unplugin

Audio Plugin Removal Tool for macOS

A polished, professional CLI tool for finding and safely removing audio plugins (AU, VST, VST3, AAX, CLAP) and their related files.

Features

• Interactive Mode: Arrow-key navigable menus for easy browsing and removal
• Safe Removal: Files are moved to Trash with macOS "Put Back" support
• Comprehensive Scanning: Finds all plugin formats and related files
• Custom Directories: Scan additional locations beyond standard paths
• Professional UI: Clean, modern interface inspired by Claude Code

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/teebs4140/unplugin.git
cd unplugin

# Install with pip
pip install -e .

# Or install with dev dependencies for testing
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Usage

Interactive Mode (Recommended)

Simply run unplugin with no arguments to launch interactive mode:

unplugin

You'll see a beautiful menu that you can navigate with arrow keys:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  unplugin v1.0.0                                             │
│  Audio Plugin Removal Tool for macOS                         │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

? What would you like to do?
❯ 🔍 Search for a plugin
  📋 List all installed plugins
  🗑️  Remove a plugin
  ──────────────────────
  ❓ Help
  👋 Exit

Command Mode

# List all installed plugins
unplugin list

# Search for plugins
unplugin list "Kontakt"

# Remove a plugin (interactive prompts)
unplugin remove "Arcade"

# Remove without confirmations
unplugin remove "Arcade" --yes

# Preview what would be removed
unplugin remove "Arcade" --dry-run

# Show plugin scan locations
unplugin paths

# Show detailed help
unplugin help
unplugin help remove
unplugin help paths

Custom Scan Directories

Scan additional directories beyond the standard macOS plugin locations:

# Scan a custom directory
unplugin --scan-dir "/Volumes/External/Plugins" list

# Scan multiple custom directories
unplugin --scan-dir ~/Desktop/TestPlugins --scan-dir "/Volumes/SSD/Audio" list

# See all scan locations including custom ones
unplugin --scan-dir /my/custom/path paths

Plugin Formats Supported

Format	Extension	Description
AU	.component	Audio Units (macOS native)
VST	.vst	VST2 plugins
VST3	.vst3	VST3 plugins
AAX	.aaxplugin	Pro Tools plugins
CLAP	.clap	CLAP plugins

Plugin Locations

unplugin scans the standard macOS audio plugin directories:

User Plugins (per-user installation)

• ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ - Audio Units
• ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ - VST
• ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ - VST3
• ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP/ - CLAP

System Plugins (all users)

• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ - Audio Units
• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ - VST
• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ - VST3
• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP/ - CLAP

Pro Tools (AAX)

• /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/

Use unplugin paths to see all locations and verify which directories exist on your system.

Related Files

When removing a plugin, unplugin also finds related files:

• Preferences: ~/Library/Preferences/com.vendor.plugin.plist
• Application Support: /Library/Application Support/Vendor/
• Caches: ~/Library/Caches/Vendor/
• Presets: /Library/Audio/Presets/Vendor/
• Standalone Apps: /Applications/Plugin.app
• Logs: ~/Library/Logs/Vendor/

Safety

• Files are moved to Trash, not permanently deleted
• Use Finder's "Put Back" to restore any file
• System plugins are protected
• Running DAWs are detected with a warning
• Use --dry-run to preview before removal

Development

# Install dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Run tests with coverage
pytest --cov=unplugin --cov-report=term-missing

Requirements

• macOS 10.15+
• Python 3.9+

License

MIT License