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MOLE(1)

NAME

Mole โ€” ๐Ÿน Deep clean and optimize your Mac.

SYNOPSIS

$brew install mole

INFO

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ShellShell & Terminal
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DESCRIPTION

๐Ÿน Deep clean and optimize your Mac.

README

Mole

Deep clean and optimize your Mac.

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Mole - 95.50GB freed

Features

  • All-in-one toolkit: Combines CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus in a single binary
  • Deep cleaning: Removes caches, logs, and browser leftovers 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:

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

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 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


Safe preview before applying changes


mo clean --dry-run
mo uninstall --dry-run
mo purge --dry-run


--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

Tips

  • Video tutorial: Watch the Mole tutorial video, thanks to PAPAYA ้›ป่…ฆๆ•™ๅฎค.
  • Safety and logs: Deletions are permanent. Review with --dry-run first, and add --debug when needed. File operations are logged to ~/.config/mole/operations.log. Disable with MO_NO_OPLOG=1. See Security Audit.
  • Navigation: Mole supports arrow keys and Vim bindings h/j/k/l.

Features in Detail

Deep System Cleanup

$ 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

$ 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


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

System Optimization

$ 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

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

$ 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.

$ 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.

Project Artifact Purge

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

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

We recommend installing fd on macOS. brew install fd

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

Custom Scan Paths

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

~/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.

Installer Cleanup

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

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:

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



Real feedback from users who shared Mole on X.

Community feedback on Mole

Support

  • If Mole helped you, star the repo or share it with friends.
  • Got ideas or bugs? Read the Contributing Guide and open an issue or PR.
  • Like Mole? Buy Tw93 a Coke to support the project. ๐Ÿฅค Supporters are below.

License

MIT License. Feel free to use Mole and contribute.

SEE ALSO

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clihub3/4/2026MOLE(1)