How to uninstall AnythingLLM on Mac

Everything AnythingLLM Desktop builds up on your Mac lives in one folder, ~/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop: its database, parsed documents, vector database, downloaded models and custom agent skills. Downloaded models can make it several gigabytes. Decide what to keep before you delete it. These steps cover the Mac app downloaded from anythingllm.com and the Homebrew cask anythingllm.

Find and back up your workspaces

In AnythingLLM, click the version number in the top right corner and choose Open storage. That opens ~/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop/storage, which AnythingLLM's storage page describes as holding:

Inside storage What it is
anythingllm.db The SQLite database with workspaces, chats and settings
documents Parsed content of files you uploaded
lancedb and vector-cache The local vector database and cached embeddings
models Downloaded LLM and embedding models, usually GGUF files
plugins Custom agent skills
direct-uploads Files dropped into a chat

To keep your setup for a reinstall or another Mac, quit AnythingLLM and copy the whole anythingllm-desktop folder to another drive. Models can be downloaded again, but your database, documents and agent skills cannot.

If you pointed AnythingLLM at Ollama or LM Studio instead of its built-in model runner, those models belong to that other app and stay where it keeps them.

Quit AnythingLLM and remove the app

  1. Quit AnythingLLM from its application menu.
  2. Search Activity Monitor for AnythingLLM and for llm, the process its built-in model runner shows up as, and check that nothing is left running.
  3. Move AnythingLLM from the Applications folder to the Trash.

AnythingLLM's uninstall page then has you remove ~/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop for a full removal. Do that only after your copy is safe; deleting only the storage folder resets the app instead.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -lf AnythingLLM.app
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop"
du -sh "$HOME/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop/storage/models"
  • No output from pgrep means no process is running from AnythingLLM.app. A listed process, including one named llm, means the app is still open.
  • ls -d printing the path means your workspaces and models are still on this Mac, which is expected if you kept them. "No such file or directory" means the folder is gone.
  • du -sh shows how much space downloaded models take. A "No such file or directory" error here means no models folder exists, not that the rest of the data is gone.

For other local model tools, see How to Delete Ollama and LM Studio Models on Mac.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The anythingllm cask's zap list has one entry, ~/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop, the folder with your database, documents, vector data and models. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap anythingllm yourself moves it to the Trash, whatever you ticked in Mole. To keep it, remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask anythingllm

What Mole lists

This is how Mole handles AnythingLLM installed from the official download:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/anythingllm-desktop is listed but not selected, because your workspaces and models are inside it. The rebuildable browser caches inside it, Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, DawnGraphiteCache, DawnWebGPUCache and blob_storage, are separate rows selected by default.
  • The com.anythingllm preferences file, the app's recent-documents list and its temporary cache folders are selected by default.
  • Ollama's ~/.ollama is not listed with AnythingLLM. It belongs to Ollama.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, AnythingLLM 1.16.2 was installed from the official package Homebrew's cask points to, checked against its checksum and copied into Applications, launched once without setting up a workspace, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole with every listed row ticked, including the ones Mole leaves unchecked. Mole's Status page showed AnythingLLM as one row with 14 processes, the llm runner among them. The app (1.93 GB), the 40 MB support folder and the caches and preferences, 12 items in all, went to the Trash, and none of them was still on disk afterwards. No login item or launch agent appeared. No model was downloaded and no document embedded, so the size above is far below a working setup, and the Homebrew cask was not uninstalled. An earlier test on September 21, 2026 removed AnythingLLM 1.16.1 and its 145 MB support folder the same way.