A shell script to clean up all node_modules in projects that haven't been touched in a couple weeks.

clean_node_modules.sh

#!/bin/bash

DAYS_SINCE_LAST_CHANGE=14   # If a project hasn't been touched in this long its node_modules will be deleted
SEARCH_PATH="./Git"         # Update this to the path where your code is stored

TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED=0
Mb=1000000
Kb=1000

node_modules=$(find $SEARCH_PATH -name "node_modules" -type d -prune)

HAS_RECENTLY_CHANGED_FILES=false

check_for_changed_files () {
  local files=$(find $1 -ctime -$DAYS_SINCE_LAST_CHANGE -not -path "**/.git/**" -not -path "**/node_modules/**")

  if [ -z "$files" ]; then
    HAS_RECENTLY_CHANGED_FILES=false 
  else
    HAS_RECENTLY_CHANGED_FILES=true
  fi
}

for path in $node_modules
do
  parent_path=$(dirname $path)

  check_for_changed_files $parent_path

  if [ "$HAS_RECENTLY_CHANGED_FILES" = false ]; then
    echo "Cleaning $path"
    removed=$(du -sh $path | cut -f1)
    rm -rf $path

    if [[ $removed == *"M" ]]; then
      TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED=$(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED + (${removed/M/} * $Mb)" | bc)
    fi

    if [[ $removed == *"K" ]]; then
      TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED=$(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED + (${removed/K/} * $Kb)" | bc)
    fi

    if [[ $removed == *"B" ]]; then
      TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED=$(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED + ${removed/B/}" | bc)
    fi
  fi

done

if (( $(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED > $Mb" | bc -l) )); then
  formatted_bytes="$(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED / $Mb" | bc)M"
elif (( $(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED > $Kb" | bc -l) )); then
  formatted_bytes="$(echo "$TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED / $Kb" | bc)K"
else
  formatted_bytes="${TOTAL_BYTES_REMOVED}B"
fi

echo "Bytes removed: $formatted_bytes"

On macOS: Command not found - du, cut, rm, bc