines put caches in ~/Library/Caches, but many apps, especially those built on Chromium or Electron, also keep caches inside their Application Support folder.

Because the folder mixes real data with rebuildable files, its size alone tells you nothing about what is safe to remove. A 15 GB Chrome folder might be half cache and half profiles. A 20 GB code editor folder might be mostly undo history you care about. The goal is to sort each app's folder into three groups: rebuildable, worth reviewing, and yours.

Storage settings count most of this folder as System Data, which is why heavy browser and developer use can push System Data well past 100 GB.

Find the large app folders

The read-only command below lists the 15 largest folders in your Application Support folder. It changes nothing.

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15

To see what is inside one app's folder, list its largest subfolders. Replace Google with the folder you want to inspect:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/*/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -20

Folder names are not always the app's name. Google holds Chrome, BraveSoftware holds Brave, Code holds Visual Studio Code, and some apps use a reverse-domain name such as ai.opencode.desktop.

What is usually safe, what to review, what to keep

Chromium and Electron apps, which include Chrome, Brave, Edge, Slack, Discord, Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT and many others, lay out their data the same way. That makes the following rules useful across most of them.

Clean one app safely

1. Quit the app completely with ⌘Q and check the Dock for a running indicator. Removing caches while the app runs can corrupt its state.
2. Back up if the app holds anything you cannot recreate. A Time Machine backup is enough.
3. Open the app's folder in Finder: choose Go → Go to Folder, type ~/Library/Application Support, then open the app's folder.
4. Move only the cache folders from the table above to the Trash. Many apps have one per profile, for example Default/Code Cache and Profile 1/Code Cache.
5. Open the app and check that it works and that you are still signed in. The first launch may be slower while caches rebuild.
6. Empty the Trash once you are happy.

If an app has a built-in option to clear its cache or downloads, prefer it. Chrome's Settings → Privacy and security → Delete browsing data, for example, can clear cached images and files without touching your passwords.

App-specific notes

Chrome and other Chromium browsers

Website caches under each profile's Service Worker folder are often the biggest safe part, sometimes several gigabytes across many profiles. OptGuideOnDeviceModel holds Chrome's built-in AI model, often around 4 GB; Chrome downloads it again if a feature needs it, so treat it as a review item. Never remove a whole Profile folder unless you mean to delete that profile. A separate copy of Chrome kept for updates can also grow large; see the Chrome code_sign_clone guide.

Code editors: Cursor and Visual Studio Code

CachedData and logs are safe. workspaceStorage grows with every project you open and is worth reviewing for projects you no longer use. Cursor also keeps snapshots, its undo history for agent edits, which can reach tens of gigabytes; removing it means older checkpoints cannot be restored. User/globalStorage holds chat history and settings, so keep it.

AI desktop apps

Apps such as Claude and ChatGPT can keep bundled runtimes and virtual machine images in their folders. Older version folders next to a newer one are safe to remove. A virtual machine bundle is downloaded again when needed, so it is a review item rather than a cache: removing it costs a download the next time you use that feature.

What not to do

• Do not empty ~/Library/Application Support or move the whole folder. Apps lose their settings and data.
• Do not remove Group Containers or Containers folders by hand. They can hold data shared by several apps, including Mail and Messages.
• Do not clean while the app is open.
• Do not assume a folder named Cache in a non-Chromium app is disposable without checking what the app stores there.

Example: a 16 GB browser folder

One Chrome folder measured 16.1 GB across 49 profiles. Sorting it showed about 6.7 GB of rebuildable parts: website caches in every profile, app caches, component downloads and three older version folders. Another 5.6 GB was worth reviewing, mostly the 4.3 GB on-device AI model and 1.3 GB of website offline data. The remaining 3.9 GB was profiles, bookmarks and history. Removing only the rebuildable 6.7 GB with Chrome closed freed that space, and every profile opened signed in as before.

Questions about Application Support

Is it safe to delete Application Support on Mac?

Not as a whole. It holds app data you would lose. Remove specific cache folders inside an app's folder, with that app closed.

Why is Application Support so big?

Browsers with many profiles, code editors with years of projects, and AI apps with local runtimes all keep large data there. A few apps usually account for most of it.

Will the caches come back?

Yes. Caches are rebuilt as you use the app. Clearing them is worthwhile when they have grown far beyond normal, not as a daily routine.

What about folders for apps I deleted?

Data left by uninstalled apps can usually go. Check the folder name matches an app you no longer have, and see the complete uninstall guide for the other places leftovers hide.

References

• Apple: file system basics, Library folders
• Google: delete browsing data in Chrome