Mole

๐Ÿน Clean, uninstall, analyze, optimize, and monitor your Mac from the terminal.

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Repository: tw93/Mole


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README.md

<div align="center">
<h1>Mole</h1>
<p><em>Deep clean and optimize your Mac.</em></p>
</div>

<p align="center">
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<p align="center">
<img src="https://gw.alipayobjects.com/zos/k/ro/ZzF8e8.png" alt="Mole - 95.50GB freed" width="1000" />
</p>

Features

- All-in-one toolkit: Combines CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus in a single binary
- Deep cleaning: Removes caches, logs, browser leftovers, and orphaned app data to reclaim gigabytes of space
- Smart uninstaller: Removes apps plus launch agents, preferences, and hidden remnants
- Disk insights: Visualizes usage, finds large files, rebuilds caches, and refreshes system services
- Live monitoring: Shows real-time CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and network stats

Quick Start

Install via Homebrew

bash
brew install mole

Or via script

bash
Optional args: -s latest for main branch code, -s 1.17.0 for specific version

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tw93/mole/main/install.sh | bash

Note: Mole is built for macOS. An experimental Windows version is available in the windows branch for early adopters.

Run

bash
mo                           # Interactive menu
mo clean                     # Deep cleanup + already-uninstalled app leftovers
mo uninstall                 # Remove installed apps + their leftovers
mo optimize                  # Refresh caches & services
mo analyze                   # Visual disk explorer (or 'mo analyse')
mo status                    # Live system health dashboard
mo purge                     # Clean project build artifacts
mo installer                 # Find and remove installer files
mo touchid                   # Configure Touch ID for sudo
mo completion                # Set up shell tab completion
mo update                    # Update Mole
mo update --nightly          # Update to latest unreleased main build, script install only
mo remove                    # Remove Mole from system
mo --help                    # Show help
mo --version                 # Show installed version

Preview safely

bash
mo clean --dry-run
mo uninstall --dry-run
mo purge --dry-run
Also works with: optimize, installer, remove, completion, touchid enable

mo clean --dry-run --debug   # Preview + detailed logs
mo optimize --whitelist      # Manage protected optimization rules
mo clean --whitelist         # Manage protected caches
mo purge --paths             # Configure project scan directories
mo analyze /Volumes          # Analyze external drives only

Security & Safety Design

Mole is a local system maintenance tool, and some commands can perform destructive local operations.

Mole uses safety-first defaults: path validation, protected-directory rules, conservative cleanup boundaries, and explicit confirmation for higher-risk actions. When risk or uncertainty is high, Mole skips, refuses, or requires stronger confirmation rather than broadening deletion scope.

mo analyze is safer for ad hoc cleanup because it moves files to Trash through Finder instead of deleting them directly.

Review SECURITY.md and SECURITY_AUDIT.md for reporting guidance, safety boundaries, and current limitations.

Tips

- Video tutorial: Watch the Mole tutorial video, thanks to PAPAYA ้›ป่…ฆๆ•™ๅฎค.
- Safety and logs: clean, uninstall, purge, installer, and remove are destructive. Review with --dry-run first, and add --debug when needed. File operations are logged to ~/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log. Disable with MO_NO_OPLOG=1. Review SECURITY.md and SECURITY_AUDIT.md.
- App leftovers: use mo clean when the app is already uninstalled, and mo uninstall when the app is still installed.
- Navigation: Mole supports arrow keys and Vim bindings h/j/k/l.

Features in Detail

Deep System Cleanup

bash
$ mo clean
Scanning cache directories...
  โœ“ User app cache                                           45.2GB
  โœ“ Browser cache (Chrome, Safari, Firefox)                  10.5GB
  โœ“ Developer tools (Xcode, Node.js, npm)                    23.3GB
  โœ“ System logs and temp files                                3.8GB
  โœ“ App-specific cache (Spotify, Dropbox, Slack)              8.4GB
  โœ“ Trash                                                    12.3GB
====================================================================
Space freed: 95.5GB | Free space now: 223.5GB
====================================================================

Note: In mo clean -> Developer tools, Mole removes unused CoreSimulator Volumes/Cryptex entries and skips IN_USE items.

