Uninstall

Expert stores data in three locations: a per-project directory, a global engine cache, and (for pre-compiled builds) an unpacked Burrito payload. Removing these will fully clean Expert's state.

What Expert creates

Burrito payload

If you installed Expert using a pre-compiled binary from GitHub releases, the binary is packaged with Burrito and extracts its payload to a platform-specific directory on first run.

You can see where the payload is stored by running:

expert maintenance directory

To remove it:

expert maintenance uninstall

Per-project: .expert/

Created in the directory where your editor was opened. A .gitignore containing * is placed inside so nothing is committed to version control.

<project>/.expert/
├── .gitignore
├── expert.log          # Language server logs
├── project.log         # Project node logs (max 1MB)
├── build/              # Compiled project artifacts
├── engine/             # Engine archives
└── indexes/            # Search index data

Global: engine cache

Expert compiles its engine using your project's Elixir and Erlang versions and caches the result in your OS cache directory.

This directory is versioned by Expert version, Elixir version, and ERTS version, so multiple entries can accumulate as you upgrade.

You can also manage this cache with the expert engine clean command.

Full cleanup

Close your editor before running these commands.

If you are using a pre-compiled Burrito build, first remove the unpacked payload:

expert maintenance uninstall

Then remove the engine cache and per-project data:

Linux

rm -rf ~/.cache/expert/
rm -rf <project>/.expert/

macOS

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/expert/
rm -rf <project>/.expert/

Windows (PowerShell)

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\expert"
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force <project>\.expert

Partial cleanup

You don't always need a full cleanup. Here are some common scenarios:

Clean a single project

Remove only the per-project directory:

rm -rf <project>/.expert/

Expert will recreate it the next time you open the project.

Clean the engine cache

If you still have Expert installed, use the built-in command:

expert engine clean

If Expert is no longer installed, manually remove the cache directory:

# Linux
rm -rf ~/.cache/expert/

# macOS
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/expert/

# Windows (PowerShell)
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\expert"

Clear project logs

If .expert/expert.log has grown large, you can safely delete it while Expert is not running:

rm <project>/.expert/expert.log
rm <project>/.expert/project.log