Introduction

I needed an easy way to remove snapshots from my APFS volumes, so I wrote this simple little command line utility to handle that for me.

Installation

The code was compiled into a MacOS Native Binary for both Intel and ARM architectures and does not need Java to run. So you have two options:

1) Download the zip file from the latest release page - Install instructions are there.

2) Install with Homebrew

brew update
brew tap EasyG0ing1/tools
brew install snapzap
  

Usage

Invoke the command with the path to the volume you want to manage. Then chose a menu option.

snapzap -v /Volumes/MyVolume
snapzap -v MyVolume
  

Gives you the menu

There are 230 snapshots on volume /Volumes/MyVolume

1) List snapshots
2) Purge one snapshot
3) Purge ALL snapshots
Q) Quit

Choice:
  

List

Listing the snapshots via the menu or command line

snapzap -v MyVolume -l
snapzap -v MyVolume --list
  

it will look like this

Disk: disk5s1
UUID: 3195696A-9221-4750-B01F-A1D97D366799
Name: com.bombich.ccc.FCB93B5F-E887-4A3F-BC01-33042E093FB4.2022-12-09-060559
XID: 436280
Purgeable: YES

Disk: disk5s1
UUID: 0E6157DA-C576-4909-87DA-D72B4EC1EA3A
Name: com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.5D009E90-E2F3-4987-8DD7-41C50FB8661B.2022-12-09-074901
XID: 436309
Purgeable: YES

Disk: disk5s1
UUID: 779D3E02-C809-4904-BA72-E429A331CBD1
Name: com.bombich.ccc.5D009E90-E2F3-4987-8DD7-41C50FB8661B.2022-12-09-074901
XID: 436312
Purgeable: YES
  

Purge One

Purging one snapshot (only from the menu) will give you a numbered list of the snapshots using their name. Then you type in the number of the snapshot you want to delete.

1) com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.B8E64E79-48E3-4EF2-AB54-09406D30855D.2022-12-03-053852
2) com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.BDB5B896-168F-4193-A057-3C115DBDE46B.2022-12-03-062403
3) com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.4B0D0728-EFCD-4315-A563-0485EDD5AA95.2022-12-03-081235
4) com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.799DB644-51FA-4590-A862-C7B693D765CC.2022-12-03-121845
5) com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.89B36A99-48F5-48DA-985F-9200A97B5632.2022-12-03-133147
6) com.bombich.ccc.safetynet.D0642620-CE25-40E7-86DF-8B62D0FFEA91.2022-12-03-155648

0) Main Menu

Choice: 
  

Purge All

Purging all snapshots (from the menu or CLI)

snapzap -v MyVolume -p
snapzap -v MyVolume --purgeAll
  

will ask for confirmation first:

WARNING: This will DELETE all 92 snapshots on volume: /Volumes/Storage

Are you sure you want to proceed (Y/N)? 
  

Help

snapzap -h
snapzap --help
  

Usage: App [-hlpV] [-v=path]

SnapZap helps you clean up snapshots on APFS volumes in MacOS.

-h, --help          Show this help message and exit.
-l, --list          List Snapshots (ex: -v /Volumes/Name -l)
-p, --purgeAll      Purge ALL snapshots
-v, --volume=path   Volume (ex: -v /Volumes/Name OR -v Name)
-V, --version       Print version information and exit.

Minimal required argument is -v (lower case) which will then give you a menu of options.

Examples:
snapzap -v /Volumes/MyVolume --list (Just provides the snapshot list)
snapzap -v MyVolume                 (Shows a menu of options)
snapzap -v MyVolume --purgeAll      (purges all snapshots on the volume after you confirm)

Typing '/Volumes/' before the volume name is optional as long as the volume exists in /Volumes

So these will also work:
snapzap -v MyVolume
snapzap -v MyVolume --list
snapzap -v MyVolume --purgeAll

etc..