tw93/Mole

What Mole does

Mole is an open-source command-line toolkit for keeping a Mac clean and observable. It combines several jobs that normally require separate apps: cache and log cleanup, app uninstalling with leftover detection, an interactive disk usage explorer, system maintenance such as DNS and QuickLook refresh, project build-artifact purging, installer-file discovery, Intel-code stripping on Apple Silicon, and a live CPU/memory/disk/network/process dashboard. The mo binary is script-based and driven from the terminal. A separate proprietary Mac app and a native Windows app are offered through mole.fit; the repository's free CLI is what the README documents in depth (README intro).

Install and first run

Requirements: macOS 12 or newer, Intel or Apple Silicon. Homebrew is the primary install route (install section):

brew install mole

If Homebrew no longer supports your macOS version, the README gives a script installer (install script notes); platform-specific instructions exist for Windows and Linux. After installation, start with the interactive menu or preview a cleanup:

mo                    # interactive menu
mo clean --dry-run    # see what would be removed
mo status             # live system dashboard

The full command set includes clean, uninstall, optimize, analyze, status, purge, installer, slim, plus touchid, completion, update and remove (command list). Output can be machine-readable: mo analyze --json <path>, mo status --json, and mo history --json are documented with example payloads (JSON section).

Safety and constraints

Mole deletes files, so the destructive commands — clean, uninstall, purge, installer and slim — deserve a --dry-run first. The project says it validates paths, protects shared and system-owned locations, and refuses actions it cannot prove safe; it also asks users to run without sudo and only requests administrator access when needed (safety notes). uninstall, analyze and slim route deletions through the Trash by default, while clean, purge and installer delete permanently. Cleanup activity is logged and viewable via mo history; caches and maintenance rules can be protected with whitelists. Timeouts are configurable through MOLE_TIMEOUT_* variables for slow disks or network mounts (configuration). The CLI is GPL-3.0; the Mac app is separate proprietary software. Some cleanup items and results depend on the individual machine, and the README notes that partial disk scans are marked partial or unavailable rather than silently reported as complete.

HotRepo's take

The HN conversation around the 2026-03-21 post is thin — 33 points and a single comment — but that comment highlights the two traits that make a cleanup tool usable by cautious users: a documented --dry-run and whitelist support, plus a lightweight verbose script HN discussion. Mole ships a surprisingly wide command surface for a shell tool, and the JSON interfaces for analyze, status and history make it scriptable beyond manual cleanup. The split between the free GPL CLI and the paid native app is explicit in the README, so users looking for a GUI should understand they are not getting it from this repository.