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Getting started

1. Connect your drive (optional). Any external drive you can write to works. You can also use cloud storage, see below.
2. Open Clearbay and click Scan my Mac. In the App Store edition, Clearbay first asks you to choose the folders to look at (for example your home folder). It remembers that choice.
3. Pick a place in the sidebar: Big & old files, Downloads & installers, Developer & AI tools, Apps & leftovers, Photos & duplicates.
4. Choose Remove, Keep or Offload for each item. Keep is the default. Not sure what something is? Click Explain, or press Space to preview it.
5. Choose where offloads go in Drives & restore: click Use this drive next to your drive or bucket.
6. Click Review & run, check the list, then click Run plan. Removed items go to the Trash. Offloaded items are copied, checked, and then removed from your Mac.

Folder access and Full Disk Access

App Store edition

The App Store edition works only in folders you choose, plus your Downloads folder. It never asks for Full Disk Access. To scan more, choose another folder from the app. Caches inside other apps' private containers can't be reached by the App Store edition.

Clearbay Direct

For the full picture, the Direct edition asks for Full Disk Access. Clearbay only reads sizes and names to build its lists; it never reads the contents of your documents.

1. In Clearbay, click Grant access (on the first screen or under Health). This opens System Settings at the right page.
2. Go to Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access if it isn't already open.
3. Turn on Clearbay. If it isn't in the list, click +, choose Clearbay from Applications, and turn it on.
4. Quit and reopen Clearbay when macOS asks you to.

To withdraw access later, turn the switch off in the same place.

Restore and undo

• Bring back an offloaded item: open Drives & restore and click Restore next to it. The drive (or internet connection, for cloud storage) must be available.
• Undo a whole run: Drives & restore → Undo last run puts everything from that run back where it was.
• Get back a removed item: removed items are in the Trash. Open the Trash in Finder, select the item and choose File → Put Back. Once you empty the Trash, they are gone.
• Drive not connected: Drives & restore shows which drive holds each offloaded item. Connect it, then restore.
• Cloud restores keep the copy in your bucket by default. Choose Restore & delete from cloud if you also want the cloud copy removed.

Every run is recorded in a journal on your Mac, which is what makes restore and undo possible.

Cloud storage setup

Clearbay can offload to S3-compatible storage with your own account and keys. Adding storage and testing the connection is free; offloading to it is part of Clearbay Pro.

1. Open Drives & cloud and click Add cloud storage…
2. Pick a preset: Cloudflare R2, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MEGA S4 or Custom.
3. Fill in the region or endpoint, the bucket name, the access key ID and the secret access key.
4. Click Test connection, then Save, then Use this bucket.

Good to know

• Your keys are stored in your Mac's Keychain, on this Mac only. Files go straight from your Mac to your bucket; Clearbay's servers never see them.
• Items are uploaded as one archive per item, then checked against the bucket before the original is removed.
• Maximum size per item is 200 GB. An upload interrupted by a crash or shutdown is not resumed; the original stays on your Mac. Add a lifecycle rule that aborts incomplete multipart uploads after a day or two, so leftover parts don't cost you storage.
• Live tool caches (Gradle, Hugging Face, uv, Xcode DerivedData and similar) can't go to the cloud, because tools need to read them directly. Use a local drive for those.
• Storage and transfer costs are billed by your provider.

Cloudflare R2

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, open R2 Object Storage and create a bucket.
2. Go to R2 → Manage API tokens → Create API token. Choose the permission Object Read & Write and limit it to your bucket.
3. Copy the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key (the secret is shown only once) and your account's S3 endpoint, https://<account-id>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com.
4. In Clearbay choose the Cloudflare R2 preset and paste them in. Region is auto.

For the cleanup rule: bucket Settings → Object lifecycle rules, add a rule to abort incomplete multipart uploads.

Amazon S3

1. Create a bucket in the region you want. Keep Block all public access on.
2. In IAM, create a user (or role) for Clearbay with a policy limited to that bucket that allows s3:ListBucket, s3:GetObject, s3:PutObject, s3:DeleteObject and s3:AbortMultipartUpload.
3. Create an access key for that user and copy the key ID and secret.
4. In Clearbay choose Amazon S3, enter the bucket's region (for example eu-central-1), the bucket name and the keys.

Add a lifecycle rule under the bucket's Management tab to delete incomplete multipart uploads.

