Last modified: 2026 October 13

Overview

The /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/webapp_cleanup.pl script lists the leftover files and directories that a web app leaves in a cPanel account’s home directory. These include staging directories that no web app uses and leftovers from an interrupted attempt to add or replace a web app’s source. They also include per-deploy and per-build logs. To remove these leftovers, run the script with the --run option.

Users deploy and manage web apps in the Websites hub of cPanel’s Meridian theme. For more information, read our Manage a Node.js App documentation.

Run the script

To run this script on the command line, use the following format:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/webapp_cleanup.pl [options]

Options

Use the following options with this script:

What the script removes

In the following table, <name> is the web app’s name, <unixtime> is a Unix epoch timestamp, and <deploy_id> is the ID of the deployment. The script looks for the following leftovers in each account’s home directory:

What the script keeps

The script does not remove the following:

• The most recent deployment’s logs for each web app, including deleted web apps. This lets you inspect the last result.
• Leftovers that belong to a web app with a deployment in progress.
• The staging directory of a web app that still exists in the account, even if it is older than the --days value.
• Leftovers in an account while its web app registry is in use. For example, the registry is in use when a user is staging a web app or changing a web app’s settings.
• The app.log file of each web app that still exists in the account.

Exit codes

The script returns one of the following exit codes:

• 0 — The script finished without a failure. The script can keep an item and still return 0. The following reasons do not count as failures:
  • registry_busy — The account’s web app registry was in use.
  • deploy_in_progress — The web app has a deployment in progress.
• 1 — The script could not read or remove leftover data. The script returns 1 for the following reasons:
  • remove_failed — The script could not remove the leftover.
  • unreadable — The script could not read a directory or file.
  • symlinked_root — The ~/.cpanel/webapp-staging, ~/.cpanel/webapp-logs, or ~/.cpanel/logs directory is a symbolic link. The script does not follow symbolic links.
  • registry_unreadable — The script could not read the account’s web app registry.
  • UNKNOWN — The script could not clean the account and writes the cause to the standard error output.
• 2 — You passed an invalid option or value, or you did not run the script as the root user.

Examples

The following example runs the script without the --run option to list the leftovers it marks for removal.

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/webapp_cleanup.pl

In the output, the script calls each leftover an artifact. The text in parentheses shows the kind of leftover (orphaned_staging, intake_leftover, deploy_log, or build_log) and its age:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Note: A staging directory that an application did not deploy contains a copy of the user's source data. The logs are the record of past deployments.
Considering artifacts older than 30 days.
Listing only. Pass `--run` to remove.

username: /home/username/.cpanel/webapp-staging/myapp  (orphaned_staging, 45 days old)
username: /home/username/.cpanel/logs/1786900000-deploy-testapp.log  (deploy_log, 52 days old)
username: /home/username/.cpanel/webapp-logs/testapp/build-a1b2c3.log  (build_log, 52 days old)

3 artifacts could be removed.

With the --run option, the script prints Removing. instead of the Listing only line, and each line that lists a leftover ends with — REMOVED.

To list the leftovers that are older than seven days in a single account:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/webapp_cleanup.pl --user=username --days=7

To remove the leftovers that are older than 30 days from all accounts:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/webapp_cleanup.pl --run