How to uninstall Kimi on Mac

Kimi keeps two kinds of conversation. Chat-mode conversations stay synced across Kimi on the web, desktop and mobile, so they survive removing the app. Conversations in Kimi Work mode stay only on the Mac where you started them, according to Kimi's download page, so copy out any Work results you still need before you delete anything. Kimi also puts two folders straight in your home folder, ~/.kimi-work and ~/.kimi-webbridge, and the WebBridge local service in the second one can keep running after the app is gone. This guide covers the installer from Kimi's website and the Homebrew cask kimi.

How Kimi gets installed

The disk image from Kimi's website holds Kimi Installer. Opening it puts the real Kimi app into Applications and launches it. The Homebrew cask skips that step and copies Kimi straight out of the installer. If you dragged Kimi Installer into Applications yourself, it is a second app; remove it along with Kimi.

Quit Kimi and the processes it leaves behind

1. Quit Kimi with Command + Q.
2. Open Activity Monitor and search for kimi. A kimi-webbridge process runs from ~/.kimi-webbridge/bin and does not quit with the app; select it and quit it. If you tick the ~/.kimi-webbridge row in Mole instead, Mole stops that process after it has moved the folder to the Trash.
3. Search Activity Monitor for crashpad as well. Many apps run a chrome_crashpad_handler, so quit only the one whose path, shown by the command in the next section, points into Kimi.app. Logging out also ends it.
4. Move Kimi, and Kimi Installer if it is there, from Applications to the Trash.
5. If you added Kimi's browser extension for WebBridge to Chrome or Edge, remove it from that browser's extensions page. Removing the Mac app does not touch the browser.

Where Kimi keeps its data

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder and open each location, skipping any that is missing. Kimi does not document these paths; they come from Homebrew's zap list and the recorded tests.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the app is in the Trash:

pgrep -lf -i kimi
ls -d ~/.kimi-work ~/.kimi-webbridge "$HOME/Library/Application Support/kimi-desktop"

• No output from pgrep means nothing named Kimi is running. A line ending in kimi-webbridge, or a chrome_crashpad_handler whose path contains Kimi.app, means a leftover process is still alive; quit it in Activity Monitor before you delete its folder.
• ls -d prints each folder that still exists. Folders you chose to keep are expected here. "No such file or directory" means that folder is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

When you remove a Homebrew install, Mole runs Homebrew's uninstall and adds --zap only when every path in the cask's zap list sits inside ~/Library, none of them is a row you left unticked, and no other installed app claims it. Otherwise it leaves --zap out and still removes the rows you ticked.

The kimi cask's zap list includes ~/.kimi-work, ~/.kimi-webbridge and ~/Library/Application Support/kimi-desktop, plus ~/Library/Application Support/kimi (the same folder as the Kimi one in the table, because a Mac disk ignores letter case by default), ~/Library/Caches/KimiAppCache, ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.moonshot.kimichat, the logs, the preferences file and the recent-items list. Because two of those paths are outside ~/Library, Mole never adds --zap for Kimi. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap kimi yourself moves all of them to the Trash, Work files included, whatever you ticked in Mole. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask kimi

Your account

Removing the app does not delete your Kimi account, sign out your other devices or end a paid plan. Chat-mode history stays with the account.

Kimi downloads · Kimi WebBridge · Homebrew's kimi cask

What Mole lists

This describes Mole for Kimi installed from the website:

• The preferences file, the recent-items list, the logs, the temporary folders macOS keeps for the app, and the cache folders inside ~/Library/Application Support/kimi-desktop (Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, Crashpad and the like) are selected by default.
• The container and Application Scripts folder of the Share extension, com.moonshot.kimichat.share, are selected by default, because the extension ships inside Kimi.app.
• ~/.kimi-work, ~/.kimi-webbridge, ~/Library/Application Support/kimi-desktop itself and ~/Library/Application Support/Kimi are listed but not selected. Tick them only after you have saved what you need.
• Mole stops kimi-webbridge only when the ~/.kimi-webbridge row is ticked and that folder has been moved to the Trash; with the row unticked, the process keeps running. Mole does not quit the crash handler, which runs from inside Kimi.app; quit it in Activity Monitor.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, the official Kimi disk image, from the link the Homebrew cask uses, was tested without Homebrew. Kimi Installer was copied into Applications and opened, and its first launch installed Kimi 3.2.14 and started it. A development build of Mole removed the installer, then removed Kimi with every listed item ticked: the app and all 18 listed rows went to the Trash, including both home folders and ~/Library/Application Support/kimi-desktop. Afterwards a chrome_crashpad_handler from Kimi was still running from the Trash. Status was sampled while only the installer had started, so it has no row for Kimi. An earlier test on September 20, 2026 copied only Kimi.app out of the installer and removed it with Mole 1.15 Preview build 280 and its default selection; ~/.kimi-work, ~/.kimi-webbridge and ~/Library/Application Support/kimi-desktop stayed on disk, and kimi-webbridge and the crash handler kept running, which is why Mole's rows for those folders were added. Neither test signed in or used Work mode, the browser extension was not installed, and the Homebrew cask was not tested.