Backblaze B2

1. Create a private bucket and note its S3 endpoint (shown on the bucket, like s3.us-west-004.backblazeb2.com).
2. Go to Application Keys → Add a New Application Key, allow access to that bucket only, with Read and Write.
3. Copy the keyID (access key ID) and applicationKey (secret). The secret is shown only once.
4. In Clearbay choose Backblaze B2 and enter the endpoint, bucket and keys.

Wasabi

1. Create a bucket in a region and note its endpoint (like s3.eu-central-1.wasabisys.com).
2. Under Access Keys, create a key. For safety, use a sub-user whose policy only allows that bucket.
3. In Clearbay choose Wasabi and enter the region, bucket and keys.

Check Wasabi's minimum storage duration before offloading things you plan to restore soon.

MEGA S4

1. In MEGA, enable S4 object storage, create a bucket, and create an access key for S4.
2. In Clearbay choose MEGA S4. The endpoint is filled in as https://s3.<region>.s4.mega.io with region eu-central-1; change the region if your bucket lives elsewhere. Path-style addressing is set for you.
3. Enter the bucket name and keys, then test.

Only MEGA S4 is supported. The regular MEGA cloud drive is not.

Custom (MinIO and others)

Choose Custom and enter the full endpoint URL, region, bucket and keys, then click Test connection.

Cloud folders: Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, iCloud Drive

Clearbay doesn't log in to these services. It uses the folder their own Mac app keeps in sync.

1. Install the provider's app (for example Google Drive for desktop), sign in, and make sure its folder appears in Finder.
2. In Clearbay, open Drives & cloud. Detected cloud folders are listed under Cloud folders; click Use this folder. In the App Store edition, click Choose cloud folder… and select it.
3. Offload as usual. Clearbay copies each item into Clearbay Offload inside that folder and checks the copy.
4. Clearbay then waits until the provider's app reports the upload is finished. Only then is the original removed from your Mac, and Clearbay asks the provider to free its local copy. If a provider doesn't report upload status, Clearbay keeps the original until you confirm.

• Staging needs room on your Mac: the item's size plus 2 GB free.
• Items waiting for upload are remembered and continue the next time Clearbay opens. Keep the provider's app running and signed in.
• iCloud Drive can be used as a destination only. Clearbay never scans or removes anything already in iCloud Drive.
• Cloud folder offload is part of Clearbay Pro.

Troubleshooting

Some folders or caches don't show up

In the App Store edition, choose the folder that contains them (often your home folder). In the Direct edition, check that Full Disk Access is on. Some locations are never shown on purpose: system folders, Keychains, Mail, Messages, the Photos library, iCloud Drive's storage, .git folders and projects changed in the last 7 days.

An offload failed

Your original wasn't touched; Clearbay only removes it after the copy is checked. Check that the drive is still connected and has enough free space, then run the plan again.

A tool can't find its cache after offloading (Direct edition)

Keep the drive connected while you use that tool, and open a new Terminal window so the updated settings load. If you need to work without the drive, restore the cache first.

"Daily AI limit reached"

The free version includes 20 AI explanations a day; Pro includes more. The count resets each day (UTC). Answers already cached and the built-in explanations keep working.

Explain shows "From built-in rules"

AI is off, you're offline, or the AI service is busy. Built-in rules still give a short explanation and the safety label.

Cloud "Test connection" fails

Check the endpoint and region, that the bucket name is exact, that the key has read and write permission for that bucket, and that your Mac's date and time are set automatically.

A cloud folder item stays "Waiting for upload"

Make sure the provider's app is running, signed in, not paused, and has room in your cloud account. Clearbay continues on its own once the upload finishes.

Uninstalling Clearbay

1. If you want offloaded items back on your Mac, restore them first. (In the Direct edition, restoring also removes the tool settings Clearbay added.)
2. Quit Clearbay and drag it from Applications to the Trash.
3. To remove its data too, delete ~/Library/Application Support/Offload. Offloaded items on your drive or bucket stay where they are.

Contact

Email support@neptechpal.com.np. It helps to include your macOS version, the Clearbay version and edition (App Store or Direct), and what you expected to happen. Please don't send file contents; names and sizes are enough.

Clearbay is made by NepTechPal, an independent developer in Nepal. We read every message.

Refunds for App Store purchases are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.