How to Uninstall OpenClaw on Mac

Step 1: Open Terminal

Press Command + Space, type Terminal, and press Enter.

Step 2: Quick uninstall (CLI still installed)

If the openclaw command still works, run:

openclaw uninstall --all --yes

• uninstall — tells the program you want to remove it.
• --all — removes everything: gateway service, local database, config files.
• --yes — auto-confirms all prompts.

For fully non-interactive use (scripts, CI, npx):

openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive
npx -y openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive

Step 3: Remove the CLI tool

After the uninstall command finishes, only the CLI shell remains. Remove it with whichever package manager you originally used:

npm rm -g openclaw
# or
pnpm remove -g openclaw
# or
bun remove -g openclaw

Step 4: Remove the macOS app (if installed)

rm -rf /Applications/OpenClaw.app

Step 5: Manual service removal (CLI already gone)

If the openclaw command is missing but the gateway service is still running:

launchctl bootout gui/$UID/ai.openclaw.gateway
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.gateway.plist

If you used profiles (--profile), replace gateway with your profile name. Also remove any legacy com.openclaw.* plists if present:

ls ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ | grep -i openclaw

Step 6: Delete state, config, and workspace

rm -rf "${OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.openclaw}"
rm -rf ~/.openclaw/workspace

If you set OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH to a custom location outside the state directory, delete that file too. If you used profiles, repeat for each state dir (e.g. ~/.openclaw-<profile>).

Step 7: Review common Mac leftovers

Step 8: Check shell profile changes

If OpenClaw modified your terminal config, review and clean up:

• ~/.zshrc
• ~/.zprofile
• ~/.bash_profile
• ~/.bashrc

Remove any OPENCLAW_* environment variables, PATH entries, or source lines that reference OpenClaw.

Step 9: Reboot and verify

1. Empty Trash.
2. Restart your Mac.
3. Open Terminal and run:

which openclaw
ps aux | grep openclaw
launchctl list | grep -i openclaw

All three should return empty results.

Important notes

• Reboot recommended — restart your Mac after cleanup to ensure all background processes are fully stopped.
• Revoke API keys — if you bound API keys (OpenAI, Claude, etc.) in OpenClaw, go to the provider dashboard and revoke the old keys, then generate new ones.
• Remote mode — if you used remote mode, the state directory lives on the gateway host. Run the cleanup steps there too.

• Return to the main uninstall guide
• Check for leftovers
• Get the Pro Pack
• Book remote help