Smart App Uninstaller

bash
$ mo uninstall
Select Apps to Remove
โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•โ•
โ–ถ โ˜‘ Photoshop 2024            (4.2G) | Old
  โ˜ IntelliJ IDEA             (2.8G) | Recent
  โ˜ Premiere Pro              (3.4G) | Recent
Uninstalling: Photoshop 2024
  โœ“ Removed application
  โœ“ Cleaned 52 related files across 12 locations
    - Application Support, Caches, Preferences
    - Logs, WebKit storage, Cookies
    - Extensions, Plugins, Launch daemons
Note: On macOS 15 and later, Local Network permission entries can outlive app removal. Mole warns when an uninstalled app declares Local Network usage, but it does not auto-reset /Volumes/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.networkextension*.plist because that reset is global and requires Recovery mode.
====================================================================
Space freed: 12.8GB
====================================================================

System Optimization

bash
$ mo optimize
System: 5/32 GB RAM | 333/460 GB Disk (72%) | Uptime 6d
  โœ“ Rebuild system databases and clear caches
  โœ“ Reset network services
  โœ“ Refresh Finder and Dock
  โœ“ Clean diagnostic and crash logs
  โœ“ Remove swap files and restart dynamic pager
  โœ“ Rebuild launch services and spotlight index
====================================================================
System optimization completed
====================================================================
Use mo optimize --whitelist to exclude specific optimizations.

Disk Space Analyzer

Note: By default, Mole skips external drives under /Volumes for faster startup. To inspect them, run mo analyze /Volumes or a specific mount path.

bash
$ mo analyze
Analyze Disk  ~/Documents  |  Total: 156.8GB
 โ–ถ  1. โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆ  48.2%  |  ๐Ÿ“ Library                     75.4GB  >6mo
    2. โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  22.1%  |  ๐Ÿ“ Downloads                   34.6GB
    3. โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  14.3%  |  ๐Ÿ“ Movies                      22.4GB
    4. โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  10.8%  |  ๐Ÿ“ Documents                   16.9GB
    5. โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘   5.2%  |  ๐Ÿ“„ backup_2023.zip              8.2GB
  โ†‘โ†“โ†โ†’ Navigate  |  O Open  |  F Show  |  โŒซ Delete  |  L Large files  |  Q Quit

Live System Status

Real-time dashboard with health score, hardware info, and performance metrics.

bash
$ mo status
Mole Status  Health โ— 92  MacBook Pro ยท M4 Pro ยท 32GB ยท macOS 14.5
โš™ CPU                                    โ–ฆ Memory
Total   โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  45.2%       Used    โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  58.4%
Load    0.82 / 1.05 / 1.23 (8 cores)     Total   14.2 / 24.0 GB
Core 1  โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  78.3%       Free    โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  41.6%
Core 2  โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  62.1%       Avail   9.8 GB
โ–ค Disk                                   โšก Power
Used    โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘โ–‘  67.2%       Level   โ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆโ–ˆ  100%
Free    156.3 GB                         Status  Charged
Read    โ–ฎโ–ฏโ–ฏโ–ฏโ–ฏ  2.1 MB/s                  Health  Normal ยท 423 cycles
Write   โ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฏโ–ฏ  18.3 MB/s                 Temp    58ยฐC ยท 1200 RPM
โ‡… Network                                โ–ถ Processes
Down    โ–โ–โ–ˆโ–‚โ–โ–โ–โ–โ–โ–โ–โ–โ–‡โ–†โ–…โ–‚  0.54 MB/s      Code       โ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฏ  42.1%
Up      โ–„โ–„โ–„โ–ƒโ–ƒโ–ƒโ–„โ–†โ–†โ–‡โ–ˆโ–โ–โ–โ–โ–  0.02 MB/s      Chrome     โ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฎโ–ฏโ–ฏ  28.3%
Proxy   HTTP ยท 192.168.1.100             Terminal   โ–ฎโ–ฏโ–ฏโ–ฏโ–ฏ  12.5%

Health score is based on CPU, memory, disk, temperature, and I/O load, with color-coded ranges.

Shortcuts: In mo status, press k to toggle the cat and save the preference, and q to quit.

When enabled, mo status shows a read-only alert banner for processes that stay above the configured CPU threshold for a sustained window. Use --proc-cpu-threshold, --proc-cpu-window, or --proc-cpu-alerts=false to tune or disable it.

