How to uninstall Eclipse Memory Analyzer on Mac
Eclipse Memory Analyzer (MAT) is the Eclipse Foundation's Java heap analyzer, from eclipse.dev/mat. The Mac app is a stand-alone Eclipse RCP application that needs Java 21 to run, per its download page. It does not keep your heap dumps. What deserves a look before you remove it is next to the dumps you analysed: per the project's help, MAT writes index files for each dump and, when you run a report, a _Leak_Suspects.zip-style report next to the dump file, and those stay when the app goes. This guide covers the official Apple silicon disk image and the Homebrew cask memoryanalyzer.
Quit and remove the app
- In MAT, open the Heap Dump History view and use Delete Index Files on the dumps you no longer need; the project's help says it deletes the index files and the dump is parsed again if you reopen it. This saves disk space and is optional. It never deletes the heap dump itself.
- Quit MAT with Command + Q.
- Open Finder, go to Applications and drag MemoryAnalyzer to the Trash.
The app did not start in the test, and no login item or launch agent appeared.
Where the data lives
Press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open each path. Skip any path that is not on your Mac.
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The folders holding the heap dumps you opened | Your dumps, plus the index files and reports MAT wrote beside them | Keep the dumps. Remove index files you do not need, and keep any report you still want to read. Mole does not look here. |
~/Library/Preferences/org.eclipse.mat.ui.rcp.MemoryAnalyzer.plist |
MAT's preferences, named in the cask's zap list; it did not exist in the test | Remove if it exists. |
In the test Mole listed nothing besides the app, but the app never ran, so this table cannot show what a used copy leaves.
Check the result
pgrep -il memoryanalyzer
ls -d /Applications/MemoryAnalyzer.app ~/Library/Preferences/org.eclipse.mat.ui.rcp.MemoryAnalyzer.plist
find ~/Downloads -maxdepth 2 -name '*.index'
- No output from
pgrepmeans MAT is not running. A printed line is a process still alive; quit it. - For
ls -d, "No such file or directory" means that path is gone. A printed path is still on disk. - The
findline looks in Downloads, two levels deep; change the folder to wherever your dumps are. Each printed file is an index file beside a dump that you can delete. No output means none are left there.
If you installed it with Homebrew
brew uninstall --cask memoryanalyzer
The cask has no uninstall step, so this command removes the app only. Its zap list names one file, ~/Library/Preferences/org.eclipse.mat.ui.rcp.MemoryAnalyzer.plist, so running brew uninstall --cask --zap memoryanalyzer yourself deletes only that preferences file and does not read Mole's checkboxes. It never touches your dumps, index files or reports. Mole adds --zap only when its whole removal scope passes its zap gate, and removes the rows you selected itself otherwise. The Homebrew install was not tested.
What Mole lists
In the test Mole listed the app and no other row, so there was nothing to select or review. If MAT has written its preferences file on your Mac, Mole lists it when it finds it. Mole does not look for heap dumps, index files or reports and never lists them.
What this test covered
On November 9, 2026, the test downloaded Eclipse Memory Analyzer 1.17.0 for Apple silicon from the Eclipse download site, whose checksum matched the Homebrew cask, and copied the app to Applications without running brew install. Opening it did not start a running app within 25 seconds, and the reason was not checked, so MAT never wrote user data and Status was not sampled. A source-built Mole then removed it with every review row ticked: Mole moved the app, about 114 MB, to the Trash, and nothing attributable to MAT was left. Mole found no update feed for the app. Opening a heap dump, index files, reports, a Homebrew-managed uninstall and Mole's notarized release build were not tested.