Uninstall VS Code on Mac

Removing VS Code and resetting its data are separate decisions. Settings, keybindings and profiles live in one folder, extensions in another, and neither goes away when you move the app to the Trash. Back them up first if you might reinstall. This guide covers VS Code downloaded from Microsoft and the Homebrew cask visual-studio-code, and keeps your projects and their own .vscode folders untouched.

Back up settings before removing the app

Save your files, finish tasks in the integrated terminal, and quit VS Code. User settings normally live in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json. Copy the entire ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User folder to retain keybindings, snippets, and profiles as well. Extensions live in ~/.vscode/extensions. Use Shift + Command + G in Finder to open each location and copy it to your backup before removing the app. Keep project folders and their own .vscode configuration.

Remove the app

Microsoft’s macOS step is to open Finder, go to Applications, right-click Visual Studio Code and choose Move to Trash. Official uninstall instructions

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The visual-studio-code cask’s zap list includes ~/.vscode (your extensions) and ~/Library/Application Support/Code (settings, keybindings, snippets and profiles), plus caches and preferences. brew uninstall --cask --zap visual-studio-code moves them to the Trash. When you run it yourself, that command does not follow Mole’s checkboxes. Back up those folders first, or uninstall without zap:

brew uninstall --cask visual-studio-code

The cask also links the code and code-tunnel commands, and Homebrew removes those links with the app.

Remove all user data for a clean start

Microsoft’s clean-uninstall section names three folders. Deleting them returns VS Code to the state before it was installed, so do it only after the backup above.

The longer article is Uninstall VS Code on Mac Without Losing Settings.

Check the result

Run these read-only commands after the app is in the Trash:

pgrep -lf "Visual Studio Code.app"
command -v code
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Code" ~/.vscode ~/.vscode-shared
grep -n "Visual Studio Code.app" ~/.zprofile ~/.bash_profile

• No output from pgrep means no process is running from VS Code. A listed process means the editor or a helper is still open.
• If command -v code prints a path, inspect whether it points to the removed VS Code.app or a working installation from another channel. Remove only a confirmed stale entry, never the whole /usr/local/bin or Homebrew directory. No output means this shell cannot find the command in PATH; it does not prove extensions and settings are gone.
• ls -d prints each data folder that still exists and reports “No such file or directory” for the rest. Surviving folders are expected if you are keeping your setup.
• A match from grep means you once added VS Code to PATH by hand, as Microsoft’s Mac setup page describes. Remove that line from the file it names. “No such file or directory” only means that profile file does not exist.

For a reinstall, keep backups of Code/User and ~/.vscode/extensions, and verify that project-level .vscode folders were not mistaken for app remnants.

What Mole lists

For VS Code downloaded from Microsoft:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Code/Cache and CachedData are selected by default, along with caches, preferences and saved window state filed under com.microsoft.VSCode.
• With General › Cleaning › Remove data and settings with apps off (the default), ~/.vscode, ~/.vscode-shared, and the whole ~/Library/Application Support/Code folder are listed but not selected. Turning it on can preselect these folders when Mole confirms they belong only to the app being removed; untick them to keep settings and extensions. Shared stores, protected browser profiles and agent archives keep their separate protection.

Projects on disk are not part of this list.

What this test covered

VS Code is installed on the test Mac and was not uninstalled. On September 22 and 23, 2026, a development build of Mole previewed its uninstall list for that installation without removing anything: on September 23 it listed 21 items, 18 of them selected by default, and a comparison against VS Code’s files on disk found nothing missing. The Homebrew cask and a reinstall from backup were not tested.