diff --git a/pkgs/sagemath-repl/MANIFEST.in b/pkgs/sagemath-repl/MANIFEST.in
index 0d9a0289491..20804eddaf8 100644
--- a/pkgs/sagemath-repl/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/pkgs/sagemath-repl/MANIFEST.in
@@ -8,10 +8,8 @@ include sage/misc/sage_input.py
 include sage/misc/sage_eval.py
 
 # expect_objects from sage.interfaces.quit is needed to compute the
-# CPU time used by each doctest. We include sage.interfaces.cleaner
-# because it is conditionally imported by sage.interfaces.quit.
+# CPU time used by each doctest.
 include sage/interfaces/quit.py
-include sage/interfaces/cleaner.py
 
 include VERSION.txt
 
diff --git a/src/doc/en/reference/interfaces/index.rst b/src/doc/en/reference/interfaces/index.rst
index 7d030df056d..ab38fb97cfc 100644
--- a/src/doc/en/reference/interfaces/index.rst
+++ b/src/doc/en/reference/interfaces/index.rst
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ and testing to make sure nothing funny is going on).
    sage/interfaces/tachyon
    sage/interfaces/tides
 
-   sage/interfaces/cleaner
    sage/interfaces/quit
    sage/interfaces/read_data
 
diff --git a/src/sage/interfaces/cleaner.py b/src/sage/interfaces/cleaner.py
deleted file mode 100644
index f731205b652..00000000000
--- a/src/sage/interfaces/cleaner.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
-# sage_setup: distribution = sagemath-repl
-"""
-Interface to the Sage cleaner
-
-Triva Note: For the name "sage-cleaner", think of the
-"The Cleaner" from Pulp Fiction:
-http://www.frankjankowski.de/quiz/illus/keitel.jpg
-"""
-# ****************************************************************************
-#       Copyright (C) 2007 William Stein <wstein@gmail.com>
-#
-#  Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL)
-#  as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
-#  the License, or (at your option) any later version.
-#                  https://www.gnu.org/licenses/
-# ****************************************************************************
-import os
-import atexit
-import tempfile
-
-_spd = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
-SAGE_SPAWNED_PROCESS_FILE = os.path.join(_spd.name, "spawned_processes")
-atexit.register(lambda: _spd.cleanup())
-
-
-def start_cleaner():
-    """
-    Start ``sage-cleaner`` in a new process group.
-    """
-    if not os.fork():
-        os.setpgid(os.getpid(), os.getpid())
-
-        # Redirect stdin, stdout, stderr to /dev/null
-        with open(os.devnull, "r+") as f:
-            os.dup2(f.fileno(), 0)
-            os.dup2(f.fileno(), 1)
-            os.dup2(f.fileno(), 2)
-
-        # Close all other file descriptors
-        try:
-            maxopenfiles = os.sysconf("SC_OPEN_MAX")
-            if maxopenfiles <= 0:
-                raise ValueError
-        except ValueError:
-            maxopenfiles = 1024
-        os.closerange(3, maxopenfiles)
-
-        os.execlp("sage-cleaner", "sage-cleaner")
diff --git a/src/sage/interfaces/meson.build b/src/sage/interfaces/meson.build
index 70ce7ce88c8..6a71a2e641e 100644
--- a/src/sage/interfaces/meson.build
+++ b/src/sage/interfaces/meson.build
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ py.install_sources(
   'all.py',
   'all__sagemath_polyhedra.py',
   'axiom.py',
-  'cleaner.py',
   'ecm.py',
   'expect.py',
   'four_ti_2.py',
diff --git a/src/sage/interfaces/quit.py b/src/sage/interfaces/quit.py
index 39d5c4b60c7..5a93ea6952e 100644
--- a/src/sage/interfaces/quit.py
+++ b/src/sage/interfaces/quit.py
@@ -37,12 +37,8 @@ def sage_spawned_process_file() -> str:
         sage: len(sage_spawned_process_file()) > 1
         True
     """
-    # This is the old value of SAGE_TMP. Until sage-cleaner is
-    # completely removed, we need to leave these spawned_processes
-    # files where sage-cleaner will look for them.
-    d = os.path.join(DOT_SAGE, "temp", HOSTNAME, str(os.getpid()))
-    os.makedirs(d, exist_ok=True)
-    return os.path.join(d, "spawned_processes")
+    from sage.misc.temporary_file import tmp_dir
+    return os.path.join(tmp_dir(), "spawned_processes")
 
 
 def register_spawned_process(pid: int, cmd: str = "") -> None:
@@ -58,13 +54,6 @@ def register_spawned_process(pid: int, cmd: str = "") -> None:
             file.write("%s %s\n" % (pid, cmd))
     except OSError:
         pass
-    else:
-        # If sage is being used as a python library, we need to launch
-        # the cleaner ourselves upon being told that there will be
-        # something to clean.
-        from sage.interfaces.cleaner import start_cleaner
-
-        start_cleaner()
 
 
 expect_objects: list[ReferenceType[Expect]] = []