pixi clean

Clean parts of your system touched by pixi.

Usage

pixi clean [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

Description

The pixi clean command removes cached data and environments. It can clean:

• Workspace environments (.pixi folder)
• System-wide cache (conda packages, PyPI wheels, repodata, etc.)
• Build-related caches

Subcommands

pixi clean cache

Clean the global cache directory.

pixi clean cache [OPTIONS]

Options

Workspace Options

--environment · string

The specific environment directory to remove.

pixi clean --environment prod
pixi clean --environment test

--activation-cache · boolean

Only remove the activation cache.

pixi clean --activation-cache
pixi clean --environment prod --activation-cache

--build · boolean

Only remove the pixi-build cache.

pixi clean --build

Cache Options

--pypi · boolean

Clean only the PyPI related cache.

pixi clean cache --pypi

--conda · boolean

Clean only the conda related cache.

pixi clean cache --conda

--repodata · boolean

Clean only the repodata cache.

pixi clean cache --repodata

--mapping · boolean

Clean only the conda-pypi mapping cache.

pixi clean cache --mapping

--exec · boolean

Clean only the exec cache (cached command executions).

pixi clean cache --exec

--build-backends · boolean

Clean only the build backends environments cache.

pixi clean cache --build-backends

--build · boolean

Clean only the build-related cache (git, work directories, built packages).

pixi clean cache --build

--yes · boolean

Answer yes to all prompts. Useful for automation.

pixi clean cache --yes
pixi clean cache -y

Examples

Clean workspace environments

Remove all environments in the current workspace:

pixi clean

This removes:

• Environment directories (.pixi/envs/)
• Solve group environments
• Task cache
• Activation cache
• Workspace build cache

Clean specific environment

Remove only one environment:

pixi clean --environment test

Clean activation cache only

Remove just the activation cache without removing environments:

pixi clean --activation-cache

Clean all cache

Remove all cached data (interactive prompt):

pixi clean cache

Clean specific cache types

Remove only PyPI cache:

pixi clean cache --pypi

Remove conda package cache:

pixi clean cache --conda

Remove repodata cache to force refresh:

pixi clean cache --repodata

Clean multiple cache types

Combine flags to clean specific caches:

pixi clean cache --pypi --conda
pixi clean cache --repodata --mapping

Clean build caches

Remove build-related caches:

# Clean build backends
pixi clean cache --build-backends

# Clean all build cache
pixi clean cache --build

# Clean workspace build cache
pixi clean --build

Non-interactive cleaning

Clean without confirmation prompts:

pixi clean cache --yes
pixi clean cache -y

Cache Locations

By default, pixi caches data in:

• Linux: ~/.cache/rattler/
• macOS: ~/Library/Caches/rattler/
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\rattler\Cache

Cache structure:

~/.cache/rattler/
├── cache/                  # Conda package cache (--conda)
├── pkgs/                   # PyPI wheels cache (--pypi)
├── repodata/               # Channel repodata (--repodata)
├── pypi-mapping/           # Conda-PyPI name mapping (--mapping)
├── envs/                   # Exec cache (--exec)
├── build-tool-envs/        # Build backends (--build-backends)
├── git/                    # Git repos for builds (--build)
├── build-work/             # Build work directories (--build)
└── built-packages/         # Built packages (--build)

When to Clean

Disk space issues

The cache can grow large over time. Use pixi info --extended to check cache size, then clean unused caches.

Corrupt cache

If you encounter strange package resolution or download errors, cleaning the repodata cache can help:

pixi clean cache --repodata

Fresh environment

To recreate environments from scratch:

pixi clean
pixi install

Build issues

If builds are failing or producing unexpected results:

pixi clean cache --build
pixi clean --build

Package resolution changes

After changing channels or updating package sources:

pixi clean cache --repodata --mapping

Safety

Cleaning the cache will cause packages to be re-downloaded on next install. This is safe but may take time depending on your internet connection.

Cleaning workspace environments does not affect the lock file. Running pixi install will recreate the environments from the lock file.

Related Commands

• pixi info - View cache sizes with --extended
• pixi install - Recreate environments after cleaning