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Without it, macOS hides Mail, Messages, Safari, other apps’ containers and some system folders from every app, and asks for permission when a scan reaches Desktop, Documents and Downloads. The totals would be incomplete.

Headroom works without it and shows what it couldn’t read as Hidden space. For the full picture, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access, switch Headroom on (Headroom’s own Settings has a shortcut under Access), then relaunch Headroom. It’s used only to measure your disk, on your Mac: nothing is uploaded.

Headroom is built so a mistake is usually recoverable, and it only removes what you ask it to remove in the app.

• Everything goes to the Trash first, with Undo. Deleting immediately (hold ⌥) and emptying the Trash are permanent, so those ask you to confirm.
• System, account and keychain locations are always refused. Cloud-synced items and app data get a warning first.
• About 80 cleanup rules, each labeled Safe, Review or Be careful, with a plain explanation and, where there is one, the tool’s own cleanup command.
• Coding agents can only stage items in the Cleanup Tray. Removing anything takes your click in Headroom.
• Scanning never downloads iCloud files.

Even so, Headroom can’t know which of your files matter to you. Keep a backup (Time Machine is ideal) and look at what you’re removing before you confirm.

One completed removal from the app (Move to Trash, Delete Immediately or Empty Trash) that removed at least one item. Clearing 40 node_modules folders in one go is one cleanup. You get 3 free; after that, Headroom asks for a license before it removes anything. Undoing a Move to Trash in full gives the cleanup back.

Scanning, browsing, suggestions, the duplicate finder, command-line and MCP queries, and staging items are always free and never count.

A license covers one person on all of their Macs, so there’s nothing to transfer. Install Headroom on the new Mac, choose Headroom › Enter License… (or open Settings › License), paste your key, which starts with HR1., and click Activate. Keys are checked on your Mac, so this works offline.

Your key was shown on the confirmation page right after you paid. Save it in a password manager. Can’t find it? Email us from the address you bought with and we’ll send it again.

Email us within 14 days of buying and we’ll refund you in full, no questions asked. Write from the address you bought with. The refund goes back to your original payment method through Stripe, and your bank may take a few business days to show it. A refunded license ends, so please stop using the key. The terms have the details.

Yes. Headroom includes a command-line tool (headroom), an MCP server and an Agent Skill. Choose Headroom › Install Agent Skills… to add the skill for Claude Code (~/.claude/skills) and Codex (~/.agents/skills), and Headroom › Install Command-Line Tool… to put headroom on your PATH. For MCP, run Headroom as a stdio server, for example:

Agents read your saved scans, which is instant, and can stage items in the Cleanup Tray. They can’t remove anything: you review and confirm in Headroom. All of this runs on your Mac and sends nothing to us; what your agent prints goes to that agent’s provider.

There’s also a hosted Headroom plugin for ChatGPT. It works only with disk-scan data you choose to share, and the privacy policy explains exactly what it receives and how it’s handled.

On your Mac, and only there:

• Saved scans (compact copies of folder and file names and sizes, so a scan reopens instantly): ~/Library/Caches/dev.headroom.Headroom
• Settings, your license key and the free-cleanup count: ~/Library/Preferences/dev.headroom.Headroom.plist

Saved scans are only a cache. Delete them whenever you like and Headroom simply rescans. In Settings › Scans you can turn saving off or press Delete.

1. Quit Headroom, then drag it from Applications to the Trash.
2. Optional: delete what it saved, ~/Library/Caches/dev.headroom.Headroom and ~/Library/Preferences/dev.headroom.Headroom.plist. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder… and paste a path. The second one holds your license key, so keep the key somewhere safe first.
3. If you installed the command-line tool or the agent skills, remove the headroom link from /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin or ~/.local/bin, and the headroom folders in ~/.claude/skills and ~/.agents/skills.
4. Optional: remove Headroom from System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access.

Headroom doesn’t install background helpers or login items, so there’s nothing else to remove.