Help

A short walkthrough · buy, activate, and ask for help.

1. Download and try

Click Download and try free. Drag Mole into Applications and launch it. Each tool works twice without a license.

2. Buy a license

From the homepage, click the buy button. You will land on the secure Dodo Payments checkout page.

  1. Fill in Contact Information: your name, a regular email inbox, and phone. The license key is sent there, so double-check the spelling before paying. Apple iCloud addresses (@icloud.com, @me.com, @mac.com) and privacy relay or forwarding addresses (such as @duck.com) often filter or silently drop these emails; a Gmail or Outlook inbox is the most reliable.
  2. Fill in Billing Address: country, city, region, postal code.
  3. Click Continue to Payment.
  4. Pick a payment method: Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, WeChat, or Cash App.
  5. Confirm payment. The license key arrives in your inbox within seconds.
Dodo Payments checkout, contact and billing
Step 1: contact info and billing address. The license key is emailed to the address you enter here.
Dodo Payments payment page
Step 2: pick a payment method (Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, WeChat, Cash App).

3. Activate Mole

  1. Open the email from Dodo Payments and copy the license key.
  2. Open Mole. Press Cmd + Shift + L (or open the Mole menu in macOS's menu bar and choose License…).
  3. Paste the key and click Activate. Mole removes accidental spaces and line breaks automatically.
  4. You will see All tools unlocked. That is it.
License activation panel inside Mole
Press ⌘⇧L inside Mole, paste the key from your purchase email, then click Activate. Extra spaces and line breaks are cleaned automatically.

Activation says “Network error”

Activation talks to Dodo Payments over HTTPS. Some VPNs, proxies, DNS filters, or split-routing rules can block that request, especially when the route exits through an unstable node. If the message keeps appearing, turn off VPN/proxy or switch briefly to a phone hotspot or direct connection, then click Activate again. Mole only sends the license key and a short device label for activation.

The license email didn't arrive

It usually lands within seconds. If you don't see it, check your Junk or Spam folder and search the mailbox for Dodo. Apple iCloud addresses (@icloud.com, @me.com, @mac.com) and relay addresses sometimes block it outright. If nothing shows up after a few minutes, email hi@mole.fit with your Payment ID or purchase email and I will resend the key, or send it to a different inbox.

You can also use the Dodo Payments Customer Portal. Enter the email used at checkout, open the one-time login link Dodo sends, then view the order, download the invoice, and find the Mole license key tied to that purchase.

4. Switch to a new Mac

The number of Macs you can use at the same time depends on the edition you purchased. The edition currently on sale covers 2 Macs. For more Macs, buy additional licenses; each key keeps its own device list. To move it: open Mole on the old machine, press Cmd + Shift + L, click Deactivate. Then activate on the new machine with the same key.

5. Refund and invoices

If Mole is not what you wanted, email hi@mole.fit within 14 days with your Payment ID or purchase email. See the Refund Policy for full terms.

Please include a short note in the email about what felt difficult or did not meet expectations. It helps me process the request faster and keep improving Mole.

Dodo Payments generates a receipt automatically after each purchase. For a formal invoice (with a company name or VAT info), email hi@mole.fit within 30 days of purchase.

6. Settings and shortcuts

Press Cmd + , to open Settings. Settings has three tabs.

General covers the basics:

  • Language sets the interface language after a relaunch.
  • Launch at Login starts Mole automatically when you log in.
  • Hide Dock Icon runs Mole as a menu-bar-only app.
  • License shows activation status and lets you activate, deactivate, switch devices, or recover from a device-limit state.
  • Full Disk Access shows permission status and opens the right System Settings pane.

Maintenance covers cleanup behavior:

  • Cache Removal decides how caches are handled: Permanent frees space immediately, while Trash stays recoverable.
  • Protected Items opens the whitelist manager; anything you protect is skipped by future scans.

Menu Bar controls the menu bar HUD and its quick tools:

  • Menu Bar Monitor keeps live metrics, a compact icon, or a moving runner in the macOS menu bar.
  • Runner style picks the character, including Mole, RunCat, Beagle, Dinosaur, Horse, Rabbit, Frog, Chicken, Rubber Duck, Fishman, Pixel, Flex, or a static silhouette.
  • Visible metrics chooses what shows up on the runner's two lines from CPU, Memory, Temperature, Disk, and Network.
  • Fan controls appear on supported Macs with Auto, Cool, and Max modes.
  • Shortcuts for Menu Bar Toggle, Keep Screen On, and Clean Screen are recorded here; none have a default.
  • Clean Screen Input Lock uses macOS Accessibility to block input during a Clean Screen session; the toggle links to the Accessibility pane.
  • Privacy Signal Notifications alerts you when the camera or microphone starts being used. Hover over an alert and choose Stop notifying for this app; manage the list later under Settings → Menu Bar. The action appears only when macOS identifies the app.

