go-remove

A CLI tool to safely remove Go binaries with undo and history support

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
  • Install script
  • Linux packages
  • Updating and uninstalling
  • Source
  • Windows
• Quick Start
• Usage
  • Direct Removal
  • Interactive TUI
  • Undo Deletion
  • Restore from History
• Command Reference
  • Migrating from Flags
• Filesystem Locations
  • Data Storage
  • Trash
  • Binary Directories (in precedence order)
• Building from Source
• Requirements
• Contributing
• License

Features

• Interactive TUI: Browse and select binaries to remove from a grid interface
• Undo Support: Restore the most recently deleted binary with a single command
• Deletion History: Browse and restore any previously removed binary
• Safe Removal: Moves binaries to a trash directory
• Cross-Platform: Works on Linux (XDG-compliant) and Windows
• Verbose Logging: Optional detailed output for debugging

Installation

Install script

tmp=$(mktemp)
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicholas-fedor/go-remove/main/scripts/install.sh -o "$tmp" && sh "$tmp"
rm -f "$tmp"

On Linux, the script installs a native package (.deb, .rpm, .apk, or Arch) when available; otherwise, it extracts the release archive into $HOME/go/bin.

Variable	Meaning
VERSION	Release tag (vX.Y.Z or X.Y.Z). Default: latest.
INSTALL_DIR	Directory for archive installs. Default: $HOME/go/bin.
INSTALL_TYPE	auto (default), package, or archive.

Windows: download the .zip from the releases page.

Linux packages

GitHub Releases include distro packages built by GoReleaser (nFPM):

Format	Distros
.deb	Debian, Ubuntu
.rpm	Fedora, RHEL, Rocky, openSUSE
.apk	Alpine
.pkg.tar.zst	Arch, Manjaro

Install a downloaded package with dpkg -i, rpm -Uvh, apk add --allow-untrusted, or pacman -U. Checksums are in checksums.txt on the same release.

Updating and uninstalling

Re-run the script to replace the current install with the latest release (or VERSION=…). Native packages are upgraded in place (dpkg/rpm/apk/pacman) and archive installs overwrite $INSTALL_DIR/go-remove.

tmp=$(mktemp)
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicholas-fedor/go-remove/main/scripts/install.sh -o "$tmp"

# Update
sh "$tmp" update

# Uninstall (native package and/or the stored archive install directory)
sh "$tmp" uninstall

rm -f "$tmp"

Source

go install github.com/nicholas-fedor/go-remove@latest

The binary is installed to $GOPATH/bin (typically ~/go/bin/go-remove).

Windows

Available architectures: amd64, i386, arm64v8

# Download and extract (replace amd64 with your architecture, and X.Y.Z with the release version)
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/nicholas-fedor/go-remove/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/go-remove_windows_amd64_X.Y.Z.zip" -OutFile "go-remove.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "go-remove.zip" -DestinationPath "."

# Move to a directory in your PATH
Move-Item -Path ".\go-remove.exe" -Destination "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\"

Quick Start

# Launch interactive TUI to select binaries
go-remove

# Remove a specific binary
go-remove rm vhs

# Undo the last deletion
go-remove undo

Usage

Direct Removal

Remove a specific binary by name:

go-remove rm vhs

With verbose output:

go-remove -v rm vhs

Remove from GOROOT/bin instead of GOBIN/GOPATH/bin:

go-remove --goroot rm vhs

Interactive TUI

Launch without a command to use the interactive TUI:

go-remove

TUI Controls:

Key	Action
↑/↓/←/→ or k/j/h/l	Navigate grid
Enter	Remove selected binary
s	Toggle sort order (ascending/descending)
r	Open deletion history
q or Ctrl+C	Quit

Undo Deletion

Restore the most recently deleted binary:

go-remove undo

Restore from History

Browse and restore from deletion history:

go-remove restore

History View Controls:

Key	Action
↑/↓	Navigate history
Enter	Restore selected binary to original location
d	Permanently delete from trash
u	Undo most recent deletion
q	Return to main view

Command Reference

Command	Description
go-remove	Open the interactive TUI
go-remove rm <bin>	Remove a binary (alias: remove)
go-remove undo	Restore the most recently deleted binary
go-remove restore	Open the deletion history view
go-remove version	Print the version, commit, and build time

Global flags work with every command:

Flag	Short	Description
--goroot		Target GOROOT/bin instead of GOBIN/GOPATH/bin
--log-level	-l	Set log level (debug, info, warn, error)
--verbose	-v	Enable verbose output
--help	-h	Show help for any command

Migrating from Flags

Earlier releases selected the operation with flags. Each one is now a command:

Before	Now
go-remove <bin>	go-remove rm <bin>
go-remove --undo	go-remove undo
go-remove --restore	go-remove restore

Filesystem Locations

Data Storage

Deletion history is stored in a Badger KV database:

Linux:

• $XDG_DATA_HOME/go-remove/history.badger
• Fallback: ~/.local/share/go-remove/history.badger

macOS:

• $XDG_DATA_HOME/go-remove/history.badger
• Fallback: ~/Library/Application Support/go-remove/history.badger

Windows:

• %LOCALAPPDATA%\go-remove\history.badger
• Fallback: %USERPROFILE%\go-remove\history.badger

Trash

Trashed binaries are stored in files/ and metadata files (.trashinfo) in info/ in the following Trash locations:

Linux and macOS:

• $XDG_DATA_HOME/Trash
• Fallback: ~/.local/share/Trash

A relative $XDG_DATA_HOME is treated as unset.

Windows:

• %LOCALAPPDATA%\go-remove\trash

Binary Directories (in precedence order)

1. GOROOT/bin (when using --goroot flag)
2. GOBIN (environment variable)
3. GOPATH/bin (from GOPATH environment variable)
4. Default fallback: ~/go/bin (Linux/macOS) or %USERPROFILE%\go\bin (Windows)

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/nicholas-fedor/go-remove.git
cd go-remove
go build -o go-remove .

Run locally:

./go-remove --help

Requirements

• Go 1.27.0 or later

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines on:

• Setting up your development environment
• Code standards and testing requirements
• Submitting pull requests
• Commit signing requirements
• AI policy

You can also submit issues or pull requests on GitHub.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.

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Logo Credits: Special thanks to Maria Letta for the awesome Free Gophers Pack.