How to uninstall RawTherapee on Mac

Preserve original photographs and wanted .pp3 processing profiles before removing RawTherapee. Its official file-path guide distinguishes configuration, custom profiles and cache; the sidecar guide explains that processing settings accompany the original image.

Keep profiles and finish exports

Finish exports, save wanted profiles and quit RawTherapee with Cmd + Q. Back up the configuration actually used by your build, then move RawTherapee.app from Applications to the Trash.

The vendor documents Mac configuration at ~/Library/Containers/RawTherapee/Data/Library/Application Support/RawTherapee/config/ and cache in the neighbouring cache/ directory. Build suffixes and custom RT_SETTINGS or RT_CACHE locations can change these paths. Keep configuration and profiles before deciding to discard cache; do not remove every directory sharing the product name.

After the backup is confirmed and RawTherapee has quit, use Shift + Command + G in Finder to open the active configuration and cache locations described above, or ~/Library/Application Support/RawTherapee if your installation created it. Check the contents, then move only the RawTherapee folders you chose to discard to the Trash. If macOS refuses a container item, it remains unremoved; keep original photos, independently saved .pp3 files and any shared parent directory.

Check the result

pgrep -ifl RawTherapee
ls -ld /Applications/RawTherapee.app "$HOME/Library/Application Support/RawTherapee" "$HOME/Library/Containers/RawTherapee/Data/Library/Application Support/RawTherapee/config/"

Check matching executable paths and any custom data location. A missing-path error means only that specific location is absent, and a permission error leaves it unverified. Confirm retained original images and profiles separately.

If you installed it with Homebrew

brew uninstall --cask rawtherapee

The cask defines its managed removal. The cask manages a rawtherapee-cli executable link. Its zap list names ~/Library/Application Support/RawTherapee, not the vendor's container configuration path above. Check what this support directory contains before resetting it; zap is not proof that container settings or custom locations were removed.

A direct brew uninstall --cask --zap rawtherapee runs its whole zap list regardless of Mole's checkboxes. Mole checks Homebrew's full removal list and skips --zap when it reaches unchecked data, shared files or anything it cannot verify. It still removes the leftovers you selected.

What Mole lists

Mole selects the app, its container, application scripts and cache when present. A container can hold settings or processing profiles, so back it up or uncheck it before removal. A support folder named RawTherapee is listed for individual review. Enabling Remove data and settings with apps also selects eligible data items, so check their contents before removal. Original photos and independently saved .pp3 files are not removed with the app.

What this test covered

On September 21, 2026, RawTherapee 5.13 from the official nested disk-image package was copied to Applications, launched and removed. App-specific scripts and temporary cache were removed, while the container removal was refused by macOS permissions. No display-name support directory was created. Photo editing, profile recovery and a Homebrew installation were not verified.