PruneoAI agent in Pruneo: clean what no catalog knows about
No cleaner knows every app. When Pruneo finds a large folder its catalog doesn't know, it can ask the AI agent you already have: Apple Intelligence, Ollama, Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI. It only sends folder names and sizes. What the agent suggests is never preselected, goes through the same safety rules as everything else, and goes to quarantine.
Pruneo’s catalog recognizes hundreds of caches: browsers, Slack, Xcode, Docker, Adobe and many more. But there are always apps no catalog knows about: a game, a niche tool, an app that installed itself. Their folders can take up gigabytes in ~/Library without anyone knowing whether they can be deleted. That’s what the AI agent is for.
How it works
- Pruneo looks for what it doesn’t know. In “Unknown folders” it lists the folders over 300 MB that no rule knows about: in
~/Library/Application Support,ContainersandGroup Containers, and in the hidden tool folders of your home folder, such as~/.npmor~/.gradle. - You decide when to ask. Nothing leaves your Mac until you tap “Ask…”. Neither the Overview nor “Clean the safe stuff” calls the agent.
- The agent identifies each part. It gets the path and size of each folder and its subfolders, and answers what each one is: cache, logs, temporary files, downloaded updates or old versions.
- Pruneo checks the answer. It only accepts paths it showed, never outside the folder, and drops what it already cleans in another section.
- You review. Each suggestion shows up unselected, with the app’s name, what it is and which agent identified it. When you clean it, it goes to quarantine.
Answers are stored on your Mac so the same thing isn’t asked twice. “Ask again” starts from scratch.
Which agents you can use
| Agent | Where it runs | How Pruneo uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Intelligence | On your Mac | The macOS 26 model, 4 folders per request |
| Ollama | On your Mac | The first model you have downloaded |
| Claude Code | In Anthropic’s cloud | With the Haiku model, no tools, no MCP and without saving the conversation |
| Codex | In OpenAI’s cloud | In read-only mode |
| Gemini CLI | In Google’s cloud | With gemini -p, one request per batch |
You pick it in the welcome screen or in Settings › AI agent. If a terminal agent isn’t signed in, Pruneo tells you, and the “Sign in” button opens Terminal with the command ready.
What the agent receives
Only this, for each folder:
1. ~/Library/Application Support/Caches (374 MB)
ledger-live-desktop-updater — 211 MB
overflow-updater — 93 MB
@axielauncher-updater — 70 MBNever the contents of a file or your user name. Folders with keys, settings, wallets, virtual machines and the AI agents’ own folders (which hold your conversations) aren’t shown to it.
Why it can’t do damage
A language model can be wrong, and we saw it: in one test, an agent suggested deleting an app’s saved sessions and labeled them as cache. That’s why Pruneo doesn’t trust the answer:
- Only what it was shown. If the agent makes up a path or tries to leave the folder (
../), it’s dropped. - Names that are never accepted. Sessions, history, profiles, cookies,
Partitions,IndexedDB, saved games, downloaded models, databases and wallets are left out, whatever the agent says. - Versions in use. An old version is only accepted if there’s a newer one next to it.
- The usual rules. What Pruneo never touches (SSH keys, Keychain, iCloud, Mail, Photos and more) stays protected.
- Nothing preselected. Everything asks for confirmation and goes to quarantine.
Help out: what one Mac learns helps every Mac
If you turn on “Help make Pruneo smarter”, what your agent identified is shared anonymously: the generic path (like Library/Application Support/Caches/ledger-live-desktop-updater), what kind of thing it was, which app, and whether you cleaned or restored it.
When 5 or more Macs, from at least 3 different networks, agree and almost nobody restored it, that folder joins everyone’s catalog. From then on Pruneo recognizes it on its own, without asking any AI. Those rules also ask for review and are never preselected.
Before sending, Pruneo drops any name that looks personal. It’s off by default and you can turn it off at any time in Settings. The details are in the privacy policy.
FAQ
Which AI agents can I use?
Apple Intelligence (on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 26), Ollama, Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI. Pruneo uses the one you already have installed; you don't need a new account.
Does the AI see my files?
No. Pruneo only sends the path of each folder (with “~” instead of your user name), the names of its subfolders and their sizes. Never the contents of a file.
Can the AI delete something on its own?
No. The agent only suggests. Each suggestion comes unselected, asks for confirmation and goes to quarantine, where you can restore it.
What if the AI is wrong?
Pruneo drops anything that breaks its rules: paths it wasn't shown, paths outside the folder, folders named like personal data (sessions, profiles, cookies, saved games, models) and versions that are actually in use. You still review what's left.
Which one is the most private?
Apple Intelligence and Ollama, because they run on your Mac: the request never leaves it. Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI send it to Anthropic, OpenAI or Google with your own account.
What is Help out?
It's optional and off by default. If you turn it on, what your agent identified is shared anonymously. When 5 or more Macs agree, Pruneo recognizes it automatically on every Mac, without asking any AI.