How to uninstall SwiftBar on Mac

SwiftBar turns scripts into menu bar items. Its own settings are small; the scripts themselves live in the Plugin Folder that, according to SwiftBar's README, SwiftBar asks you to set on first launch. That folder is wherever you chose, so neither Mole nor the Homebrew cask lists it. Find it and copy it somewhere else before removing SwiftBar if you want to keep your plugins. This guide covers the official download from SwiftBar's GitHub releases and the Homebrew cask swiftbar.

Quit SwiftBar and remove the app

  1. Note where your Plugin Folder is, then copy it if you want to keep your scripts.
  2. Click SwiftBar's icon in the menu bar and quit it.
  3. In Finder's Applications folder, move SwiftBar to the Trash.

Where its data lives

Location What it holds What to do
Your Plugin Folder Your menu bar scripts Not listed by Mole or by the Homebrew cask. Copy it before you remove SwiftBar if you want to keep it.
~/Library/Application Support/SwiftBar A small folder named after the app, 8 KB in the test Listed but not selected
~/Library/Caches/com.ameba.SwiftBar Application cache Selected by default
~/Library/Preferences/com.ameba.SwiftBar.plist App preferences Selected by default
~/Library/Application Scripts/com.ameba.SwiftBar-LaunchAtLoginHelper and ~/Library/Containers/com.ameba.SwiftBar-LaunchAtLoginHelper Folders for the helper that opens SwiftBar at login, if it has run Listed but not selected

Check the result

pgrep -il swiftbar
launchctl list | grep -i ameba
ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/SwiftBar
  • No output from pgrep means SwiftBar is not running.
  • No output from launchctl list means no SwiftBar job, including its login helper, is loaded.
  • ls -d printing "No such file or directory" means the folder is gone. A printed path means it is still there, which is expected if you left that row unticked.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The swiftbar cask's zap list has four paths: ~/Library/Caches/com.ameba.SwiftBar and ~/Library/Preferences/com.ameba.SwiftBar.plist, which Mole selects by default, and the login helper's Application Scripts and Containers folders, which Mole lists but does not select. When those helper folders exist and you leave them unticked, Mole leaves out --zap and still moves the rows you selected to the Trash itself. If they do not exist, or you tick them, nothing in the zap list is left unreviewed. The Plugin Folder is not in the zap list either way.

Running the zap step yourself removes all four paths whatever you ticked in Mole:

brew uninstall --cask --zap swiftbar

To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask swiftbar

What Mole lists

For SwiftBar installed from the official download:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/SwiftBar is listed but not selected.
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.ameba.SwiftBar and ~/Library/Preferences/com.ameba.SwiftBar.plist are selected by default.
  • The login helper's Application Scripts and Containers folders are listed but not selected when they exist.
  • The Plugin Folder is not listed.

What this test covered

On September 19, 2026, SwiftBar was copied from the official download into Applications, opened, and removed with a Preview build of Mole 1.15 (build 277); there was no Homebrew receipt. Application Support/SwiftBar, 8 KB, was listed, left unticked and stayed on disk. Mole's startup list showed the embedded LaunchAtLoginHelper as a confirm-only row, and that row was gone after the app was removed. Plugin scripts and the Homebrew cask were not tested.