nuke — A safer way to clean directories

00

Usage

~/projects/myapp

$

01

Moves files to ~/.nuke-trash/<timestamp>/ — nothing is ever permanently deleted
Shows a confirmation prompt by default — use --force to skip it
Each run gets its own timestamped folder — no collisions between operations
Items are namespaced by target dir — <timestamp>/<dirname>/<item> prevents path conflicts across runs
--dry-run previews what would be moved without touching disk
--pattern <GLOB> targets only matching items; --exclude <GLOB> preserves exceptions
-t is repeatable — nuke multiple directories in a single command
nuke list, nuke restore, and nuke empty complete the trash lifecycle without leaving the terminal

02

Flag	Description
`-t <PATH>`, `--target <PATH>`	Target directory — repeatable, defaults to current directory
`-a`, `--all`	Nuke files and subdirectories
`--files-only`	Nuke files only, preserve subdirectories (default)
`--dry-run`	Preview what would be moved — no files are touched
`--pattern <GLOB>`	Only nuke items matching glob pattern
`--exclude <GLOB>`	Skip items matching glob — repeatable, takes precedence over `--pattern`
`--force`	Skip the `[y/N]` confirmation prompt

Subcommands

Command	Description
`nuke list`	Table of all trash sessions — timestamp, file count, size
`nuke restore`	Interactive picker — choose session, choose destination, restore files
`nuke empty`	Multi-select sessions for permanent deletion
`nuke empty --all`	Permanently delete all trash sessions at once

03

Nuke files in the current directory

nuke

Preview what would be moved without touching disk

nuke --dry-run -t ./dist

Nuke files in ./dist, skip confirmation

nuke -t ./dist --force

Nuke files and subdirectories in ./build

nuke -a -t ./build

Nuke multiple targets in one command

nuke -t ./dist -t ./build --force

Only nuke items matching a glob pattern

nuke --pattern "*.log" -t ./logs --force

Nuke everything except .env files

nuke --exclude "*.env" -t ./dist --force

List all trash sessions

nuke list

Interactively restore files from trash

nuke restore

Permanently clear all trash

nuke empty --all

04

Interactive restore — pick session and destination:

nuke restore

Manually recover a specific file (items are namespaced by target dir):

mv ~/.nuke-trash/2026-04-22_10-00-00/dist/myfile.txt ./

Permanently delete selected trash sessions:

nuke empty

Permanently clear all trash at once:

nuke empty --all