Mole

Deep clean and optimize your Mac.

Features

• All-in-one toolkit: CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus combined into a single binary
• Deep cleaning: Scans and removes caches, logs, and browser leftovers to reclaim gigabytes of space
• Smart uninstaller: Thoroughly removes apps along with launch agents, preferences, and hidden remnants
• Disk insights: Visualizes usage, manages large files, rebuilds caches, and refreshes system services
• Live monitoring: Real-time stats for CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and network to diagnose performance issues

Quick Start

Install via Homebrew:

brew install mole

Or via script:

# 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

Windows: Mole is designed for macOS, but we offer an experimental Windows version based on user demand. See the windows branch, for early adopters only.

Run:

mo                           # Interactive menu
mo clean                     # Deep cleanup
mo uninstall                 # Remove apps + leftovers
mo optimize                  # Refresh caches & services
mo analyze                   # Visual disk explorer
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 remove                    # Remove Mole from system
mo --help                    # Show help
mo --version                 # Show installed version

mo clean --dry-run           # Preview the cleanup plan
mo clean --whitelist         # Manage protected caches
mo clean --dry-run --debug   # Detailed preview with risk levels and file info

mo optimize --dry-run        # Preview optimization actions
mo optimize --debug          # Run with detailed operation logs
mo optimize --whitelist      # Manage protected optimization rules
mo purge --paths             # Configure project scan directories

Tips

• Terminal: iTerm2 has known compatibility issues; we recommend Alacritty, kitty, WezTerm, Ghostty, or Warp.
• Safety: Built with strict protections. See Security Audit. Preview changes with mo clean --dry-run.
• Be Careful: Although safe by design, file deletion is permanent. Please review operations carefully.
• Debug Mode: Use --debug for detailed logs (e.g., mo clean --debug). Combine with --dry-run for comprehensive preview including risk levels and file details.
• Operation Log: File operations are logged to ~/.config/mole/operations.log for troubleshooting. Disable with MO_NO_OPLOG=1.
• Navigation: Supports arrow keys and Vim bindings (h/j/k/l).
• Status Shortcuts: In mo status, press k to toggle cat visibility and save preference, q to quit.
• Configuration: Run mo touchid for Touch ID sudo, mo completion for shell tab completion, mo clean --whitelist to manage protected paths.

Features in Detail

Deep System Cleanup

$ mo clean

Scanning cache directories...

  ✓ User app cache                                           45.2GB
  ✓ Browser cache (Chrome, Safari, Firefox)                  10.5GB
  ✓ Developer tools (Xcode, Node.js, npm)                    23.3GB
  ✓ System logs and temp files                                3.8GB
  ✓ App-specific cache (Spotify, Dropbox, Slack)              8.4GB
  ✓ Trash                                                    12.3GB

====================================================================
Space freed: 95.5GB | Free space now: 223.5GB
====================================================================

Smart App Uninstaller

$ mo uninstall

Select Apps to Remove
═══════════════════════════
▶ ☑ Photoshop 2024            (4.2G) | Old
  ☐ IntelliJ IDEA             (2.8G) | Recent
  ☐ Premiere Pro              (3.4G) | Recent

Uninstalling: Photoshop 2024

  ✓ Removed application
  ✓ Cleaned 52 related files across 12 locations
    - Application Support, Caches, Preferences
    - Logs, WebKit storage, Cookies
    - Extensions, Plugins, Launch daemons

====================================================================
Space freed: 12.8GB
====================================================================

System Optimization

$ mo optimize

System: 5/32 GB RAM | 333/460 GB Disk (72%) | Uptime 6d

  ✓ Rebuild system databases and clear caches
  ✓ Reset network services
  ✓ Refresh Finder and Dock
  ✓ Clean diagnostic and crash logs
  ✓ Remove swap files and restart dynamic pager
  ✓ Rebuild launch services and spotlight index

====================================================================
System optimization completed
====================================================================

Use `mo optimize --whitelist` to exclude specific optimizations.

