Universal Linux Application Uninstaller & Deep-Clean Residual Purger

A modern, high-performance TUI and CLI uninstallation suite for Linux.
Scan 17+ package managers concurrently, detect hidden configurations & cache bloat, inspect staged disk paths in real-time, and execute atomic uninstalls with single-pass privilege elevation.

Overview • Comparison • Capabilities • Installation • Usage • Search Syntax • Themes • Keybindings • Config

Technical Overview

When software is uninstalled using conventional Linux package managers (pacman -R, apt remove, dnf remove, flatpak uninstall, snap remove), only package-managed system files (/usr/bin, /usr/share) are modified. User-space and container storage directories remain orphaned on disk:

• ~/.config/<app> (user configuration state & credentials)
• ~/.cache/<app> (accumulated runtime caches, shader caches, webview stores)
• ~/.local/share/<app> (local databases, media, and state)
• ~/.local/state/<app> (session histories and temporary state)
• ~/.var/app/<app> (Flatpak sandboxed data)
• ~/snap/<app> (Snap snapshots and application state)
• /var/log/<app> and systemd journal archives

Over time, unmanaged leftovers consume gigabytes of valuable storage. Modern Linux setups also suffer from package fragmentation across native repositories, universal containers, and developer toolchains.

VEET bridges this gap: it scans all installed targets across 17+ package managers concurrently, stages candidate residual paths for interactive inspection, and executes atomic uninstalls with batched, single-prompt privilege elevation.

Comparison Matrix

Core Capabilities

Installation

Option 1: Arch Linux (AUR)

Install via your preferred AUR helper:

yay -S veet
# or
paru -S veet

For the latest development git build:

yay -S veet-git

Option 2: Automated Script Installation (Recommended)

Downloads, compiles with binary optimizations (-ldflags="-s -w"), installs to ~/.local/bin/veet, and configures shell autocompletions:

# Install latest release
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swadhinbiswas/veet/main/install.sh | bash

# Or install a specific pinned release tag (e.g. v1.1.0)
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/swadhinbiswas/veet/v1.1.0/install.sh | VEET_VERSION=v1.1.0 bash

Or from a local clone:

./install.sh

Option 3: Go Package Manager

Install directly via the standard Go toolchain (requires Go 1.24+):

go install github.com/swadhinbiswas/veet@latest

Option 4: Manual Compilation via Makefile

git clone https://github.com/swadhinbiswas/veet.git
cd veet
make build
make install

[!NOTE] Ensure ~/.local/bin is present in your environment $PATH. If not, add export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin" to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc.

Usage

Interactive Terminal Dashboard (TUI)

Launch the full-featured interactive terminal user interface:

veet

Headless Command Line Interface (CLI)

VEET exposes non-interactive headless subcommands for automation, scripting, and system auditing:

# Output installed application inventory table to stdout
veet scan

# Export machine-readable JSON inventory
veet scan --json

# Deep-clean uninstall one or multiple applications (interactive confirmation)
veet clean app1 app2

# Inspect staged paths without deleting anything
veet clean <package-name> --dry-run

# Non-interactive deep-clean removal with auto-confirmation
veet clean <package-name> --yes

# Detect and prune orphaned packages
veet orphans --clean --yes

# Inspect and purge leftover caches and directories
veet cache --clean --yes

# View or clear uninstallation audit history
veet history
veet history --clear

Search Syntax

Press / in the TUI to focus the search bar. VEET supports powerful query modifiers:

[!TIP] Combine Modifiers: @flatpak >200M gimp filters for Flatpak apps larger than 200MB matching "gimp".

Theming

VEET features 7 hand-crafted color palettes to seamlessly integrate with your terminal setup. Configure your theme in ~/.config/veet/config.yaml:

theme: catppuccin  # Options: cyan, catppuccin, nord, dracula, gruvbox, tokyo-night, monokai

Keybinding Reference

Configuration

# Visual theme palette: cyan, catppuccin, nord, dracula, gruvbox, tokyo-night, monokai
theme: catppuccin

# Icon glyph set: auto (default), nerd, unicode, or ascii
# - auto: uses Nerd Fonts unless running in a raw Linux console (TTY) or dumb terminal
# - nerd: always use full Nerd Font symbols (e.g. 󰮯, , , )
# - unicode: standard universal Unicode symbols (e.g. ◎, ▲, ◆, ▣, ✓, ✗)
# - ascii: pure ASCII text labels with zero font requirements (e.g. [pac], [aur], [v], [x])
icons: auto

# Packages that VEET will refuse to stage or select for deletion
protected_packages:
  - custom-kernel-module
  - my-critical-service
  - proprietary-driver

veet/
├── main.go               # Cobra CLI entrypoint (scan, clean, orphans, cache, history, tui)
├── internal/
│   ├── model/            # Data types: AppInfo, RemovableFiles, Config, SourceMeta
│   ├── detector/         # Parallel detector engine (17+ source handlers)
│   ├── uninstaller/      # Staging engine, sudo batching & filesystem removal (Afero)
│   ├── history/          # Append-only audit logger (~/.local/share/veet/history.log)
│   └── ui/               # Bubble Tea & Lip Gloss TUI components with theme engine
├── aur/                  # Arch User Repository (AUR) PKGBUILD definitions
├── assets/               # Brand assets & custom vector icons
├── Makefile              # Build automation targets
├── install.sh            # Automated Bash installer
└── uninstall.sh          # Uninstaller script

Uninstallation

From Cloned Source Repository

./uninstall.sh

Manual Removal (Binary & Completions)

# Remove executable binary
rm -f ~/.local/bin/veet

# Remove shell autocompletions
rm -f ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/veet
rm -f ~/.local/share/zsh/site-functions/_veet
rm -f ~/.config/fish/completions/veet.fish

# Optionally remove audit logs and configurations
rm -rf ~/.local/share/veet ~/.config/veet

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md for local development setup, detector implementation guides, and testing protocols.

License

VEET is open-source software licensed under the MIT License.