Blog & devlog

Notes on building a Mac that doesn't phone home.

Feature deep-dives, implementation devlogs, and habits that keep a Mac sharp for years past its warranty. Updated as we ship.

Story 2026-05-18 · 9 min read

How I freed 150 GB from "System Data" on my own Mac

The infamous storage slice that has no explanation, no UI, and no honest way to clean. Here is what is actually inside it, and how I built Aguacatech to drain it without a wipe-and-reinstall.

Read the story
Guide 2026-05-12 · 7 min read

What Xcode actually hoards under ~/Library/Developer

DerivedData, Archives, iOS Device Support, Simulator Runtimes, Simulator Devices. The five buckets that quietly eat 50–200 GB on every dev Mac, and which ones are safe to nuke today.

Read the guide
Guide 2026-05-06 · 8 min read

Why the Aguacatech uninstaller cleans more than CleanMyMac (and AppCleaner)

Dragging an app to the Trash leaves behind 15 standard cleanup directories of cruft, a launchd registration, and an undead Dock pin. Here is how we find each one, and what AppCleaner misses.

Read the comparison
Devlog 2026-04-29 · 11 min read

Building a local-first AI agent that genuinely never phones home

LM Studio's OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Streaming tool calls. Approval gates with unified diffs. Quick Actions via NSEvent double-tap. The architecture choices behind a Mac AI that ships without a SaaS dependency.

Read the devlog
Guide 2026-04-21 · 6 min read

Eight Mac maintenance habits that buy you another two years

Keep your Mac fast, your disk honest, and your launchd quiet. The handful of small habits that make the difference between a four-year Mac and an eight-year one, most take less than five minutes.

Read the guide
Story 2026-04-14 · 5 min read

I audited every TCC grant on my Mac. The result was uncomfortable.

Eleven apps with Accessibility, four with Screen Recording, three with Full Disk Access that I genuinely could not justify. A quick walk through what's in your TCC.db right now, and why System Settings is the wrong tool to clean it up.

Read the audit