How to uninstall Celestia on Mac
Keep copies of any Celestia catalog files, scripts, textures and add-ons you created. The project’s official guide describes editable startup settings and extra catalogs. This page covers the official Mac archive’s app, not every separately installed add-on.
Quit and remove the app
Before trashing Celestia.app, back up any files you modified inside it. Save your work and quit Celestia with Cmd + Q. Move the Mac app from Applications to the Trash after checking the backup. Keep separately saved projects and source data in place.
Review local data
~/Library/Containers/space.celestia.Celestiawas observed in the Mac test; inspect it before removal because a container can hold settings or data.~/Library/Application Scripts/space.celestia.Celestiais the paired sandbox script location in the cask.
No extra home-directory data location was established by this test. After checking the backup and quitting, press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open the two exact Celestia paths above and move only the item you chose to discard to the Trash. Keep separately installed add-ons and shared parents. A macOS permission refusal means the item remains unremoved.
Check the result
pgrep -ifl Celestia
ls -ld /Applications/Celestia.app "$HOME/Library/Containers/space.celestia.Celestia" "$HOME/Library/Application Scripts/space.celestia.Celestia"
No process output means this name was not found, not that every helper has gone. Check any match against the app’s actual executable path. A missing-path error from ls means only that location is absent; permission errors leave its state unknown. A surviving folder can be intentional data to keep.
If you installed it with Homebrew
The cask has no separate uninstall helper. Zap removes the Celestia container and Application Scripts directory; keep them when they contain custom material you need.
To uninstall without zap, use:
brew uninstall --cask celestia
Mole checks Homebrew's full removal list and skips --zap when it reaches unchecked data, shared files or anything it cannot verify. It still removes the leftovers you selected. A direct brew uninstall --cask --zap celestia runs Homebrew’s full zap list without consulting Mole’s checkboxes.
What Mole lists
Mole selects the app and exact Celestia container and Application Scripts rows by default when they are accessible. Uncheck the container if you want its data to remain. An inaccessible container is not proof of a complete cleanup.
What this test covered
On September 21, 2026, the official universal Celestia 1.6.4 app was opened and uninstalled. The app and scripts were removed, but a 36 KB container remained after a permission refusal. No custom add-on set or Homebrew zap was tested.