How to uninstall Pulsar on Mac
Before removing Pulsar, copy your projects from their own locations and back up ~/.pulsar if you want to keep packages, config.cson, keymaps or snippets. Pulsar’s documentation names this dot-folder as its configuration home. Do not substitute ~/.atom: it can belong to an earlier Atom setup or another workflow.
The recorded test used the official Mac package; the Homebrew route below is separate.
Remove the app
Quit Pulsar and move Pulsar.app from Applications to Trash. Keep project directories untouched. If the command-line launcher was installed separately, check its owner before removing any shell entry; an app icon going away does not identify that launcher.
Review local data
The path below is documented in the current Homebrew cask. In Finder, use Go › Go to Folder to inspect it. Do not remove its parent directory or another product’s data.
| Location | Decision |
|---|---|
~/.pulsar |
Configuration and package directory documented by Pulsar; cask zap removes it. Back up wanted customizations before selecting it. |
The tested package uses bundle ID dev.pulsar-edit.pulsar. Review only files that actually appear on this Mac. A missing path needs no cleanup.
Vendor documentation · Additional vendor instructions
Check what remains
Run these read-only commands after quitting the app:
pgrep -il 'Pulsar'
ls -d "$HOME/.pulsar"
No process output means there is no matching process running now; it does not prove every helper is gone. A listed process needs its owner checked. If ls prints the path, that item remains and needs review. “No such file or directory” means this path is absent; a permission error means its state was not established.
If you installed it with Homebrew
The current pulsar cask has a zap list covering ~/.pulsar, Pulsar support data, preferences, saved state and recent-document history. A direct brew command with --zap applies the cask list without consulting Mole’s checkboxes. After backing up, use this command without --zap:
brew uninstall --cask pulsar
Mole checks each zap path against your selections, other installed apps, and protected locations. An unchecked, shared, or unverifiable path suppresses --zap; selected remnants can still use Mole’s own removal flow. This cask was not the recorded installation channel.
What Mole lists
Mole lists ~/.pulsar as a review row and leaves it unchecked by default. Application Support/Pulsar is another display-name review row, while exact-ID preferences can be selected by default. The Dot-folder and projects are different ownership decisions.
What this test covered
The official arm64 DMG 1.132.1 was removed on September 21, 2026. With review selected, 7.2 MB of Application Support/Pulsar went to Trash. A 9.2 MB ~/.pulsar folder was not listed in that run; a review rule was added after the test. ~/.atom was deliberately not claimed.