Part of: Local AI models on Mac: where Ollama, LM Studio and Hugging Face store them (AI models)
Removing an AI tool does not remove what it downloaded. The app is small. The models, caches and settings sit in other folders and can be many gigabytes. Check those folders before you decide the job is done, and keep anything you still want.
What each tool leaves behind
Ollama
Ollama’s macOS documentation lists where it puts files and how to remove them. According to that page, these are the places:
| Location | What it is |
|---|---|
/Applications/Ollama.app |
The app |
/usr/local/bin/ollama |
The command-line link |
~/Library/Application Support/Ollama |
App support data |
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.electron.ollama.savedState |
Saved window state |
~/Library/Caches/com.electron.ollama/ and ~/Library/Caches/ollama |
Caches |
~/Library/WebKit/com.electron.ollama |
Web view data |
~/.ollama |
Models and configuration, and logs in ~/.ollama/logs |
The same page gives remove commands for each. I do not repeat them here, because I could not test them on this Mac and they delete files for good. Use Ollama’s page for the exact current steps. If you only want the space and plan to keep using Ollama, remove models through Ollama instead.
The biggest item is almost always ~/.ollama, because it holds the models. A read-only way to see it:
du -sh ~/.ollamaI could not run it against an Ollama install because Ollama is not installed on this Mac, so the path is from the documentation.
LM Studio
LM Studio’s documentation gives ~/.lmstudio/models/ as the default models directory, organised as publisher, model, then file. That is the part that takes space. I did not find a complete list of its other files in the documentation I read, so I do not give one. If you changed the models directory under My Models in the app, your models are in that folder, not the default.
Hugging Face cache
If you used Python tools, the cache at ~/.cache/huggingface/hub is not tied to any app, so uninstalling does not touch it. The Hugging Face guide shows how to list and remove it.
Before you remove anything
Models are the part you may want to keep. If you plan to reinstall later, or move to another tool, leave the models folder in place and remove only the app and its caches. If you wrote Modelfiles or saved presets, copy them out first. They are small, and writing them again takes longer than the download of a small model.
Safe, risky, never
| Item | Verdict | What breaks | Cost to recreate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caches of a tool you removed | Safe | Nothing | The tool refills them if you reinstall |
| Models of a tool you no longer use | Safe | Nothing, once the tool is gone | Re-download if you return, sized per model |
| Models of a tool you still use | Risky | That tool must download them again | The model sizes |
| Custom Modelfiles or settings you wrote | Risky | Your setup | Back them up first; you recreate them by hand |
| A shared model folder two tools both use | Check first | The other tool | Re-download into it |
| Folders you cannot identify | Never until you know | Something else may own them | Unknown |
A calm order
- Decide whether you are done with the tool, or only want space.
- Export or back up anything you wrote yourself, such as Modelfiles or settings.
- Quit the app.
- Check sizes with
dufor the folders above. - Remove the app, then the folders from the tool’s own list.
- Empty the Trash when you are sure. See why the Trash does not free space.
Dragging a Mac app to the Trash leaves related files behind in general; app leftovers on Mac explains where those usually live.
Check the result
After you remove the folders, run du -sh on the same paths. A missing path is the answer you want. Then look at System Settings, General, Storage. The free-space number can take a while to catch up, because macOS counts some space as purgeable, and files moved to the Trash still use space until you empty it.
Other places to check
Python environments, containers and notebooks often hold their own copies of models. The overview lists the main locations, and duplicate models shows how to find the same model stored twice.
How DiskJoy fits in
DiskJoy is our product. It is pre-alpha: it scans and shows reclaimable space, and cleanup is not built yet. It does not uninstall anything today and does not promise to find every file a tool wrote. The download page shows the current status of the scan.
Frequently asked questions
How do I uninstall Ollama completely on a Mac?
Ollama macOS documentation lists what to remove: the app, the command-line link, folders under Library for support files, saved state and caches, and the ~/.ollama folder that holds models and configuration. Read that page for the current list.
Does deleting an AI app remove its models?
Not on its own. Models for Ollama live in ~/.ollama and for LM Studio in ~/.lmstudio/models, both outside the app.
How do I uninstall LM Studio completely?
The LM Studio docs we read describe the models folder, ~/.lmstudio/models/. We did not find a documented list of its other files, so look at that folder and use the app to manage models.