Your Mac running hot? Battery draining fast? CPU spinning on "nothing"?
You're not imagining it. macOS Tahoe 26.0 ships with 29+ hidden background processes chomping through your resources—Apple Intelligence, enhanced Spotlight AI, aggressive cloud sync—even when you never asked for them.
This tool surgically disables the resource hogs while keeping everything you actually use: AirDrop, Mail, Exchange sync, device location. Your Mac, but faster, quieter, and more private.
⚡ Install in seconds:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/manooll/Lean_Mac/main/install.sh -o install.sh && sudo bash install.sh- Not affiliated with Apple Inc. Independent open-source utility, not authorized or endorsed by Apple
- Use at your own risk - Always backup your system before use
- No warranty - Authors not responsible for data loss, damage, or malfunction
- Educational/personal use only - Check local laws for redistribution or commercial use
- Apple trademarks - All Apple product names used for identification only
- ⚡ 20-40% less CPU usage in the background
- 🔋 500MB-1GB RAM freed for actual work
- 💾 Dramatically reduced disk I/O (goodbye constant SSD writes)
- 🔒 Privacy restored (analytics/telemetry disabled)
- 🛡️ Smart & safe - Preserves essentials, breaks nothing
- ♻️ Fully reversible - One command restores everything
intelligenceplatformd # AI platform daemon
TGOnDeviceInferenceProviderService # On-device AI inference
knowledgeconstructiond # Knowledge construction
privatecloudcomputed # Private cloud compute
intelligencetasksd # AI task scheduler
mds_stores # Can spike to 60%+ CPU
corespotlightservice # Core spotlight with AI
spotlightknowledged # Knowledge-based search
mdworker (multiple) # Metadata workers gone wild
itunescloudd # iTunes/Music cloud sync
icloud.searchpartyuseragent # Find My network spam
icloud.findmydeviced # Find My device chatter
findmy.findmylocateagent # Location broadcasting
analyticsagent # Usage analytics collection
feedbackd # Feedback harvesting
diagnostics_agent # Diagnostic data shipping
wifianalyticsd # WiFi usage tracking
mediaanalysisd # Heavy CPU/RAM for photo analysis
proactiveeventtrackerd # Predictive behavior tracking
geoanalyticsd # Location analytics
memoryanalyticsd # Memory usage profiling
- Kills 29+ background processes (targeting CPU hogs first)
- Runs automatically: every 60s (system) / 5min (user)
- Critical fix: Mail sync services preserved
- Smart: Won't interfere with system updates
- Purges Apple Intelligence caches, Spotlight junk, telemetry logs
- Run manually or schedule independently
- Sets up LaunchDaemons/Agents with proper permissions
- Includes clean uninstaller
- Comprehensive logging and error handling
Files installed:
/usr/local/bin/disable_bloat_services.sh # Main bloat killer
/usr/local/bin/cleanup_caches.sh # Cache cleaner
/usr/local/bin/uninstall_bloat_disabler.sh # Easy removal
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.disablebloatservices.plist
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.disablebloatservices.agent.plist
Manual commands:
sudo disable_bloat_services.sh # Run full sweep (includes system services)
sudo cleanup_caches.sh # Purge system caches
sudo restore_macos_services.sh # Restore everythingService management:
# Check status
sudo launchctl list | grep disablebloatservices
# Manual start/stop
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.disablebloatservices.plist
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.user.disablebloatservices.plistYour essentials remain untouched:
- Mail Services:
cloudd,icloudmailagent,syncdefaultsd,protectedcloudkeysyncing - AirDrop/Sharing:
sharingd - Exchange Sync:
exchangesyncd - System Updates: Protected from interference during updates
- 47+ critical system processes safe from termination
Real-time statistics:
Services disabled: 23/29 (79% success)
Processes killed: 15/18 (83% success)
Memory freed: 847MB
CPU usage reduction: 32%
Monitor the action:
# Watch system-wide changes
tail -f /var/log/disable_bloat_services.log
# Monitor user-level changes
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/disable_bloat_services.log
# Cache cleanup activity
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/cache_cleanup.logSystem Update Protection
- Auto-detects active installations/downloads
- Pauses bloat elimination during updates
- Resumes automatically when safe
Gentle Process Management
- SIGTERM first, SIGKILL only if necessary
- 47+ critical processes protected from termination
- Process restart prevention
- Backup your system (seriously, do this first)
- Test on non-critical hardware if possible
- Read the code - you're running this as root
- macOS Tahoe 26.0 only (may work on others, YMMV)
- Restart recommended after installation for full effect
Services keep coming back?
sudo launchctl list | grep -E "(intelligence|spotlight|cloud)"Still high CPU usage?
top -o cpu | head -20 # See what survived the purgeLog permission issues?
sudo chown $(whoami):staff ~/Library/Logs/disable_bloat_services.logNeed help?
- Check Issues page
- Review log files for error messages
- Join Discussions
- Fixed Mail services (
cloudd,icloudmailagent,syncdefaultsdnow preserved) - System update protection (won't break during macOS updates)
- Enhanced process protection (47+ critical processes safe)
- Gentler termination (SIGTERM → SIGKILL progression)
- Real-time performance stats and success tracking
- Shell compatibility fixes (no more
readarrayissues) - Adobe process elimination (goodbye ACCFinderSync)
- Figma agent targeting and improved process identification
- Success rate tracking with before/after metrics
- Deduplication & wildcards for better efficiency
- Apple Intelligence support for Tahoe 26.0
- Consolidated installation system
- Separate cache cleanup utility
- Better logging and error handling
Found a new bloat service? Performance issue? We want to hear about it.
Quick start:
git clone https://github.com/manooll/Lean_Mac.git
cd Lean_Mac
sudo ./install.sh # Test on a VM first!Get involved:
- Report Issues
- Join Discussions
- Submit PRs with improvements
Run shellcheck locally to catch shell script errors before
submitting changes:
./tests/shellcheck.shThe script expects shellcheck to be installed (e.g. via brew install shellcheck on
macOS or apt install shellcheck on Debian/Ubuntu).
MIT License – View Details
- macOS optimization community for testing and feedback
- Contributors who made this better
- Apple for creating an OS that keeps us busy 😉
Final warning: This modifies system services. Could break things. Use at your own risk. Back up first. Authors not responsible for your choices. But hey, it'll probably make your Mac way better. 🚀