Disk Space Analyzer

$ mo analyze

Analyze Disk  ~/Documents  |  Total: 156.8GB

 ▶  1. ███████████████████  48.2%  |  📁 Library                     75.4GB  >6mo
    2. ██████████░░░░░░░░░  22.1%  |  📁 Downloads                   34.6GB
    3. ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  14.3%  |  📁 Movies                      22.4GB
    4. ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  10.8%  |  📁 Documents                   16.9GB
    5. ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░   5.2%  |  📄 backup_2023.zip              8.2GB

  ↑↓←→ Navigate  |  O Open  |  F Show  |  ⌫ Delete  |  L Large files  |  Q Quit

Live System Status

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

$ mo status

Mole Status  Health ● 92  MacBook Pro · M4 Pro · 32GB · macOS 14.5

⚙ CPU                                    ▦ Memory
Total   ████████████░░░░░░░  45.2%       Used    ███████████░░░░░░░  58.4%
Load    0.82 / 1.05 / 1.23 (8 cores)     Total   14.2 / 24.0 GB
Core 1  ███████████████░░░░  78.3%       Free    ████████░░░░░░░░░░  41.6%
Core 2  ████████████░░░░░░░  62.1%       Avail   9.8 GB

▤ Disk                                   ⚡ Power
Used    █████████████░░░░░░  67.2%       Level   ██████████████████  100%
Free    156.3 GB                         Status  Charged
Read    ▮▯▯▯▯  2.1 MB/s                  Health  Normal · 423 cycles
Write   ▮▮▮▯▯  18.3 MB/s                 Temp    58°C · 1200 RPM

⇅ Network                                ▶ Processes
Down    ▁▁█▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▇▆▅▂  0.54 MB/s      Code       ▮▮▮▮▯  42.1%
Up      ▄▄▄▃▃▃▄▆▆▇█▁▁▁▁▁  0.02 MB/s      Chrome     ▮▮▮▯▯  28.3%
Proxy   HTTP · 192.168.1.100             Terminal   ▮▯▯▯▯  12.5%

Health score based on CPU, memory, disk, temperature, and I/O load. Color-coded by range.

Project Artifact Purge

Clean old build artifacts (node_modules, target, build, dist, etc.) from your projects to free up disk space.

mo purge

Select Categories to Clean - 18.5GB (8 selected)

➤ ● my-react-app       3.2GB | node_modules
  ● old-project        2.8GB | node_modules
  ● rust-app           4.1GB | target
  ● next-blog          1.9GB | node_modules
  ○ current-work       856MB | node_modules  | Recent
  ● django-api         2.3GB | venv
  ● vue-dashboard      1.7GB | node_modules
  ● backend-service    2.5GB | node_modules

Use with caution: This will permanently delete selected artifacts. Review carefully before confirming. Recent projects, less than 7 days old, are marked and unselected by default.

Custom Scan Paths

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

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

When custom paths are configured, only those directories are scanned. Otherwise, it defaults to ~/Projects, ~/GitHub, ~/dev, etc.

Installer Cleanup

Find and remove large installer files scattered across Downloads, Desktop, Homebrew caches, iCloud, and Mail. Each file is labeled by source to help you know where the space is hiding.

mo installer

Select Installers to Remove - 3.8GB (5 selected)

➤ ● Photoshop_2024.dmg     1.2GB | Downloads
  ● IntelliJ_IDEA.dmg       850.6MB | Downloads
  ● Illustrator_Setup.pkg   920.4MB | Downloads
  ● PyCharm_Pro.dmg         640.5MB | Homebrew
  ● Acrobat_Reader.dmg      220.4MB | Downloads
  ○ AppCode_Legacy.zip      410.6MB | Downloads

Quick Launchers

Launch Mole commands instantly from Raycast or Alfred:

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

Adds 5 commands: clean, uninstall, optimize, analyze, status.

Mole automatically detects your terminal, or set MO_LAUNCHER_APP=<name> to override. For Raycast users: if this is your first script directory, add it via Raycast Extensions → Add Script Directory, then run "Reload Script Directories".

Community Love

Big thanks to all contributors who helped build Mole. Go follow them! ❤️

Real feedback from users who shared Mole on X.

Support

• If Mole helped you, star the repo or share it with friends.
• Got ideas or found bugs? Check the Contributing Guide and open an issue or PR.
• Like Mole? Buy Tw93 a Coke to support the project! 🥤 Supporters below.

License

MIT License, feel free to enjoy and participate in open source.