Claude Code storage

Temporary Files Accumulating and Filling Disk Space

Your application creates temporary files for processing (image transforms, PDF generation, CSV exports, file uploads) but never deletes them afterward. Over days or weeks, these orphaned files accumulate and eventually fill the disk, causing the application to crash or become unresponsive.

This is a silent issue that doesn't appear during development or testing because the files accumulate slowly. In production, you first notice it when the server runs out of disk space, uploads start failing, or the database can't write its WAL files.

The root cause is that Claude Code generated the file creation logic but didn't include cleanup logic, error handling that cleans up on failure, or a scheduled cleanup job.

Error Messages You Might See

Error: ENOSPC: no space left on device OSError: [Errno 28] No space left on device Disk quota exceeded write ENOSPC Failed to write WAL: disk full
Error: ENOSPC: no space left on deviceOSError: [Errno 28] No space left on deviceDisk quota exceededwrite ENOSPCFailed to write WAL: disk full

Common Causes

  • No cleanup after processing — Files are created in /tmp but fs.unlink() or os.remove() is never called after use
  • Error paths skip cleanup — When processing fails with an exception, the temp file is never deleted because cleanup is in the success path only
  • No try/finally block — File cleanup isn't in a finally block, so any thrown error leaves the file behind
  • Missing cron job — No scheduled task to clean up files older than a certain age
  • Unique filenames every request — Using UUID-based filenames means no overwriting of old files, just endless accumulation

How to Fix It

  1. Always clean up in a finally block — Wrap file operations in try/finally (or use Python's tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile with delete=True)
  2. Use streaming instead of temp files — Pipe data between transforms without writing intermediate files to disk
  3. Implement a cleanup cron job — Schedule a task to delete files in /tmp older than 1 hour
  4. Set tmpwatch or systemd-tmpfiles — Configure OS-level cleanup of temp directories on a schedule
  5. Monitor disk usage — Set up alerts for disk usage above 80% to catch accumulation before it causes outages

Real developers can help you.

Antriksh Narang Antriksh Narang 5 years+ Experienced Dev (Specially in Web Development), can help in python, javascript, react, next.js and full stack web dev technologies. Anthony Akpan Anthony Akpan Developer with 8 years of experience building softwares fro startups Jen Jacobsen Jen Jacobsen I’m a Full-Stack Developer with over 10 years of experience building modern web and mobile applications. I enjoy working across the full product lifecycle — turning ideas into real, well-built products that are intuitive for users and scalable for businesses. I particularly enjoy building mobile apps, modern web platforms, and solving complex technical problems in a way that keeps systems clean, reliable, and easy to maintain. Basel Issmail Basel Issmail ’m a Senior Full-Stack Developer and Tech Lead with experience designing and building scalable web platforms. I work across the full development lifecycle, from translating business requirements into technical architecture to delivering reliable production systems. My work focuses on modern web technologies, including TypeScript, Angular, Node.js, and cloud-based architectures. I enjoy solving complex technical problems and helping teams turn product ideas and prototypes into working platforms that can grow and scale. In addition to development, I often collaborate closely with product managers, business analysts, designers, and QA teams to ensure that solutions align with both technical and business goals. I enjoy working with startups and product teams where I can contribute both as a hands-on engineer and as a technical partner in designing and delivering impactful software. Dor Yaloz Dor Yaloz SW engineer with 6+ years of experience, I worked with React/Node/Python did projects with React+Capacitor.js for ios Supabase expert Jared Hasson Jared Hasson Full time lead founding dev at a cyber security saas startup, with 10 yoe and a bachelor's in CS. Building & debugging software products is what I've spent my time on for forever Sage Fulcher Sage Fulcher Hey I'm Sage! Im a Boston area software engineer who grew up in South Florida. Ive worked at a ton of cool places like a telehealth kidney care startup that took part in a billion dollar merger (Cricket health/Interwell health), a boutique design agency where I got to work on a ton of exciting startups including a photography education app, a collegiate Esports league and more (Philosophie), a data analytics as a service startup in Cambridge (MA) as well as at Phillips and MIT Lincoln Lab where I designed and developed novel network security visualizations and analytics. I've been writing code and furiously devoted to using computers to make people’s lives easier for about 17 years. My degree is in making computers make pretty lights and sounds. Outside of work I love hip hop, the Celtics, professional wrestling, magic the gathering, photography, drumming, and guitars (both making and playing them) David Olverson David Olverson Solo dev shipping production apps with AI-assisted development. I specialize in rescuing broken Lovable/Bolt/Cursor builds and taking them to production. 10+ apps shipped including SaaS CRMs, gaming platforms, real estate tools, and Discord bots. Stack: Next.js 16, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Prisma. I use Claude Code with 50+ custom skills for rapid delivery. Average turnaround: 2-4 weeks from broken prototype to production. zipking zipking I am a technologist and product builder dedicated to creating high-impact solutions at the intersection of AI and specialized markets. Currently, I am focused on PropScan (EstateGuard), an AI-driven SaaS platform tailored for the Japanese real estate industry, and exploring the potential of Archify. As an INFJ-T, I approach development with a "systems-thinking" mindset—balancing technical precision with a deep understanding of user needs. I particularly enjoy the challenge of architecting Vertical AI SaaS and optimizing Small Language Models (SLMs) to solve specific, real-world business problems. Whether I'm in a CTO-level leadership role or hands-on with the code, I thrive on building tools that turn complex data into actionable value. Costea Adrian Costea Adrian Embedded Engineer specilizing in perception systems. Latest project was a adas camera calibration system.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find what's filling my disk?

Run 'du -sh /tmp/* | sort -rh | head -20' to find the largest items in /tmp. Use 'df -h' to see overall disk usage. Check your app's upload and cache directories too.

How do I prevent temp file accumulation?

Use language-specific temp file APIs that auto-delete (Python's tempfile, Node's tmp library with cleanup option). Always delete in a finally block and add a cron job as a safety net.

Related Claude Code Issues

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