Shortcuts:

  • Cmd + , open Settings
  • Cmd + Shift + L open License panel
  • Esc close any overlay (Settings, License, Doctor, review panels)
  • Menu Bar Toggle, Keep Screen On, and Clean Screen each take a custom shortcut you record in Settings → Menu Bar.

7. Tips for daily use

The earlier sections cover setup and operation. These notes match Mole to how you actually work.

Menu bar shortcuts

Three optional global shortcuts live in Settings → Menu Bar: Menu Bar Toggle, Keep Screen On, and Clean Screen. None ship with a default, so the hotkeys only fire after you record one. Click into a field, press the combination, then press Enter; Mole replaces any previous binding for that action.

Picks that work well: ⌘⇧O for Menu Bar Toggle to peek at CPU and memory in passing; a function key or ⌥⇧K for Keep Screen On while presenting or downloading; ⌃⌥C for Clean Screen before wiping the display and keyboard, especially with input lock enabled.

Optimize cadence

Optimize starts with a visible fix pass for self-healing services such as Dock, input-method switching, iCloud Drive sync, AirDrop, Spotlight, and Notification Center, then runs deeper maintenance. It automatically skips related tasks when VPN, Bluetooth keyboard or mouse, Bluetooth audio, external audio, or an external display is active, and skipped tasks surface a reason in the result list.

Suggested rhythm: run Optimize when memory pressure stays high or apps open slowly, not as a daily habit. Between Optimize runs, the Doctor tab is a lighter health checkpoint.

Cache removal mode

Permanent (the default) frees space immediately and the scan results cannot be restored. Trash sends everything to the macOS Trash, so you can drag items back to the original location if a cleaned cache turns out to be more important than expected.

Trash mode is a calm safety net for the first few cleanups, or whenever a category is unfamiliar. Open Docs → Clean to see which sections are auto-clean and which are review-only.

8. Run Doctor inside Mole

From the menu bar pick Help → Run Doctor…. Mole gathers a short read-only report covering your Mac, permissions, recent operations, and environment. Click Copy Report for a lightweight chat summary, or Copy Terminal Command when support needs the full evidence bundle.

Full Disk Access is missing

Mole needs Full Disk Access to scan caches under ~/Library and system locations. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access, enable Mole, and relaunch the app. Mole only reads from these locations; it never sends file contents anywhere.

Memory pressure is high

macOS reports elevated memory pressure when active memory plus compressed memory crowd out the cache. Close unused apps (especially browsers with many tabs and large Electron tools). Mole's Status tab lists the top processes by CPU and memory if you want to see who is using the most.

Disk is almost full

Once your startup disk crosses 90% used, macOS starts swapping and slowing down. Open the Clean tab to recover caches, logs, and trash. For one-off large folders, the Analyze tab visualises space by directory so you can spot the heavy hitters.

Restart recommended

Your Mac has been up for several days and a macOS background process such as fseventsd or syspolicyd is using heavy CPU. This is a known macOS quirk rather than a fault with your files, and Mole never force-quits a system process. Save your work and restart; the process starts clean and the CPU use clears.

Battery health is low

Mole flags this when maximum capacity drops below 80% or the battery passes 1000 charge cycles. There is no software fix for a worn battery: check the exact reading under System Settings → Battery → Battery Health, then book Apple service if runtime no longer holds up. The Status tab keeps the same reading visible.

Mole's operations log can't be written

Mole writes a per-operation log at ~/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log. If the disk is full or that directory is unwritable, the log fails silently. Free up some space, then quit and reopen Mole; the doctor report will turn green on the next run.

Recent operations failed

A failure usually means one path inside a clean or uninstall batch was protected by macOS, blocked by another app, or already gone by the time Mole reached it. Open the tab where the failure happened (Clean, Uninstall, Optimize) and inspect the details overlay; each failed row carries a reason.

9. Report a problem

Before filing anything, check open issues first; someone may have hit the same thing.

Mac app bug or crash
Run Doctor first (section 8 above). If the issue needs investigation, click Copy Terminal Command, run it in Terminal, then email the generated Mole-Diagnose-*.zip to hi@mole.fit. The zip may include local paths and logs, so do not attach it to a public issue.
Mole is frozen or keeps spinning
Do not force quit yet. While Mole is still stuck, open Terminal, paste this command, and press Return: curl -fsSL 'https://mole.fit/downloads/Mole-Diagnose.command' | bash Running it from Terminal avoids the macOS “Apple could not verify” block. It writes a zip to the Desktop with process samples, recent Mole logs, and crash reports. Review the folder if needed, then email the zip to hi@mole.fit.
Mac app feature idea
Open the feature request form. Describe the problem the feature would solve, not just the feature itself.
CLI bug or suggestion
The Mole CLI is a separate open-source project. File CLI-specific issues in the CLI issue tracker. Include your macOS version and mo version output.
License, payment, refund, or private details
Email hi@mole.fit with your purchase email, Payment ID, and approximate payment time.