Cache discovery: how the engine finds every hidden directory
macOS stores temporary data in at least seven distinct locations, and the exact paths shift with each major release. The scan engine ships a versioned path manifest — a JSON file updated quarterly — that maps every cache directory Apple has used from Mavericks through Tahoe. On each run the engine intersects the manifest against the actual filesystem, skipping paths that do not exist on this machine and reading ones that do. Each entry carries a TTL classification: how long a cache file typically stays useful. Files older than the TTL are flagged for removal; newer ones are left. The result is a sweep that feels instant because it only reads directories it knows contain junk on this macOS version, not a brute-force walk of the entire disk.