Perform or update Nix store cleanup workflows with explicit safety checks and retention strategy. Use when reclaiming disk from `/nix/store`, editing `scripts/cleanup.sh`, deciding between aggressive and conservative generation pruning, or preparing cleanup commands for macOS/Linux systems.
Run cleanup with clear risk signaling, predictable retention policy, and before/after measurements so space recovery does not silently remove required rollback points.
| Mode | Behavior | When to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Keep recent generations (for example +3) before GC | Normal maintenance where rollback matters |
| Aggressive | Delete old generations and run full GC (-d) | Disk pressure emergencies or explicit user request |
du -sh /nix/storesudo nix-env --delete-generations old --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/systemnix-env --delete-generations old --profile ~/.local/state/nix/profiles/home-managernix-env --delete-generations oldnix-collect-garbage -dscripts/cleanup.sh and scripts/AGENTS.md together when workflow behavior changes.