Discovering Mole: A Command Line Utility for Mac Cleaning

If you manage or use Macs long enough, you know one thing is guaranteed: systems get messy.

Caches pile up, apps leave behind junk, and disk space slowly disappears. While there are plenty of GUI tools out there, most of them either lack transparency or feel bloated.

Mole is different.

Mole is a lightweight, command-line utility built specifically for macOS that gives you clear visibility and control over what’s consuming space—and what can be safely removed.

For MacAdmins, developers, and power users, it fits perfectly into existing workflows.

Why Mole Stands Out

Mole isn’t just another cleaner. It’s designed with a few key principles:

Transparency first — see exactly what will be removed
Safe by default — dry-run support prevents accidental deletion
CLI-native — perfect for automation and scripting
Focused on macOS realities — understands app leftovers and system clutter

Installing Mole

The easiest way to install Mole is via Homebrew.

brew install mole

After installation, verify it’s working:

mole --help

Running Mole

At its simplest, just run:

mole

This launches Mole’s interactive interface, where you can explore cleanup options, system insights, and uninstall tools.

Safely Cleaning Your Mac (Dry Run First)

Before removing anything, you should always start with a dry run.

This lets you preview exactly what Mole will clean without making changes.

mole clean --dry-run

This is critical for:

Validating what will be removed
Avoiding accidental deletion of important files
Understanding system clutter patterns

Here’s what it found when I ran the dry run option.

Clean Your Mac

Dry Run Mode, Preview only, no deletions

◎ System caches need sudo, run sudo -v && mo clean --dry-run for full preview

⚙ Apple Silicon | Free space: 184Gi
✓ Whitelist: 21 core patterns active
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/ms-playwright*
  ↳ /Users/jon/.m2/repository/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/.gradle/caches/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/.gradle/daemon/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/.ollama/models/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/com.nssurge.surge-mac/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Application Support/com.nssurge.surge-mac/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/org.R-project.R/R/renv/*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/pypoetry/virtualenvs*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/JetBrains*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/com.jetbrains.toolbox*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/tealdeer/tldr-pages
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Application Support/JetBrains*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/com.apple.finder
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Mobile Documents*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/com.apple.FontRegistry*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/com.apple.spotlight*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/com.apple.Spotlight*
  ↳ /Users/jon/Library/Caches/CloudKit*

➤ User essentials
  → User app cache 113 items, 3.30GB dry
  → User app logs 16 items, 3.4MB dry
  → Trash · would empty, 1 items

➤ App caches
  → Autosave information 3 items, 160KB dry
  → Siri suggestions cache 20 items, 26.2MB dry
Password:
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/de.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/_CodeSignature/CodeResources
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/_CodeSignature/CodeDirectory
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/_CodeSignature/CodeRequirements-1
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/_CodeSignature/CodeSignature
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/_CodeSignature/CodeRequirements
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/he.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/en_AU.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ar.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/el.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ja.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/en.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/uk.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/es_419.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/zh_CN.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/es.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/sl.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/pt_BR.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/da.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/it.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/sk.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/pt_PT.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ms.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/sv.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/cs.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ko.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/no.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/hu.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/zh_HK.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/tr.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/pl.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/zh_TW.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/en_GB.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/vi.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ru.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/fr_CA.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/fr.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/fi.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/id.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/nl.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/th.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ro.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/Info.plist
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/hr.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/hi.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/TVIdleScreenStrings.bundle/ca.lproj/Localizable.nocache.strings
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/resources.tar
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/entries.json
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/cbbim-w-prod.mat
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/cbbim-b-prod.mat
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/cbbim-r-prod.mat
[DRY-RUN] Would sudo remove: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer/cbbim-g-prod.mat
  → Messages preview attachment cache 197 items, 182.4MB dry
  → Messages preview sticker cache 3 items, 319KB dry
  → Sandboxed app caches, 98.4MB dry
  → Group Containers logs/caches, 92.0MB dry

