Uninstall iTerm2 on Mac

Export any custom profiles, Dynamic Profiles, or scripts you wrote before removing iTerm2, and note whether you turned on "Load preferences from a custom folder", since that setting changes where your real settings live. These steps cover the official download and the Homebrew cask iterm2, which install the same app.

Quit iTerm2 and remove the app

Quit iTerm2 from its app menu, then move iTerm.app from Applications to the Trash. iTerm2 runs no login item or background helper of its own, so nothing needs to be stopped first.

Where iTerm2 keeps its files

Location	What it holds	What to do
`~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist`	Your profiles, key bindings, and general settings, unless you moved them to a custom folder	Back up before removing, unless you use a custom folder
`~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2/DynamicProfiles`	JSON or plist files defining profiles you added outside the Preferences UI	Back up any files you wrote yourself
`~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2/Scripts`	Automation scripts and the bundled Python environment iTerm2 creates for them	Back up scripts you wrote; the Python environment itself is regenerable
`~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/...iterm2.sfl`	Recent-documents records	Safe to remove
`~/Library/Caches/com.googlecode.iterm2`	Regenerable cache	Safe to remove
`~/Library/Saved Application State/com.googlecode.iterm2*.savedState`	Saved window and tab layout	Safe to remove

If you turned on Preferences › General › Preferences › "Load preferences from a custom folder or URL" (which iTerm2 also exposes as defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 LoadPrefsFromCustomFolder -bool true plus a PrefsCustomFolder path), your real settings live in that folder, not in the plist above; check it separately and it is untouched by removing the app. General Preferences docs · Dynamic Profiles docs · Scripting docs

Shell integration files

If you ever ran iTerm2 › Install Shell Integration, it created a ~/.iterm2_shell_integration.<shell> file (for example ~/.iterm2_shell_integration.zsh) and added a line to your shell's startup file (~/.zshrc, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.profile, or ~/.config/fish/config.fish, depending on your shell) that sources it. Removing iTerm2 does not touch either of these; if you want them gone, open your startup file, delete or comment out the source ".iterm2_shell_integration... line, then delete the ~/.iterm2_shell_integration.<shell> file itself. Leaving them in place is harmless: the line only does something when iTerm2 is running.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in another terminal app:

pgrep -il iterm
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/iTerm2
grep -l iterm2_shell_integration ~/.zshrc ~/.bash_profile ~/.profile 2>/dev/null

No output from pgrep means iTerm2 has quit (a process named "iTerm2" belongs to this app; other terminal apps use their own names). The ls command shows whether ~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2, which holds Dynamic Profiles and Scripts, is still on disk. The grep command lists which shell startup files still source the shell integration script, if any; no output means none do.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The next Mole update will skip --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked. Mole will still clean the leftovers you selected. Preview 290 does not include this protection.

The iterm2 cask quits iTerm2 for you during removal. Mole Preview 290 removes a Homebrew-installed iTerm2 with brew uninstall --cask --zap iterm2, and the zap list covers ~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2 and ~/Library/Application Support/iTerm (Dynamic Profiles, Scripts, and everything else under them), the preferences plist, caches, cookies, HTTPStorages, WebKit data, saved window state, and the AI-related iTermFileProvider container, all removed whatever you select in Mole. It does not touch a custom preferences folder or your shell integration files. Back up any Dynamic Profiles or scripts you wrote first, or skip zap to keep everything but the app:

brew uninstall --cask iterm2

Homebrew iTerm2 cask

What Mole lists

This describes Mole 1.15 (currently in Preview):

~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2 is listed but locked, in a separate protected-data section with no checkbox, not a "listed but not selected" row you could tick. iTerm2's app registers to open http and https links, which makes Mole treat it like a browser and protect its Application Support folder as personal data; the folder also holds a chatdb file from iTerm2's AI Chat feature. It shows up on the completion screen as retained, never as removed. Mole's Clean tab never offers it as a cache either, since app names containing "iterm" are on Mole's protected list alongside password managers and VPN clients.
~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist, ~/Library/Caches/com.googlecode.iterm2, and saved window state are selected by default.
Shell integration files in your home directory and a custom preferences folder are outside anything Mole scans; remove them yourself as described above.

What this test covered

iTerm2 was installed from Homebrew and removed with a development build of Mole on September 17, 2026, as part of an 8-app cluster. The completion screen reported 8 items removed, 1 retained: the retained item was ~/Library/Application Support/iTerm2's chatdb (about 48 KB), kept under the browser-data protection described above rather than shown as an unchecked row. A post-uninstall disk comparison found that folder plus a ~/.config/iterm2 symlink pointing into it, neither of which appeared in a later Clean leftovers scan. A login item ghost for iTerm2 remained in System Settings, the same harmless BTM record other removed apps leave behind. Dynamic Profiles, Scripts, and a custom preferences folder were not present on the test Mac and were not exercised in this run; the official direct download was not uninstalled in this test.