The ShipIt Folder on Mac: What It Is and Whether It's Safe to Delete
**/*.ShipItYes, you can delete a ShipIt folder. It is the staging area an app's auto-updater uses to download and unpack new versions, and the updater will re-download anything it still needs. If you found a folder like com.tinyspeck.slackmacgap.ShipIt eating space in ~/Library/Caches, it is not malware and nothing important lives in it: at worst a pending update, usually just a few log files.
What it is
ShipIt is the installer helper from Squirrel.Mac, the auto-update framework used by most Electron apps on macOS. Slack, Discord, Visual Studio Code, and GitHub Desktop are common examples. When one of these apps finds an update, it downloads the new version in the background and stages it in a folder named after the app's bundle identifier plus .ShipIt, inside ~/Library/Caches. So Slack's staging folder is com.tinyspeck.slackmacgap.ShipIt, Discord's is com.hnc.Discord.ShipIt, and so on.
A ShipIt folder that is behaving itself is tiny: a small state file called ShipItState.plist and two log files the updater writes as it works. The bulk shows up while an update is staged. Squirrel downloads the complete new version of the app, not a small patch, and unpacks it here before swapping it in, so a folder holding a staged update can reach a few hundred megabytes. That copy is supposed to be discarded once the update installs on relaunch. In practice, failed or interrupted updates leave stale copies behind, and if several Electron apps have leftovers at once, the total can pass a gigabyte.
Is it safe to delete?
Deleting a ShipIt folder is safe. Your messages, settings, and documents live elsewhere (mostly under ~/Library/Application Support); this folder only ever holds update plumbing. The worst case is that a pending update disappears, and the app just downloads it again the next time it checks. Most of the time you are deleting the corpse of an update that already installed weeks ago.
The one small courtesy is timing. If the app is running and mid-update, deleting the folder out from under it can make that one update attempt fail, so quit the app first. Diskmack recognizes ShipIt folders automatically and removes them the safe way along with the rest of your cache leftovers.
How to check its size
In Finder: In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (or press Shift-Command-G), paste ~/Library/Caches, and press Return. Sort by name and look for folders ending in .ShipIt. Select one and press Command-I to see its size, or select several and press Command-Option-I for a running total.
In Terminal:
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/*.ShipItThe shell expands ~ to your home folder and matches every ShipIt folder at once. If it prints "no matches found", you have none and there is nothing to clean.
How to clean it
- Quit the app the folder belongs to. The name tells you the owner: com.tinyspeck.slackmacgap.ShipIt is Slack, com.hnc.Discord.ShipIt is Discord.
- In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder and enter ~/Library/Caches.
- Find every folder whose name ends in .ShipIt.
- Drag those folders to the Trash, then empty the Trash.
- Relaunch the app. If an update was pending, it quietly downloads a fresh copy and installs on the next restart.
There is no official cleanup command for ShipIt folders. The apps are supposed to clean up after themselves, and when they don't, Finder is the tool.
Will it come back?
Yes, and that's by design. Every time an Electron app stages an update, its ShipIt folder balloons with a full copy of the new version, then shrinks back to a state file and a couple of logs once the update installs. If yours keeps growing instead of clearing, one app's updater is probably failing repeatedly; updating that app manually (download a fresh copy from its website) usually breaks the loop. Otherwise, expect the folder to come back around each app update and clean it out whenever you need the space.
Common questions
Is ShipIt malware or a virus?
No. ShipIt is the standard installer helper from Squirrel.Mac, the update framework built into most Electron apps. The folder name looks odd, but it is ordinary update plumbing, not something that snuck onto your Mac.
Which apps create ShipIt folders?
Any app that updates itself through Squirrel.Mac. Slack, Discord, Figma, and GitHub Desktop are the ones people notice most, but many smaller Electron apps use it too. The bundle identifier in the folder name tells you exactly which app is responsible.
Why is my ShipIt folder so large?
A healthy ShipIt folder holds only a state file and logs, a few kilobytes at most. A large one means an update is staged or a failed one was never cleaned up, and a staged update contains a complete copy of the app, not a small patch. A single Slack or Discord update can weigh a few hundred megabytes on its own, and leftovers from several apps stack up.
Will deleting ShipIt break automatic updates?
No. The updater checks for updates on its own schedule and re-downloads anything it needs. You are only deleting the staging area, not the update mechanism.