# Is it safe to delete Poetry’s cache folder on Mac?

- URL: https://moreroom.app/folders/poetry-cache
- Item: Poetry cache and virtualenvs
- Location: `~/Library/Caches/pypoetry`
- Verdict: Safe to remove — Rebuilt or re-downloaded automatically when needed.
- Comes back on its own: yes
- Official command: `poetry cache clear --all pypi`
- Source: MoreRoom rules catalogue (2026-10-17), by Yando Pte. Ltd.

## What is it?

Poetry keeps three things in `~/Library/Caches/pypoetry`: cached package metadata and downloads (`cache`), built and downloaded archives (`artifacts`), and by default the virtual environments it creates for each project (`virtualenvs`). With several projects it typically reaches a few gigabytes.

## What happens if you delete it?

Running `poetry install` in a project downloads packages again and recreates its virtual environment. Anything installed by hand into that environment, outside Poetry, is lost.

## How to remove it properly

Run `poetry cache list`, then `poetry cache clear <name> --all` (usually `pypi`) to empty package caches with Poetry’s own command. Virtual environments are removed per project with `poetry env list` and `poetry env remove --all` from the project folder.

## Before you delete it

Projects configured with `virtualenvs.in-project` keep their `.venv` inside the project folder instead, so it is not counted here.