How to uninstall MLX-Serve on Mac

MLX-Serve is an open-source app and local server that runs open models on Apple silicon, from mlxserve.com and its GitHub project. Its bundle ID is com.dalcu.mlx-core, and some places still show its earlier name, MLX Core. Almost everything it keeps is in ~/.mlx-serve: per its CLI documentation, downloaded models land in ~/.mlx-serve/models, a store the separate mlx-serve command line formula uses too, and its app documentation puts your system prompt, memory, skills and MCP servers there as system-prompt.md, memory.md, skills/ and mcp.json. Models can be many gigabytes. Decide what to keep before you remove anything, and keep the folder if you still use the command line server. Models MLX-Serve found in LM Studio's folder or your Hugging Face cache stay where they are. This guide covers the GitHub release and the project's own Homebrew cask.

Quit and remove the app

1. Copy anything you want from ~/.mlx-serve, such as memory.md, system-prompt.md, skills and mcp.json, and any model you do not want to download again.
2. Quit MLX-Serve from its menu or press Command + Q. The app starts an mlx-serve server that listens on port 11234; check with the commands below that it stopped too. In the test the app and its server ran 5 processes, which Mole's Status page groups into one MLX-Serve row.
3. Open Finder, go to Applications and drag MLX-Serve to the Trash.

The app registered no login item or launch agent in the test.

Where the data lives

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open each path. Skip any path that is not on your Mac.

Check the result

pgrep -il -e mlx-serve -e mlx-core
lsof -nP -iTCP:11234 -sTCP:LISTEN
ls -ld "$HOME/.mlx-serve" "$HOME/Library/Caches/com.dalcu.mlx-core" "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.dalcu.mlx-core.plist"

• No output from pgrep means neither the app nor its server is running. A printed mlx-serve line is a server still alive; it may also be one you started from the command line formula.
• No output from lsof means nothing listens on port 11234 any more. A printed line names the process still holding the port.
• A path printed by ls still exists. A surviving ~/.mlx-serve is expected if you kept your models. No such file or directory means the path is gone.

If you installed it with Homebrew

MLX-Serve is not in the main Homebrew cask list; its project publishes its own tap, ddalcu/mlx-serve, with a cask for the app and a formula for the command line server.

brew uninstall --cask mlx-serve
brew uninstall mlx-serve

The first command removes the app. The second removes the command line server, so run it only if you installed that formula and no longer want it. The tap's cask has no uninstall step, and its zap list trashes ~/.mlx-serve, the cache, both HTTPStorages entries, the preferences file and ~/Library/WebKit/com.dalcu.mlx-core. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap mlx-serve therefore deletes your downloaded models along with everything else, does not read Mole's checkboxes and does not check whether the command line formula still uses that folder. Mole adds --zap only when every zap path is inside ~/Library; ~/.mlx-serve is not, so Mole never runs this cask's zap and removes the rows you selected itself.

What Mole lists

Mole selects the app, ~/Library/Caches/com.dalcu.mlx-core, both HTTPStorages entries, the preferences file and ~/Library/WebKit/com.dalcu.mlx-core. It lists ~/.mlx-serve for review without selecting it. Mole does not know whether the command line formula still uses that folder.

These defaults assume “Remove data and settings with apps” in General › Cleaning is off. With it on, Mole also ticks ~/.mlx-serve, so untick it if you keep your models or the command line server.

What this test covered

On October 20, 2026, the test downloaded MLX-Serve.dmg 26.10.2 for Apple silicon from the project's GitHub release, whose checksum matched the tap's cask, copied the app to Applications without running brew install and opened it. On first launch its mlx-serve server listened on port 11234. The test removed it with a source-built Mole with the review rows ticked. Mole moved 7 rows and the app to the Trash and stopped the mlx-serve server again after the app was in the Trash; afterwards nothing listened on port 11234. Only ~/.mlx-serve was left; Mole now lists it for review. Status showed one MLX-Serve row with 5 processes, the server included. Mole found no update feed for the app, and no update was run. Large model downloads, mlx-serve launch, the command line formula, a Homebrew-managed uninstall and Mole's notarized release build were not tested.