Where Are macOS Periodic Maintenance Scripts?
macOS runs periodic maintenance scripts from the periodic directories on daily, weekly, and monthly schedules.
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macOS schedules its housekeeping through periodic directories: daily, weekly, and monthly script folders run by launchd on a timetable. Log rotation, scratch cleanup, and status mail all flow from here.
Desktop Macs that sleep at night silently miss their window, which is why laptops accumulate cruft desktops never show. The schedule lives in launchd plists while the scripts live in these folders. Check both when maintenance mysteries arise.
Where macOS stores this, by platform
/etc/periodic/daily, weekly, monthly
Daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance scripts run by launchd. Sleeping Macs skip their window; check power settings when housekeeping never runs.
Frequently asked questions
Maintenance never seems to run. Why?
Check whether the machine sleeps through the night. Periodic runs in the small hours by default, and sleeping Macs skip it until power settings allow wakeups.
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