How to uninstall Keyboard Maestro on Mac
Keyboard Maestro's editor and its background Engine are two separate processes, and the vendor asks you to quit them in a specific order. Your macros live in ~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro, outside the app itself, so copy that folder somewhere safe before you remove anything; the same folder is what the vendor suggests copying to move your macros to another Mac. This covers the app downloaded from keyboardmaestro.com (bundle id com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor) and the Homebrew cask keyboard-maestro, which installs the same download.
Quit the Engine and the editor, then remove the app
Keyboard Maestro's own instructions give this order:
- Open Keyboard Maestro, and in its General preferences turn off "Launch Engine at Login".
- Choose Quit Engine from the File menu to stop the background Engine.
- Choose Quit Keyboard Maestro from the Keyboard Maestro menu to close the editor.
- Find Keyboard Maestro in Finder's Applications folder and move it to Trash.
Where the data lives
Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and check each path.
| Location | What it holds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro |
Your macros | Back this up before removing it; it is not disposable app data |
~/Library/Preferences/com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.plist, com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor.plist, com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.engine.plist |
Keyboard Maestro's preference files, the com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.* set the vendor lists |
Remove them for a clean start |
~/Library/Preferences/.Hidden Keyboard Maestro * Prefs |
A hidden preferences file (the * stands for the rest of its name) |
Remove it with the other preferences |
~/Library/Logs/Keyboard Maestro |
Log files | Safe to remove |
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor.savedState |
Editor window state | Safe to remove |
Check the result
pgrep -il "keyboard maestro"
launchctl list | grep -i keyboardmaestro
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Keyboard\ Maestro
No output from pgrep means neither the editor nor the Engine is running. No output from launchctl list means no Keyboard Maestro job is loaded in your session; a listed line names a job to stop before you finish. For ls -d, "No such file or directory" means your macro folder is gone; a printed path means it is still there, which matters if you kept it on purpose.
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 keyboard-maestro cask's zap list includes ~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro (your macros), a Recent Documents entry at ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDocuments/com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor.sfl*, the editor and Engine caches, plus the logs, preferences and saved window state above. Mole lists your macro folder without a tick, so unless you tick it Mole's Homebrew removal drops --zap and removes only the rows you left ticked. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap keyboard-maestro yourself moves everything on the list, whatever you selected in Mole. The list does not include the hidden ~/Library/Preferences/.Hidden Keyboard Maestro * Prefs file, which Mole lists on its own.
To keep your macros, back up ~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro first, or remove only the app:
brew uninstall --cask keyboard-maestro
What Mole lists
~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro is listed but not selected, so you choose between keeping your macros and reclaiming the space. ~/Library/Preferences/com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor.plist, ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.stairways.keyboardmaestro.editor.savedState and ~/Library/Logs/Keyboard Maestro are selected by default when they exist. The hidden .Hidden Keyboard Maestro * Prefs file is listed but not selected, so tick it if you want it gone.
What this test covered
Keyboard Maestro 11.1.1 was copied into Applications from the official download, with no Homebrew receipt, and uninstalled on September 20, 2026, with Mole 1.15 Preview (build 280), without granting it the Accessibility permission it asks for. The review list was expanded and every row was ticked; ~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro (176 KB) went to Trash along with the app, and no helper was installed under /Library. Macro syncing, a registered license and the Homebrew cask were not tested.