Mole

Active · Website · Source repository

GPL-3.0 cleaner and Mac toolbox from veteran open-source author tw93: fast CLI plus native macOS (SwiftUI) and Windows apps. Cleans caches and AI-tool data, uninstalls/updates apps, analyzes disk, slims universal binaries, monitors system status. README localized into 10 languages; 71.5k stars - the most-starred entry in the catalog by an order of magnitude. Pre-dates the mid-2026 wave (repo Sep 2025).

Platforms

• macOS
• Windows

Interface

• CLI
• GUI

Tech stack

• Bash
• Go
• SwiftUI
• Swift

Bash, Go (per CSV; repo language Shell; native app SwiftUI, Windows app on a 'windows' branch)

Features

• Dev Junk Cleaner
• Ai Model Cache Cleaner
• App Uninstaller
• Uninstall Leftovers
• Space Usage Visualize
• App Updater
• Application Compression

Dev-junk cleaning

One of its features

Development

Lead developer + community · original author still leads

tw93

Original author tw93 (GitHub since 2014) still leads and pushes nearly daily; community supplies the README's 10-language localizations.

License

GPL

Open source, GPL-3.0 (GitHub API)

Price

Freemium

CLI free and open source; native Mac/Windows apps 'Pay once, get free updates' (site)

Launched

Sep 23, 2025

repo_created_at

Repo created

Sep 23, 2025

First release

Sep 2025

Domain registered

May 6, 2026 (mole.fit)

Last seen alive

Oct 19, 2026

Checks

Mechanical checks derived from the fields above. Each row is one fact; "not yet checked" means exactly that, not a failure. There is no composite score; read them together.

Relations

• inspired by CleanMyMac / DaisyDisk / Pearcleaner (positioning)

  Repo topics list cleanmymac, daisydisk, pearcleaner, sensei as the commercial cohort Mole positions against; per project notes, 'sweepr' (another 2026 cleaner) was reverse-engineered from Mole.

Research notes

• The reference implementation: other apps in the catalog get compared to Mole unprompted in their own threads (DiskFox's author: 'Mole is great if you want a fast, free cleanup from the Terminal').
• AI-tool-cache cleaning as a first-class feature ('cleaning caches and AI tool data') - the 2026-shaped cleaning category.
• Inverted monetization arc vs the cohort: free GPL CLI paid for by one-time native-app purchases.
• Site (mole.fit) arrived 8 months after the repo - product first, marketing later, opposite of the wave's domain-first pattern.
• `mo slim` shrinks installed apps by stripping Intel code from universal binaries on Apple Silicon - the same 'shrink the apps you keep' goal as application compression, but by architecture removal rather than filesystem compression. Slims a copy, swaps only after code-signing and Gatekeeper checks pass, moves the original to Trash, and skips App Store/Apple/Rosetta-pinned/other-user/running apps; an app update restores the Intel code.

Sources

Wrong, stale, or missing something? Flag this listing: corrections reach the site operator, not Mole's developer.