How to uninstall Trae CN on Mac

Trae CN keeps its AI chat data on your Mac. Trae CN's troubleshooting page puts it in ~/Library/Application Support/Trae CN/ModularData and warns that clearing it loses chat history, unaccepted code changes and the snapshots used to roll a chat back. Removing the app alone leaves that folder in place; selecting the data for removal deletes it, and deleting it is final, so decide about it before you delete anything. Your projects stay wherever you keep them. These steps cover Trae CN downloaded from trae.cn, the app named Trae CN in Applications with the bundle ID cn.trae.app (Mole's Status page shows it as TraeCode CN), and the Homebrew cask trae-cn. The international TRAE and TRAE SOLO CN are separate apps with their own guides.

Quit Trae CN and remove the app

  1. Save your work and quit Trae CN from its app menu or with Command-Q.
  2. Search for Trae in Activity Monitor and check that Trae CN's processes have exited. A terminal you opened inside Trae CN counts as one of its processes. If TRAE or TRAE SOLO CN is also open, its processes can match the same search; leave them alone.
  3. Move Trae CN from Finder's Applications folder to the Trash.
  4. Open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions and turn off any Trae CN entry that is still listed. Trae CN added no login item in this test.

Where Trae CN keeps its files

In Finder, press Shift + Command + G and check each location. Skip the ones that do not exist.

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/Trae CN App data. Its ModularData folder holds the chat database, snapshots and the code index; 129 MB in this test Keep it if you want your chat history back after reinstalling; remove it for a clean start
~/.trae-cn Built-in tools and skills, MCP servers, memory, plugins and Trae CN's sign-in token. TRAE SOLO CN writes into the same folder, and a skill installer for several editors can put skills there too Keep it while TRAE SOLO CN is installed. Otherwise look inside first and keep anything another tool put there
~/.ai_completion Statistics on AI-written code, a bundled ripgrep and a small config file Keep it while another Trae app is installed; otherwise remove it
~/.icube-remote-ssh Cache for remote SSH servers (empty in this test) Keep it while another Trae app is installed; otherwise remove it
~/Library/Caches/Trae CN Downloaded updates; about 1 GB in this test Remove with the app
~/Library/Caches/cn.trae.app, ~/Library/Caches/cn.trae.app.ShipIt, ~/Library/HTTPStorages/cn.trae.app Cache, updater cache and web storage Remove with the app
~/Library/Preferences/cn.trae.app.plist and a cn.trae.app.ShipIt file in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost Preferences Remove with the app
/usr/local/bin/trae-cn The trae-cn command, a link into the app that Trae CN installs on first launch Check and remove it as shown below

The ModularData description comes from Trae CN's documentation. The other paths come from the Homebrew cask's zap list and what this test found on disk.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands in Terminal:

pgrep -il trae
launchctl list | grep -i trae
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Trae CN" ~/.trae-cn ~/.ai_completion ~/.icube-remote-ssh
ls -l /usr/local/bin/trae-cn
  • No output from pgrep means no Trae process is running. A listed process means Trae CN, or another Trae app, is still open.
  • A cn.trae.app.ShipIt line from launchctl list is Trae CN's updater job for your login session. It stayed after this test's uninstall and goes away when you log out or restart. No match means only that the current-user job-name filter found no trae entry; it does not check all registrations or system jobs.
  • ls -d prints each folder that still exists and reports "No such file or directory" for the rest. A surviving Application Support/Trae CN is expected if you kept your chat history, and ~/.trae-cn is expected while TRAE SOLO CN is installed.
  • If ls -l shows /usr/local/bin/trae-cn pointing into Trae CN.app and you have removed that app, the link is left over. "No such file or directory" means there is nothing to remove.

Remove the trae-cn command

The link belongs to the system, so removing it asks for your administrator password. Run this only after the ls -l check above shows it pointing into the Trae CN app you removed:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/trae-cn

Remove only that one entry, never the /usr/local/bin folder.

If you installed it with Homebrew

The current trae-cn cask quits Trae CN and names cn.trae.ShipIt for unloading. The recorded app used cn.trae.app.ShipIt, so this cask entry does not prove that the recorded updater job is unloaded; check the actual session label after removal. Its zap list includes ~/.trae-cn, ~/Library/Application Support/Trae CN with your chat history, the app's caches, web storage, preferences, saved window state and its entry in the recent-documents list. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap trae-cn yourself moves them to the Trash, whatever you ticked in Mole, and takes ~/.trae-cn even while TRAE SOLO CN still uses it. Homebrew Trae CN cask

To keep your chat history and the shared folder, remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask trae-cn

Mole never adds --zap for this cask, because ~/.trae-cn sits outside ~/Library. It removes the app and the rows you selected instead.

Account and subscription

Removing Trae CN does not sign you out on Trae's servers, cancel a subscription or delete your account. For other AI coding tools and what they leave behind, see Clean Up AI Coding Tools on Mac: Caches, CLIs, Transcripts.

With “Remove data and settings with apps” off, reviewed dot folders stay unticked. Turning it on can select eligible app data after the co-installation checks; shared content and protected agent archives still need individual review or remain locked. Check the final rows rather than relying on the folder name.

What Mole lists

When you remove Trae CN with Mole:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Trae CN stays unticked with “Remove data and settings with apps” off; turning it on can select eligible app data. Back up chat history or uncheck that parent before confirming. The Chromium caches and logs inside it are separate rows, selected by default.
  • ~/Library/Caches/Trae CN with the downloaded updates, and the caches, preferences, web storage and temporary files filed under cn.trae.app, are selected by default.
  • ~/.trae-cn is listed as one row only once TRAE SOLO CN is not installed either.
  • ~/.ai_completion and ~/.icube-remote-ssh are listed only when neither TRAE nor TRAE SOLO CN is installed.
  • Folders that belong to the international TRAE, such as ~/.trae and ~/Library/Application Support/Trae, are not listed.
  • /usr/local/bin/trae-cn is not removed. It is owned by the system, so check it with the commands above.

What this test covered

Trae CN 3.3.83 was downloaded from trae.cn and copied into Applications on September 28, 2026. It was signed in, asked a few questions in a project and allowed to build its code index; its first launch installed /usr/local/bin/trae-cn. Mole's Status page showed it as one TraeCode CN row, 16 processes using 1.21 GB, including a terminal it had opened. On September 29, 2026 it was quit and removed with a development build of Mole in a run with other AI apps. ~/.trae-cn held skills another tool had installed, so the two review rows, Application Support/Trae CN and ~/.trae-cn, were left unticked and stayed; the app and every selected row, including about 1 GB of downloaded updates, went to the Trash. ~/.ai_completion and ~/.icube-remote-ssh were not listed in that run and are listed now. The trae-cn link was left pointing at the removed app. No login item was added; afterwards only the session-level cn.trae.app.ShipIt job remained. Signing out, deleting the account and the Homebrew cask were not tested.