Mole: Mac optimization without a CleanMyMac subscription

Reviewed 27 September 2026. The project currently requires macOS 12 or newer and supports Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

What Mole does

Mole is a free open-source terminal tool. It can clear caches and logs, uninstall apps with attributable leftovers, analyze large files, run maintenance tasks and display live system status. Because several commands remove files, do not treat it like a harmless monitoring dashboard.

Start safely

Install the stable Homebrew version and preview every destructive workflow first:

brew install mole
mo clean --dry-run
mo uninstall --dry-run
mo optimize --dry-run

Before confirming, check these paths especially:

• developer directories and local models;
• browser profiles and other personal data;
• large project files you still need.

Run Mole without sudo. It requests administrator access itself when an individual operation needs it. Read the listed paths before you confirm. Use mo clean --whitelist to protect caches that Mole should skip in future runs.

Know what deletion means

mo clean permanently removes caches that the tool considers rebuildable; there is no undo. mo uninstall and deletions from the disk analyzer move selected items to Trash by default. mo history provides an audit trail, not file restoration.

Pay extra attention to developer directories, local models, browser data and large project artifacts. Make sure you have a current backup before using a new cleanup tool on an important Mac for the first time.

Stay current and controlled

Use a stable release and read release notes before major updates. mo update --nightly installs unreleased code and does not belong on a production Mac. If a preview includes unexpected system paths, stop and check the official repository rather than forcing the deletion.