Review AI cleanup before execution, then check the record
Mint Direct lets an AI agent inspect Mac storage and execute eligible cleanup from a reviewed scan plan, with a change record. Require approval for mint_execute in your agent client before it runs. Connecting Mint does not add a mandatory confirmation to every call or restrict other shell tools. MCP moves eligible items to Trash; conversation optimization and folder editing remain separate app workflows.
TL;DR
- Short answer. Mint shows what’s using your disk and sorts it into Optimizable, Safe to clean, Yours and Keep, so each step fits what the data is.
- For your agent. Mint Direct’s CLI and MCP let your agent read local storage data and run supported, journaled cleanup.
- Good to know. The Mac App Store and Setapp editions don’t include the CLI or the MCP server.
Require approval before the agent changes files
Connecting Mint does not add a mandatory human confirmation to every MCP call. A valid mint_execute request can reach the native cleanup engine without a second Mint dialog. Use your agent client’s permission controls to require approval for mint_execute; do not give the whole server blanket execution permission. Mint cannot restrict the agent’s unrelated shell tools.
- Start with mint_status, mint_agents or mint_scan. Ask for an explanation of the selected item IDs, scope, estimated bytes, what can be regenerated and what will remain.
- Review the exact selection and enable an ask-before-execution rule in your agent client. In Claude Code, use /permissions and match the actual full MCP tool name shown by that client; plugin names can differ.
- Approve only the reviewed plan and items. A changed or expired plan requires a new scan and review. Needs Review items stay in Mint’s app workflow.
- After execution, inspect the returned batch IDs, failures and bytes moved to Trash. Compare those with mint_recent. Verify recoverability before discarding the Trash or needed history.
Approval, a change record and recovery are different
Agent permission prompts control whether a tool may run. Mint’s plan limits what that MCP execution may target. A journal records its result. None of these is a backup of every file on the Mac.
Claude Code checkpoints are not a universal undo for shell cleanup: a file changed only by Bash is not tracked. Mint’s eligible Trash moves can be restored only while the required files and history remain; the journal retains at most 90 days or 5,000 batches.
The MCP server does not expose conversation image optimization, media removal, duplicate storage sharing or folder-rule editing as execution tools. Review those operations in the app. MCP cleanup moves eligible items to Trash; that alone does not increase free disk space.
What we verified in the agent interface
On October 27, we ran the production MCP protocol with a test native responder. The checks passed for rejecting raw paths and permanent actions, preserving the selected item IDs, and returning the responder’s journal IDs and byte fields without inventing reclaimed space.
This is a maker-run protocol test. It does not execute real cleanup, test an agent’s approval dialog or establish end-to-end filesystem safety. The evidence record separates these checks from real Codex conversation measurements and the external review.
Choose the outcome, with context.
Mint looks at what data is, where it came from and whether it is in use. Then it separates opportunities to store it more efficiently, things you can clean, personal decisions and files to keep.
Optimizable: Keep files. Use less space.
Eligible identical copies share storage while every file stays in place. Supported idle files and Codex screenshots can also take less space without losing the content the workflow needs.
Safe to clean: Review what can go.
Review identified caches, build output, old logs and app leftovers with their reasons and current-use checks. Some data will be rebuilt or downloaded again when needed.
Yours: You decide what to keep.
Your files, apps, conversations and media need your judgment. Choose the items and read what each action removes; personal content is not disposable just because it is large or old.
Keep: Leave required data in place.
Required, active, protected and uncertain data stays unchanged. System and app data that Mint cannot justify changing is not presented as space to recover.
Care that continues with your workflow
Auto Care runs the supported Disk, folder and memory routines you enable, within the scope and schedule you choose while Mint is running.
Organize files by source, type, date or topic, with a preview and a record of the moves. Review app memory and release it separately from disk cleanup.
Auto Care is included in the Direct free tier from 1.0.92. From Direct 1.0.96, what it removes and the size of what it organizes count toward the free 1 GB a week that manual cleaning and organizing also use, and Mint Unlimited removes that limit. Memory release remains free and unlimited in Direct. Memory is also available in Setapp, but not the Mac App Store edition.
For your agent, with a clear scope
Mint Direct’s CLI and MCP let an agent inspect storage, understand growth and review supported cleanup. The current MCP execution tool moves eligible scan-plan items to Trash with a receipt. Conversation optimization, media removal, storage sharing, folder setup and memory management are reviewed in the app; they are not all MCP actions.
What comes with Mint Direct
Each time Mint Direct launches, it links mint-cli into /opt/homebrew/bin or /usr/local/bin, whichever it can write to, so the command works from any terminal. Run mint-cli status to see how your disk use changed across recent scans and mint-cli why to see what’s growing. mint-cli scan lists caches and junk that can go, and mint-cli agents reports what Codex, Claude Code and Cursor keep on disk.
The Mac App Store and Setapp editions don’t include the CLI or the MCP server. Cleanup an agent runs through Mint counts toward the same cleanup allowance as cleanup you do in the app.
Connecting your agent over MCP
Running mint-cli mcp starts an MCP server on your Mac that talks to your agent over standard input and output. Scans and cleanup go through the Mint app, and the other tools read data Mint already keeps on disk.
- Download Mint Direct from the Mint website and open it once.
- Run mint-cli status in Terminal and check that it prints your disk summary.
- Add an MCP server to your agent’s settings with mint-cli as the command and mcp as the argument.
- Restart the agent and ask it what’s using space on your Mac.
What the agent can see
The server has eight tools. mint_status and mint_why cover disk trends and where growth came from. mint_scan runs Mint’s own read-only cleanup scan and returns each item with its reason and whether an agent may act on it.
mint_recent and mint_activity read the operation journal and the activity log, mint_agents reads Mint’s last AI agents scan, and mint_rules lists your cleanup rules or does a dry run of one. None of these change anything on disk.
What happens when the agent cleans up
Only mint_execute changes files. It takes the plan ID from a recent mint_scan, the item IDs the agent picked and a short reason, and it never accepts a file path. A plan expires after 15 minutes and can be used once. Right before touching each file, Mint checks again that it’s the same file, that nothing is using it and that it’s still allowed.
Everything goes to the Trash, even if the app is set to delete permanently, and the result carries a journal batch ID. You can undo an eligible move as long as the files and the history it needs are still there. The journal keeps up to 90 days or 5,000 batches. Trashed files take space until you empty the Trash, so the result reports that figure separately.
Your ignore list applies to agents too
Paths on Mint’s Ignore List keep the level you gave them when an agent asks. Protected paths never show up in the agent’s scans. A Needs Review path can appear in results, but the agent can’t remove it, so you confirm it in the app.
With the journal you can trace what an agent did and usually undo it. It can’t make every choice a good one, so keep version control and backups for work you can’t replace.
Our Mac test: one trailing slash made rm -rf delete the folder behind a symlink
Frequently asked questions
Which Mint editions include the CLI and MCP server?
Only the Direct edition you download from the Mint website. The Mac App Store and Setapp editions don’t include them.
Can an agent permanently delete files through Mint?
Not through the MCP tools. mint_execute only moves files to the Trash, and anything that needs permanent deletion waits for you in the Mint app.
Will connecting Mint stop my agent from using rm?
Not by itself. The MCP server asks the agent to use mint_execute for cleanup, but it can’t block the shell, so keep your agent’s own permission settings in place.
Start with a question about your storage
Connect Mint Direct to your agent and ask what grew, what can be optimized and what needs your decision. Then review the action in Mint, or run the supported MCP cleanup.