How to uninstall GitHub Copilot Desktop on Mac

Save work from your GitHub Copilot sessions before removing the desktop app. GitHub's official app uses separate worktrees for local sessions, so preserve changes in each repository and worktree, not just the main checkout. This is the app named GitHub Copilot, distinct from Copilot for Xcode and a separately installed Copilot CLI.

Save work and remove the desktop app

Finish or stop local agent work, save files and preserve wanted uncommitted changes. Check any cloud sessions separately in GitHub; removing a Mac app is not an instruction to delete its repositories or pull requests. GitHub describes local and cloud sessions here.

Quit GitHub Copilot, then copy existing ~/Library/Application Support/com.github.githubapp to a private independent backup if you want to retain local app state. Verify the copy before clearing originals. Move GitHub Copilot.app from Applications to the Trash in Finder.

Review desktop data

The current cask names these Mac locations, not a location for every session's source code:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/com.github.githubapp: local desktop app data, keep until the backup is verified.
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.github.githubapp: app cache, removable after quitting.
  • ~/Library/Preferences/com.github.githubapp.plist: desktop preferences, save if wanted.
  • ~/Library/WebKit/com.github.githubapp: local web-view data, review before resetting.

Open each existing location with Finder's Go › Go to Folder, and move only unwanted owned items to the Trash. Keep repositories, worktrees and other Copilot tools you still use. Removing this desktop app does not cancel your Copilot plan.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The matching token is github-copilot-app; the cask declares no separate uninstall step beyond its managed Mac app.

brew uninstall --cask github-copilot-app

Zap removes all four desktop locations above, including local app state. A direct brew uninstall --cask --zap github-copilot-app ignores Mole's checkboxes. Mole suppresses zap if any target is unchecked, shared or cannot pass the complete safety boundary, while selected remnants still use Mole's Trash flow. This cask does not uninstall a separately installed CLI or Xcode extension.

Check the result

pgrep -ifl 'GitHub Copilot.app'
ls -ld "$HOME/Library/Application Support/com.github.githubapp"

No process match means this command found no arguments matching the app name, not that a differently named CLI has gone. Identify a surviving match before quitting it. A printed support folder still exists; a missing-path error means that exact folder is absent. Other errors leave the state unknown, and a directory's existence does not prove sessions are recoverable.

What Mole lists

The exact bundle-ID support folder, cache and preferences are selected by default when present, so back up and uncheck wanted local state before removal. Web-view data and temporary entries follow their own safety checks. These rows do not establish ownership of arbitrary repositories or worktrees, and they do not remove separately installed Copilot tools.

What this test covered

On September 21, 2026, the official GitHub Copilot 1.1.23 app was copied into Applications, opened and removed with the default selection. A WebKit temporary item could not be moved to the Trash because of macOS permissions. The test did not sign in, create an agent session or verify repository, worktree or cloud-session recovery; Homebrew uninstall was not exercised.