Mac App Cleaner

Free macOS app uninstaller in pure bash. Finds leftovers, moves to Trash (not rm), zero dependencies. Safe. Open-source. Interactive.

Script moves to Trash, not rm -rf. Any file is one click away from recovery in Trash.app.

Apple still ships no real uninstaller. Drag-to-Trash leaves caches, prefs, containers, launch agents, login items — gigabytes of forgotten state. This fixes that.

Install in 5 seconds

via Homebrew:

brew install rblyz/tap/cleaner

via git:

git clone https://github.com/rblyz/mac-app-cleaner.git && cd mac-app-cleaner && chmod +x cleaner.sh && ./cleaner.sh

The first run offers to add a cleaner shell alias so you can launch it from anywhere.

No build, no dependencies — works on stock macOS.

How to use

1. Run ./cleaner.sh — pick from the menu
2. Browse the list — arrow keys to move, Space to check multiple items, Enter to open or delete selected
3. Review — see exactly what will be moved to Trash, with sizes and a total
4. Confirm with Y — everything moves to ~/.Trash via Finder. No rm, no rm -rf, nothing destroyed. Restore from Trash if you change your mind

Quit anytime with q or Esc. Nothing is touched without explicit confirmation.

What it finds

scan for apps

app	Bundles in /Applications and ~/Applications
leftover	Caches, prefs, containers, logs, launch agents — matched by bundle ID and app name
junk	Orphaned folders and data dirs with no installed app — group-trashable

Leftover search covers ~/Library/{Application Support, Caches, Preferences, Containers, Group Containers, LaunchAgents, Logs, Cookies, WebKit, HTTPStorages, Application Scripts, PreferencePanes, Internet Plug-Ins, Saved Application State}, /Library/{LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemons, Application Support, Preferences, Caches, PrivilegedHelperTools}, and /private/var/db/receipts.

Junk scan also covers /opt/* (Anaconda, R, and similar environments) and /opt/homebrew/var/* (database data directories left after formula removal).

Multi-select: press Space to check multiple apps or leftover items, then Enter to review and trash them all at once.

check brew + pip packages

Read-only view of what's installed outside of .app bundles:

brew formulae	Top-level packages from brew leaves, with disk usage including data directories
brew casks	Installed casks with real app sizes
pip packages	Python packages from pip3 list, with disk usage from site-packages

Each section shows the exact command to uninstall. No deletion happens here — brew and pip don't support Trash, so we leave that to you.

Safe by default

• Move to Trash, never rm — every action is recoverable from ~/.Trash
• Confirmation required — y/N prompt before any deletion, with full file list and total size
• Refuses to trash a running app — in batch mode, running apps are skipped with a warning, others proceed
• Skips system bundles — Apple binaries, frameworks, helper extensions stay untouched
• Precise matching — finds files by exact bundle ID and app name, never by vendor guess

Compatibility

• macOS 10.15 Catalina (2019) and newer
• Intel and Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4)
• bash 3.2 — Apple's stock shell, present on every Mac since 2007
• No Rosetta, no special permissions, no admin rights
• No Homebrew, no installs, no network calls

Why bash

• Zero dependencies — runs on any Mac, today, tomorrow, in 2030
• bash 3.2 compatible — works with Apple's stock shell, no installs
• Single file, ~1200 lines — read the source, audit it, fork it
• No network, no telemetry — does what it says, nothing else

License

MIT