➤ Browsers
  → Safari cache, 4KB dry
  → Chrome cache 2 items, 1.97GB dry
  → Chrome GPU cache 6 items, 5.9MB dry
  → Chrome component CRX cache 19 items, 34.1MB dry
  → Chrome Service Worker, would clean 1691MB, 0 protected
  → GoogleUpdater CRX cache 3 items, 726.7MB dry
  → GoogleUpdater old files 2 items, 2.1MB dry
  ◎ Google Chrome running · old versions cleanup skipped

➤ Cloud & Office
  ✓ Nothing to clean

➤ Developer tools
  → Bun cache 31 items, 17.5MB dry
  → pip cache · would clean
  → Go cache · would clean
  → Docker unused data · would clean
  → Google Cloud logs 2 items, 205KB dry
  → Python bytecode cache · LinkedInSpamFilter-master, 2 dirs, 61KB dry
  → Xcode runtime volumes · 2 unused, 2 in use
  • Runtime volumes total: 34.11GB (unused 0B, in-use 34.11GB)
    IN_USE 17.25GB · /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Volumes/iOS_23E244
    IN_USE 16.86GB · /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Volumes/iOS_23C54
    UNUSED 0B · /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Cryptex/Images
    UNUSED 0B · /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Cryptex/Caches
  → Xcode unavailable simulators · would clean 57, 9.92GB
  → Xcode Interface Builder cache, 0B dry
  → CoreSimulator logs, 35KB dry
  → Xcode cache 4 items, 3.2MB dry
  → Xcode build products 7 items, 67.7MB dry
  → Xcode derived data 14 items, 2.06GB dry
  → Xcode archives 18 items, 667.1MB dry
  → Xcode documentation index, 5.9MB dry
  → VS Code logs, 4KB dry
  → Homebrew cache 59 items, 343.3MB dry
  → Homebrew lock files 2 items, 0B dry
  → Homebrew · would cleanup and autoremove

➤ Applications
  → ChatGPT cache 7 items, 95.3MB dry
  → Zsh completion cache, 50KB dry

➤ Virtualization
  ✓ Nothing to clean

➤ Application Support
  → Application Support logs/caches, at least 44KB dry

➤ Orphaned data
  ✓ Found 174 active/installed apps
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.Swiftify.ServiceOnline.v3, 238KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.descript.Descript-Installer, 86KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.imobie.MC-Installer, 86KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.jonbrown.org.Animal-Age, 70KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.lindegroup.AutoPkgr, 74KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.lindegroup.AutoPkgr, 1KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.ninxsoft.lowprofile, 57KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.ninxsoft.mist, 303KB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.trendmicro.AFMMainUI, 2.2MB dry
  → Orphaned HTTP: com.trendmicro.AFMMainUI, 40KB dry
  ✓ Cleaned 10 items, about 3.0MB
  • Potential stale login item: com.adobe.ccxprocess.plist
  ↳ Missing app/helper target: /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud Experience/CCXProcess/CCXProcess.app/Contents/MacOS/CCXProcess
  ☞ Review: open ~/Library/LaunchAgents and remove only items you recognize

➤ Apple Silicon updates
  ✓ Nothing to clean

➤ Device backups
  ✓ Nothing to clean

➤ Time Machine
  ✓ No incomplete backups found
  ✓ Nothing to clean

➤ Large files
  ◎ Mail data: 25.10GB, Path: /Users/jon/Library/Mail
  ◎ Time Machine local snapshots: 2
  ☞ Review: tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
  ◎ Docker storage:
  ☞ Run: docker system df

➤ System Data clues
  • Docker Desktop data: 3.55GB
  ↳ Path: ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data
  ☞ Review: mo analyze, Device backups, docker system df

➤ Project artifacts
  ✓ Nothing to clean


======================================================================
Dry run complete - no changes made
Potential space: 9.71GB | Items: 469 | Categories: 40
Detailed file list: /Users/jon/.config/mole/clean-list.txt
Use mo clean --whitelist to add protection rules
======================================================================

Once you’re comfortable with the output, run the actual cleanup:

mole clean

Removing Apps Cleanly (No More Leftovers)

Dragging apps to the Trash doesn’t remove everything. Preferences, caches, and support files often remain.