#### Machine-Readable Output

Both mo analyze and mo status support a --json flag for scripting and automation.

mo status also auto-detects when its output is piped (not a terminal) and switches to JSON automatically.

bash
Disk analysis as JSON

$ mo analyze --json ~/Documents
{
  "path": "/Users/you/Documents",
  "overview": false,
  "entries": [
    { "name": "Library", "path": "...", "size": 80939438080, "is_dir": true },
    ...
  ],
  "large_files": [
    { "name": "backup.zip", "path": "...", "size": 8796093022 }
  ],
  "total_size": 168393441280,
  "total_files": 42187
}
System status as JSON

$ mo status --json
{
  "host": "MacBook-Pro",
  "health_score": 92,
  "cpu": { "usage": 45.2, "logical_cpu": 8, ... },
  "memory": { "total": 25769803776, "used": 15049334784, "used_percent": 58.4 },
  "disks": [ ... ],
  "uptime": "3d 12h 45m",
  ...
}
Auto-detected JSON when piped

$ mo status | jq '.health_score'
92

Project Artifact Purge

Clean old build artifacts such as node_modules, target, .build, build, and dist to free up disk space.

bash
mo purge
Select Categories to Clean - 18.5GB (8 selected)
โžค โ— my-react-app       3.2GB | node_modules
  โ— old-project        2.8GB | node_modules
  โ— rust-app           4.1GB | target
  โ— next-blog          1.9GB | node_modules
  โ—‹ current-work       856MB | node_modules  | Recent
  โ— django-api         2.3GB | venv
  โ— vue-dashboard      1.7GB | node_modules
  โ— backend-service    2.5GB | node_modules

Note: We recommend installing fd on macOS.

brew install fd

Safety: This permanently deletes selected artifacts. Review carefully before confirming. Projects newer than 7 days are marked and unselected by default.

<details>
<summary><strong>Custom Scan Paths</strong></summary>

Run mo purge --paths to configure scan directories, or edit ~/.config/mole/purge_paths directly:

shell
~/Documents/MyProjects
~/Work/ClientA
~/Work/ClientB

When custom paths are configured, Mole scans only those directories. Otherwise, it uses defaults like ~/Projects, ~/GitHub, and ~/dev.

</details>

Installer Cleanup

Find and remove large installer files across Downloads, Desktop, Homebrew caches, iCloud, and Mail. Each file is labeled by source.

bash
mo installer
Select Installers to Remove - 3.8GB (5 selected)
โžค โ— Photoshop_2024.dmg     1.2GB | Downloads
  โ— IntelliJ_IDEA.dmg       850.6MB | Downloads
  โ— Illustrator_Setup.pkg   920.4MB | Downloads
  โ— PyCharm_Pro.dmg         640.5MB | Homebrew
  โ— Acrobat_Reader.dmg      220.4MB | Downloads
  โ—‹ AppCode_Legacy.zip      410.6MB | Downloads

Quick Launchers

Launch Mole commands from Raycast or Alfred:

bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tw93/Mole/main/scripts/setup-quick-launchers.sh | bash

Adds 5 commands: Mole Clean, Mole Uninstall, Mole Optimize, Mole Analyze, Mole Status.

Raycast Setup

After running the script, complete these steps in Raycast:

1. Open Raycast Settings (โŒ˜ + ,)
2. Go to Extensions โ†’ Script Commands
3. Click "Add Script Directory" (or "+")
4. Add path: ~/Library/Application Support/Raycast/script-commands
5. Search in Raycast for: "Reload Script Directories" and run it
6. Done! Search for Mole Clean or clean, Mole Optimize, or Mole Status to use the commands

Note: The script creates the commands, but Raycast still requires a one-time manual script directory setup.

Terminal Detection

Mole auto-detects your terminal app. iTerm2 has known compatibility issues. We highly recommend Kaku. Other good options are Alacritty, kitty, WezTerm, Ghostty, and Warp. To override, set MO_LAUNCHER_APP=<name>.

Community Love

Thanks to everyone who helped build Mole. Go follow them. โค๏ธ

<a href="https://github.com/tw93/Mole/graphs/contributors">
<img src="./CONTRIBUTORS.svg?v=2" width="1000" />
</a>

<br/><br/>
Real feedback from users who shared Mole on X.

<img src="https://gw.alipayobjects.com/zos/k/dl/lovemole.jpeg" alt="Community feedback on Mole" width="1000" />

Support

- If Mole helped you, share it with friends or give it a star.
- Got ideas or bugs? Open an issue or PR, feel free to contribute your best AI model.
- I have two cats, TangYuan and Coke. If you think Mole delights your life, you can feed them <a href="https://miaoyan.app/cats.html?name=Mole" target="_blank">canned food ๐Ÿฅฉ</a>.

<a href="https://miaoyan.app/cats.html?name=Mole"><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/tw93/MiaoYan@main/assets/sponsors.svg" width="1000" loading="lazy" /></a>

License

MIT License. Feel free to use Mole and contribute.