ncdu

ncdu at a glance

ncdu (NCurses Disk Usage) is a widely used terminal disk-usage analyzer for Linux and Unix, letting admins interactively find what is filling a disk over SSH — no GUI needed. It ships releases in an unhurried cadence; it's a lightweight diagnostic tool.

For admins ncdu is low-risk and read-only with respect to your data (though it can delete files you select, with your privileges). It usually comes from the distribution, and the update driver is features and compatibility rather than security. Its value is operational: on a headless server, ncdu quickly shows the largest directories and files eating space, and lets you navigate and clean up interactively — exactly what you want when a disk fills at 2am. There's little to maintain beyond a current version. It complements GUI tools like WizTree for the servers where those aren't an option. Patchletter surfaces new ncdu releases so fixes land.