How to uninstall TRAE on Mac

TRAE keeps its AI chat data on your Mac: according to TRAE's troubleshooting page, ~/Library/Application Support/Trae/ModularData holds the chat databases, and clearing them loses chat history, unaccepted code changes and the snapshots used to roll a chat back. Removing the app leaves that folder in place; deleting it is final. Your projects stay wherever you keep them. These steps cover the international TRAE, the app named Trae in Applications with the bundle ID com.trae.app (Mole's Status page shows it as TraeCode), downloaded from trae.ai, and the Homebrew cask trae. Trae CN and TRAE SOLO CN are separate apps, signed by a different developer team, with their own folders and their own guides.

Quit TRAE and remove the app

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

Where TRAE 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 App data; its ModularData folder holds AI chat history, unaccepted changes and snapshots Keep it if you want your chat history back after reinstalling; remove it for a clean start
~/.trae Extensions (TRAE imported them from VS Code on first launch, 332 MB of the folder's 335 MB in this test), built-in tools and skills, MCP servers and the sign-in token. Listed in Homebrew's zap list for TRAE. Other tools that install agent skills or rules for several editors can also write into it Look inside before removing it, and keep anything another tool put there
~/.trae-cn, ~/Library/Application Support/Trae CN Trae CN's and TRAE SOLO CN's folders Keep them while either of those apps is installed
~/.ai_completion, ~/.icube-remote-ssh Folders Mole treats as shared by the Trae apps. The international TRAE did not write them in this test Keep them while Trae CN or TRAE SOLO CN is installed
~/Library/Caches/com.trae.app, ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.trae.app Cache and web storage Remove with the app
~/Library/Preferences/com.trae.app.plist, ~/Library/Preferences/com.trae.app.helper.plist Preferences Remove with the app
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.trae.app.savedState Saved window state Remove with the app
~/Library/Caches/com.trae.ShipIt Cache of TRAE's updater Remove with the app
/usr/local/bin/trae The trae command, a link into the app that TRAE installs on first launch Check and remove it as shown below

The ModularData description comes from TRAE's documentation. The other paths come from the Homebrew cask's zap list and the recorded tests.

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" ~/.trae ~/.trae-cn
ls -l /usr/local/bin/trae
  • No output from pgrep means no TRAE process is running. A listed process means TRAE, or Trae CN or TRAE SOLO CN, is still open.
  • If launchctl list succeeds but the filter prints nothing, the current user job list has no line containing trae; that does not prove all TRAE services have exited. A command error leaves the state unknown. A com.trae.ShipIt line means TRAE's updater job is still registered; it is the job the Homebrew cask unloads when it uninstalls TRAE. Lines naming cn.trae belong to Trae CN or TRAE SOLO CN.
  • ls -d prints each folder that still exists and reports "No such file or directory" for the rest. A surviving Application Support/Trae is expected if you kept your chat history, and ~/.trae-cn belongs to Trae CN and TRAE SOLO CN.
  • If ls -l shows /usr/local/bin/trae pointing into Trae.app and you have removed that app, the link is left over. "No such file or directory" means there is nothing to remove. A trae-cn link in the same folder belongs to Trae CN.

Remove the trae 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 app you removed:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/trae

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

If you installed it with Homebrew

The trae cask's uninstall step quits TRAE and unloads com.trae.ShipIt. Its zap list includes ~/.trae, ~/Library/Application Support/Trae with your chat history, the caches of the app and its updater, web storage, both preferences files, saved window state and TRAE's entry in the recent-documents list. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap trae yourself moves them to the Trash, whatever you ticked in Mole. Homebrew TRAE cask

To keep your chat history, remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask trae

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

Removing TRAE does not cancel a TRAE subscription. For other AI coding tools and what they leave behind, see Clean Up AI Coding Tools on Mac: Caches, CLIs, Transcripts.

What Mole lists

When you remove TRAE with Mole:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Trae is listed for review. With Remove data and settings with apps off it starts unchecked; with it on, eligible app data can start checked. Uncheck it to retain ModularData chat history, unaccepted changes and snapshots, or back it up before removal. The Chromium caches and logs inside it are separate rows, selected by default.
  • ~/.trae is also reviewed data and can start checked with the option on. Copy wanted extensions, skills and settings first, or uncheck it.
  • Caches, preferences, web storage, saved window state and temporary files filed under the bundle ID com.trae.app are selected by default.
  • ~/.ai_completion and ~/.icube-remote-ssh are listed for review only when neither Trae CN nor TRAE SOLO CN is installed. Eligible rows can start checked with Remove data and settings with apps on; uncheck anything you still need.
  • Folders that belong to Trae CN and TRAE SOLO CN, such as ~/.trae-cn, ~/Library/Application Support/Trae CN and ~/Library/Caches/Trae CN, are not listed as TRAE's.
  • /usr/local/bin/trae is not removed. It is owned by the system, so check it with the commands above.

What this test covered

On September 22, 2026, the international TRAE was downloaded from trae.ai, copied into Applications, opened once, and removed with a development build of Mole through its quit-and-remove step; the app reported version 3.5.81. With the rows belonging to TRAE ticked, the 1.07 GB app, ~/Library/Application Support/Trae (8.2 MB) and ~/.trae (3.4 MB) went to the Trash. A ~/.trae-cn folder left from an earlier Trae CN installation was not listed and stayed. No sign-in, chat or extension is recorded in that run.

On September 29, 2026, TRAE 3.5.104, downloaded from trae.ai the day before, signed in and used for a short chat, was removed again with a development build of Mole in a run with other AI apps. On first launch it had imported extensions from VS Code into ~/.trae (335 MB) and installed /usr/local/bin/trae; it added no login item and changed no shell configuration. Mole's Status page showed it as one TraeCode row, 17 processes using 1.52 GB. While Trae CN was still installed, the first review list also offered its Application Support/Trae CN and Caches/Trae CN folders as TRAE's rows, some of them ticked by default; Mole was corrected so the other Trae apps' folders stay out, and the corrected list held only TRAE's own 14 rows. With all of them ticked, the app, Application Support/Trae and ~/.trae went to the Trash. The trae link was left pointing at the removed app. Signing out, deleting the account and the Homebrew cask were not tested.