Uninstall Mise on Mac

Completely remove mise from your Mac using the mise implode command or by manually uninstalling the program, removing shell configuration, and cleaning data directories. Mise is a fast version manager written in Rust that manages multiple languages on your Mac.

You might want to uninstall mise if you don't need a version manager, or you're troubleshooting a broken installation, or trying a different version manager.

Do you just need an update instead? For the Homebrew version, running brew upgrade mise updates mise. For the curl version, use mise self-update. Either will update mise while keeping all your tools and configuration intact. If you only want to update language versions, use mise upgrade --bump.

Uninstalling is permanent: all languages installed via mise are removed. After an uninstall, you'll need to reinstall those languages, either directly or with another version manager.

Mise removal is just one task you might need in managing your Mac development environment. See a full roadmap to set up a Mac for software development.

Before you get started

You'll need a terminal application to uninstall the mise version manager. Apple includes the Mac terminal but I prefer Warp Terminal. Warp is an easy-to-use terminal application, with AI assistance to help you learn and remember terminal commands. Download Warp Terminal now; it's FREE and worth a try.

First steps to uninstall Mise

You need to use a terminal application and edit configuration files in your home directory. You should know whether you installed mise via Homebrew or using the curl method. Run which mise in the terminal to see the path, which tells you the installation method. If the path is /opt/homebrew/bin/mise, you used Homebrew. If it's ~/.local/bin/mise, you used curl. If the mise shell activation line is present in your shell configuration file, you'll see the activation script with the mise location in the last line.

Preserve specific languages before uninstalling Mise

If you want to keep certain languages available after uninstalling mise, first check what tools you have installed:

$ mise list

After uninstalling mise, for each critical language, you may want to install it using Homebrew or another version manager.

Uninstall Mise via Homebrew

If you installed mise using Homebrew (brew install mise), use Homebrew's uninstall command:

$ brew uninstall mise

This removes the mise binary program but leaves data directories and shell configuration in place. You still need to clean up manually.

Next, remove the shell activation line. Use a terminal text editor to find ~/.zshrc and edit your shell configuration file. Find the line containing eval "$( and mise activate and delete the entire line. It looks like:

eval "$(~/.local/bin/mise activate zsh)"

Remove the data directories:

$ rm -rf ~/.local/share/mise
$ rm -rf ~/.cache/mise
$ rm -rf ~/.config/mise

Verify the uninstall:

$ which mise

It should return "mise not found." Also check Homebrew's list:

$ brew list | grep mise

It should return nothing. If mise still appears, the uninstall is incomplete or the binary program exists in multiple locations.

Uninstall the Mise curl version

The fastest and cleanest way to uninstall a curl version of mise is using the mise implode command. This removes the mise binary program, all installed tools, and cache files in a single operation.

Run mise implode:

$ mise implode

This command removes the mise binary program, all tool installations in ~/.local/share/mise, and all cache files. It preserves ~/.config/mise so you can reinstall later without losing configuration.

Next, remove the shell activation line. Find ~/.zshrc and edit your shell configuration file. Find the line containing eval "$( and mise activate and delete the entire line. It looks like:

eval "$(~/.local/bin/mise activate zsh)"

Save the file.

The ~/.config/mise directory contains configuration files. Keep it if you plan to reinstall mise later. Remove it for a completely clean uninstall:

$ rm -rf ~/.config/mise

Close and reopen your terminal window to reload the shell configuration. Then verify the uninstall:

$ which mise

This should return "mise not found." If it finds a mise binary program, you have multiple installations. Continue with the next section to find and remove all of them.

Uninstall for multiple installations

If you installed mise more than once in different ways (both Homebrew and curl, for example), you might have binary programs in multiple places.

Find all mise installations:

$ find ~ -name mise -type f 2>/dev/null

This lists all executable files named mise in your home directory and subdirectories. Note each location.

Remove each binary program found:

$ rm ~/.local/bin/mise
$ rm /opt/homebrew/bin/mise

Adjust paths based on what find showed. After removing all binaries, verify:

$ which mise

This should return "mise not found." Run the full cleanup:

$ rm -rf ~/.local/share/mise
$ rm -rf ~/.cache/mise
$ rm -rf ~/.config/mise

Edit the shell configuration and remove all activation lines. You might have added activation from multiple installations if you weren't sure which worked. Delete any line containing "mise activate". Save and exit.

Reload your shell:

$ source ~/.zshrc

Verify the cleanup:

$ echo $PATH | grep mise

It should return nothing. If it finds a mise reference, another activation line remains somewhere.

Troubleshoot an incomplete uninstall

If you've removed mise but your terminal still tries to run it, a reference remains in your shell configuration.

Check your shell configuration again:

$ grep -n mise ~/.zshrc

The -n flag shows line numbers. If any results appear, delete those lines in your shell configuration file.

Also check other shell configuration files you might have set up:

$ grep -r mise ~/.bashrc ~/.bash_profile ~/.zprofile 2>/dev/null

This searches multiple files at once. Remove the activation line from any file that contains it.

After removing all references, reload your shell:

$ source ~/.zshrc

Open a new terminal window and verify:

$ which mise

If an error message still mentions mise, check whether any scripts in your project run mise. Review your .mise.toml or any build scripts that reference mise.

Continue setting up your Mac

See the full visual roadmap and checklist that shows how to set up a Mac for software development, with all the essential tools and settings you might not yet know about.