Uninstall & reset

Hypercolor touches several system integration points on install: binaries, a systemd user service or launchd agent, udev rules, desktop autostart, and a few data directories. A clean uninstall needs to reach all of them. This page walks through the process for each install method and platform.

#Stop the daemon first

Before removing anything, stop the running daemon so its lock files and output streams are released cleanly.

Linux (systemd):

hypercolor service stop
systemctl --user stop hypercolor.service

macOS (launchd):

hypercolor service stop
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/tech.hyperbliss.hypercolor.plist

Windows: quit Hypercolor from the tray menu (Quit exits the app and stops the supervised daemon). The NSIS uninstaller also stops the HypercolorSmBus broker service itself.

#Linux: curl installer (prebuilt path)

If you installed via scripts/install-release.sh, the installer’s --uninstall flag handles everything in one pass:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hyperb1iss/hypercolor/main/scripts/install-release.sh \
  | bash -s -- --uninstall

The script will ask for confirmation, then remove:

• Binaries from ~/.local/bin/
• Bundled UI and effects from ~/.local/share/hypercolor/
• The systemd user service file from ~/.config/systemd/user/hypercolor.service
• The desktop launcher from ~/.local/share/applications/hypercolor.desktop
• Shell completions for bash, zsh, and fish
• App icons from ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/
• The udev rules (99-hypercolor.rules and 70-hypercolor-input.rules) from /etc/udev/rules.d/, when you approve the sudo-backed system hook removal

Your configuration at ~/.config/hypercolor/ is preserved by default. The script will print an explicit reminder and the command to remove it if you want a full purge.

To skip the confirmation prompt (useful in scripts):

curl -fsSL ... | bash -s -- --uninstall --yes

#Linux: .deb package

If you installed the release .deb on Debian or Ubuntu, remove it with apt:

sudo apt remove hypercolor

Package removal takes the binaries, service unit, udev rules, and completions with it. Your configuration at ~/.config/hypercolor/ is left in place; see Remove configuration and cache below for the full purge.

#Linux: build-from-source path

If you installed from source using scripts/uninstall.sh (which just install sets up), run:

./scripts/uninstall.sh

Optional flags:

--system    Also remove both udev rules files (99-hypercolor.rules and
            70-hypercolor-input.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/) and i2c-dev
            module persistence (/etc/modules-load.d/i2c-dev.conf).
            Both require sudo.

--purge     Implies --system; also deletes ~/.config/hypercolor and
            ~/.cache/hypercolor. It leaves ~/.local/share/hypercolor and
            ~/.local/state/hypercolor in place; remove those by hand if
            you want a full wipe (see "Remove configuration and cache").

Full purge example:

./scripts/uninstall.sh --purge

#Linux: manual removal

If neither script is available, remove each component by hand.

1. Stop and disable the service:

systemctl --user stop hypercolor.service
systemctl --user disable hypercolor.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload

2. Remove the service unit:

rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/hypercolor.service

3. Remove binaries:

rm -f ~/.local/bin/hypercolor \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-daemon \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-app \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-tui \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-open

4. Remove data, desktop integration, and completions:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/hypercolor
rm -f  ~/.local/share/applications/hypercolor.desktop
rm -f  ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/hypercolor.svg
rm -f  ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/hypercolor.png
rm -f  ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/hypercolor.png
rm -f  ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/hypercolor.png
rm -f  ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/hypercolor
rm -f  ~/.local/share/zsh/site-functions/_hypercolor
rm -f  ~/.config/fish/completions/hypercolor.fish

5. Remove udev rules (requires sudo):

sudo rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/99-hypercolor.rules
sudo rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/70-hypercolor-input.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

6. Remove i2c-dev module persistence (if installed, requires sudo):

sudo rm -f /etc/modules-load.d/i2c-dev.conf

#Linux: AUR package

The AUR package is named hypercolor-bin:

# yay or paru
yay -R hypercolor-bin
# or
paru -R hypercolor-bin

Add -n to delete package-owned config files instead of saving .pacsave backups, or -s to also remove now-unneeded dependencies. The package installs the service unit to /usr/lib/systemd/user/hypercolor.service, both udev rules files to /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/, and the i2c-dev module config to /usr/lib/modules-load.d/i2c-dev.conf, so removing the package handles all of those automatically. Your config at ~/.config/hypercolor/ is left in place.

