It’s easy to assume that maintaining your Mac’s performance requires purchasing costly software utilities or premium subscription-based cleaning apps. However, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, there is no need to spend a cent on expensive applications designed to free up storage or optimize your system. A remarkably capable alternative exists in the form of a lightweight yet powerful command-line program called Mole—a free, open-source tool that performs exceptionally well at cleaning, optimizing, and maintaining your Mac’s health.
Because my professional work involves frequent handling of large video files, my Mac’s internal and external drives tend to fill up rather quickly. As free storage space diminishes, performance inevitably begins to suffer: the computer can slow down, workflows become sluggish, and sometimes I can’t even create or save essential files. To prevent reaching that frustrating point where productivity grinds to a halt, I make it a regular habit to clear my drives of redundant and unnecessary data. For this rather crucial maintenance routine, Mole has earned a permanent place in my toolkit.
Mole provides a deep cleaning capability that rivals or exceeds the performance of most paid utilities, while demanding nothing more than a simple command-line invocation. Even if you are unaccustomed to using Terminal or the command-line interface, there’s no reason to feel intimidated. Mole is surprisingly intuitive once you become familiar with its straightforward commands. A few keystrokes are all it takes to initiate a thorough cleanup that frees gigabytes of valuable storage space.
To make full use of Mole, one prerequisite must first be met: the installation of Homebrew, macOS’s popular package manager that streamlines the process of installing software via Terminal. You’ll need nothing more than a functional, up-to-date Mac to get started. Launch the Terminal application by clicking the Launchpad icon on your dock, searching for ‘Terminal,’ and opening it. Then, install Homebrew by entering the appropriate command in the Terminal window. If your computer runs on Apple Silicon, a few additional lines are required to properly configure your environment variables so that Homebrew is recognized system-wide. Once the PATH is set correctly, you can immediately proceed to install Mole using a single command—`brew install mole`—and the installation process is complete.
Running Mole couldn’t be simpler. After installation, type ‘mole’ into the Terminal. A text-based menu appears, presenting multiple options such as Clean, Uninstall, Optimize, Analyze, and Status. For most users, the cleaning operation provides the most immediate benefit. Selecting the ‘Clean’ option and confirming administrative privileges enables Mole to begin a deep system scan. Depending on the amount of data cluttering your disks, this process might require several minutes. Be patient—the tool systematically identifies and removes unnecessary files, temporary caches, and outdated data fragments that silently consume storage space. When finished, Mole displays a summary of how much space was reclaimed; in one of my typical cleaning sessions, it freed nearly 20 gigabytes of data, highlighting its impressive effectiveness.
Beyond simple cleaning, Mole’s optimization and analysis features offer more sophisticated system refinements. The optimization process rebuilds vital system databases, clears out diagnostic logs that accumulate over weeks of use, resets network services to restore stability, deletes unnecessary swap files, and refreshes Spotlight indexing to accelerate search performance. Each operation collectively contributes to a noticeably smoother Mac experience. Allow the process ample time to complete—its results are well worth the wait.
After performing just the cleaning and optimization functions, you’re likely to find that your Mac feels more responsive, efficient, and spacious. For anyone who values consistent performance and hates wasting money on overpriced utilities, Mole represents an indispensable addition to your digital toolkit. Simple to install, effortless to use, and remarkably effective, this free command-line utility delivers professional-grade results without any cost. In short, Mole is the smart, resourceful way to keep your Mac running cleanly and swiftly. Install it today and experience the difference for yourself.
Sourse: https://www.zdnet.com/article/deep-clean-your-mac-with-this-command-line-tool/