Mole helps you fully uninstall applications and their associated files.

Preview uninstall (recommended)

mole uninstall --dry-run

Perform uninstall

mole uninstall

This ensures:

App bundles are removed
Related files in ~/Library are cleaned up
No orphaned data is left behind

◎ Selected 1 apps:
1. AppCleaner           --  |  Last: 2y ago

Files to be removed:

◎ AppCleaner , 8.1MB
  ✓ /Applications/AppCleaner.app
  ✓ ~/Library/HTTPStorages/net.freemacsoft.AppCleaner
  ✓ ~/Library/Preferences/net.freemacsoft.AppCleaner.plist

➤ Remove 1 app, 8.1MB  Enter confirm, ESC cancel: 
✓ AppCleaner


======================================================================
Uninstall complete
Removed 1 app, freed 8.1MB: AppCleaner
======================================================================

Get Status!

You can also use this tool to launch an interactive status dashboard which is pretty neat.

$ mo status

Status  Health ● 97  Mac Studio · Apple M2 Max, 30GPU · 32.0 GB/460.4 GB · 75Hz · macOS 26.4 · up 4d 10h                                                                          
                                             /\_/\                                                                                                                                
                                         ___/ o o \                                                                                                                               
                                        /___   =-= /                                                                                                                              
                                        \____)-m-m)                                                                                                                               
◉ CPU  ╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌  ◫ Memory  ╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌
Total  ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░   24.6%                                                           Used   █████████░░░░░░░   56.7%                                                         
Core5  ██████████░░░░░░   63.2%                                                           Free   ██████░░░░░░░░░░   43.3%                                                         
Core6  ████████░░░░░░░░   52.6%                                                           Total  18.1 GB / 32.0 GB                                                                
Core7  ██████░░░░░░░░░░   40.0%                                                           Cached 10.3 GB                                                                          
Load   2.15 / 2.06 / 2.13, 8P+4E                                                          Avail  13.9 GB                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                  
▥ Disk  ╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌  ◪ Power  ╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌
INTR   ██████░░░░░░░░░░  189G used, 271G free                                             No battery                                                                              
EXTR1  ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░  362G used, 1T free                                                                                                                                       
EXTR2  ███████████████░  16G used, 447M free                                                                                                                                      
Read   ▯▯▯▯▯  0.0 MB/s                                                                                                                                                            
Write  ▯▯▯▯▯  0.7 MB/s                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                  
❊ Processes  ╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌  ⇅ Network  ╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌
com.apple.V…  ▮▮▮▮▮  102.5%                                                               Down   ▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁  0 MB/s                                                         
Terminal      ▯▯▯▯▯    9.4%                                                               Up     ▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁  0 MB/s                                                         
WindowServer  ▯▯▯▯▯    5.6%                                                               Proxy TUN

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.

# Disk analysis as JSON
$ mo analyze --json ~/Documents
{
  "path": "/Users/you/Documents",
  "entries": [
    { "name": "Library", "path": "...", "size": 80939438080, "is_dir": true },
    ...
  ],
  "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

Mole is one of those tools that feels right at home on macOS—simple, fast, and incredibly effective.

If you prefer control over convenience and want a cleaner Mac without the guesswork, Mole is absolutely worth adding to your toolkit.

Here’s a link to the Mole GitHub repository: https://github.com/tw93/Mole

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AI Usage Transparency Report

AI Era · Written during widespread use of AI tools

AI Signal Composition

Rep Tone Struct List Instr

Repetition: 33%

Tone: 52%

Structure: 59%

List: 3%

Instructional: 12%

Emoji: 0%

Score: 0.2 · Moderate AI Influence

Summary

Mole is a lightweight, command-line utility built specifically for macOS that gives you clear visibility and control over what’s consuming space—and what can be safely removed.