#Windows: installed app

Uninstall from Settings → Apps → Installed apps (the classic Add/Remove Programs entry works too). The NSIS uninstaller runs elevated and removes:

• The application files under Program Files, including the bundled PawnIO module blobs in the install directory’s tools\pawnio\ folder
• The HypercolorSmBus broker service registration (stopped, then deleted)
• The Windows Firewall rules (“Hypercolor Daemon” and “Hypercolor App”)

Two things are deliberately not removed:

• PawnIO itself stays installed. It is a shared system component other software may rely on. Remove it separately from Programs & Features if you want it gone.
• Your configuration and data are preserved: config at %APPDATA%\hypercolor\ and data plus logs at %LOCALAPPDATA%\hypercolor\. Delete both folders for a full purge (see below).

If you set the daemon up as a Windows service (an advanced, non-default setup via scripts/install-windows-service.ps1), remove that service from an elevated PowerShell:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\uninstall-windows-service.ps1

The script stops the Hypercolor service and deletes its registration.

#macOS: curl installer

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hyperb1iss/hypercolor/main/scripts/install-release.sh \
  | bash -s -- --uninstall

On macOS the script removes:

• Binaries from ~/.local/bin/
• The launchd agent plist from ~/Library/LaunchAgents/tech.hyperbliss.hypercolor.plist
• Bundled UI and effects from ~/.local/share/hypercolor/
• Shell completions for bash, zsh, and fish

Your configuration at ~/Library/Application Support/hypercolor/ is preserved.

#macOS: Homebrew

The formula ships a brew services definition, so stop the service before you uninstall:

brew services stop hypercolor
brew uninstall hypercolor

brew services owns its own launch agent (homebrew.mxcl.hypercolor) and cleans it up on stop and uninstall, so there is no tech.hyperbliss plist to remove by hand for the formula. The service writes its log to $(brew --prefix)/var/log/hypercolor/hypercolor.log.

If you installed the desktop app via the cask, use --zap to also remove its application-support, cache, log, and launch-agent files:

brew uninstall --zap --cask hypercolor-app

#macOS: manual removal

1. Unload and remove the launchd agent:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/tech.hyperbliss.hypercolor.plist 2>/dev/null || true
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/tech.hyperbliss.hypercolor.plist

The launchd label is tech.hyperbliss.hypercolor. Logs are written to ~/Library/Logs/hypercolor/hypercolor.log.

2. Remove binaries:

rm -f ~/.local/bin/hypercolor \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-daemon \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-app \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-tui \
       ~/.local/bin/hypercolor-open

3. Remove data:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/hypercolor
rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/hypercolor

#Remove configuration and cache

Both install scripts preserve config by default to protect your lighting setup, connection profiles, and scenes. When you are ready to wipe it:

Linux purge:

rm -rf ~/.config/hypercolor ~/.local/share/hypercolor ~/.local/state/hypercolor ~/.cache/hypercolor

macOS purge:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/hypercolor
rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/hypercolor

Windows purge (PowerShell):

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:APPDATA\hypercolor", "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\hypercolor"

#Reset without uninstalling

To reset the first-run wizard without uninstalling, delete the marker file under the data directory:

# Linux
rm -f ~/.local/share/hypercolor/first-run-complete

# macOS
rm -f ~/Library/Application\ Support/hypercolor/first-run-complete

# Windows
Remove-Item "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\hypercolor\first-run-complete"

The next time the desktop app launches, it will run the welcome wizard again (hardware support, autostart, and device discovery steps).

To reset only your lighting configuration while keeping the binaries and service intact:

rm -rf ~/.config/hypercolor

The daemon will recreate a default hypercolor.toml on next startup.

#Verify the removal

After uninstalling, confirm nothing is still running:

# Linux
systemctl --user status hypercolor.service

# macOS
launchctl list tech.hyperbliss.hypercolor

Both commands should report that the unit is not loaded. Check that no orphaned processes remain:

pgrep -l hypercolor

On Windows, confirm the processes and broker service are gone:

Get-Process hypercolor* -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Get-Service HypercolorSmBus -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

#See also

• Installation to install or reinstall Hypercolor
• Configuration for the config file reference
• Desktop app for autostart and tray settings
• Troubleshooting: common issues if uninstall leaves the daemon running