Mac guides

How to uninstall the Claude desktop app on Mac completely

By Qiffe · Tested on macOS 27.0.1,

The Claude desktop app keeps most of its data in ~/Library/Application Support/Claude, the folder its browser engine uses for storage, cookies and the extensions you added. Its caches, settings and updater files use the app’s bundle ID instead, so a search for “Claude” alone misses some of them.

If you use Claude Code, the command-line tool, keep ~/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs: it belongs to Claude Code, not to the app.

What Claude leaves behind

Measured on macOS 27.0.1 with Claude 2.31226.1 (downloaded from its website, bundle ID com.anthropic.claudefordesktop). Your Mac may have fewer items, or more, depending on how you used it.

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Claude

    The app's data: browser-engine storage, cookies, local settings and the extensions you added (Claude Extensions).

  • ~/Library/Caches/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop

    Cache. Safe to remove.

  • ~/Library/Caches/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.ShipIt

    Cache of the app's updater (ShipIt).

  • ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop

    Web storage used by the app's network requests.

  • ~/Library/Preferences/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.plist

    Settings.

  • ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.ShipIt.<ID>.plist

    The updater's settings for this Mac (the ID differs on every Mac).

  • ~/Library/Logs/Claude

    Log files.

  • ~/Library/Caches/claude-cli-nodejs

    Shared · Cache of Claude Code, the command-line tool, not of the desktop app.

Items marked shared are used by other apps too. Keep them if you still use those apps.

Remove Claude by hand

  1. Quit Claude (Command-Q).
  2. In Finder, open Applications and drag Claude to the Trash.
  3. For each location in the list above, choose Go > Go to Folder… in Finder (Shift-Command-G), paste the path, and drag the item to the Trash. Skip the ones marked shared if you still use those apps.
  4. When you're sure nothing is missing, empty the Trash.

macOS protects some of these folders, such as those in Containers and Group Containers. If you can't move one, an uninstaller with Full Disk Access, such as Doff, can.

Or let Doff do it

Doff finds these leftovers for you. Drag Claude to the Trash as usual and Doff offers to take the rest too, showing every item and its size first. Only confident matches are preselected, and everything goes to the Trash, so you can put it back. Scanning is free; removing takes a one-time $12.99 license.

Questions

Does uninstalling the Claude app remove Claude Code?

No. Claude Code, the command-line tool, is installed separately. Its cache folder claude-cli-nodejs sits next to the app's files; keep it if you use Claude Code.

Will I lose my conversations?

Your conversations are stored in your Anthropic account, not only on the Mac. Removing the app's data signs this Mac out.