Many Mac users subscribe to large iCloud plans believing their files will reside exclusively in the cloud. However, on macOS, iCloud Drive often retains full local copies of every file you open on your internal SSD.
The Danger of Manual Deletion
If you see a 15GB video file in your iCloud Drive folder and drag it to the Trash in Finder, macOS deletes it from your cloud account too! Many users have lost important documents attempting to free up local disk space this way.
The Solution: Ubiquitous Item Eviction
XrayMac utilizes Apple's official NSFileManager.evictUbiquitousItem(at:) API. This instructs macOS to purge the physical byte allocation from your local SSD while preserving the file metadata and cloud copy. The file remains visible in Finder with a small download icon, freeing disk space without risking data loss.