How to fully uninstall VS Code on Mac
Dragging Visual Studio Code to Trash leaves behind extensions, cached data, settings, and snippets scattered across your Library. Here's how to remove everything.
8+
Leftover locations
1–5 GB
Typical leftover size
No
Background process
What VS Code leaves behind
VS Code stores extensions, user settings, snippets, and cached data across at least 8 locations in your Library and home directory. The extensions folder alone can be several gigabytes:
| Location | Contents |
|---|---|
| ~/Library/Application Support/Code/ | Extensions, user settings, snippets, keybindings |
| ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode/ | Cached editor data and update downloads |
| ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt/ | Auto-updater staging files |
| ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.VSCode.plist | Editor preferences and window state |
| ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.microsoft.VSCode.savedState/ | Window positions and open tabs |
| ~/Library/Logs/com.microsoft.VSCode/ | Crash logs and diagnostic data |
| ~/Library/HTTPStorages/com.microsoft.VSCode/ | Web storage from extension webviews |
| ~/.vscode/ | Global extensions and CLI configuration |
Manual removal (step-by-step)
- 1. Quit VS Code completelyPress ⌘Q while VS Code is focused, or right-click the Dock icon and choose Quit.
- 2. Delete the app bundleOpen /Applications in Finder, drag Visual Studio Code.app to Trash.
- 3. Open Library in FinderPress ⌘ Shift G in Finder and type
~/Library. - 4. Delete these folders/filesNavigate to each location in the table above and delete the VS Code files. Use ⌘ Delete to move to Trash.
- 5. Delete the ~/.vscode/ folderOpen Terminal and run
rm -rf ~/.vscode, or navigate to your home folder in Finder (press ⌘ Shift H) and delete the.vscodefolder. - 6. Empty TrashOnce you're confident, empty the Trash to reclaim disk space.
Automated removal with Zapper
Instead of hunting through 8+ directories manually, Zapper finds everything in seconds:
- Before deleting VS Code, drop
Visual Studio Code.apponto Zapper's window. - Zapper scans all 11 Library directories and shows every leftover file with its path and size.
- Review the list, check the files you want to remove, and click Zap.
- Files move to Trash — including the extensions folder and ShipIt updater. Restore with ⌘Z if needed.
Why VS Code leftovers are so large
Unlike most apps, VS Code's leftover footprint can be several gigabytes because of its extension system. Extensions are stored in ~/.vscode/extensions/, while their settings and cached data live in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/. Each extension can pull in its own dependencies.
Language servers are especially heavy. The TypeScript, Python, and C++ language servers can each be 100 MB or more. If you've been using VS Code for a while, it's common to find 1–5 GB of extensions and cached data sitting in your Library.
~/.vscode/extensions/
This is typically the largest leftover — it contains all installed extensions and their dependencies. Combined with ~/Library/Application Support/Code/ (settings, snippets, keybindings), the total can easily reach several GB. Zapper detects and removes both automatically.