# Update and uninstall

Update MiniCut yourself or let it update by itself, turn the automatic update off, and remove MiniCut with or without your projects.

MiniCut keeps your projects, library, canvas and `settings.json` through every update. An uninstall keeps them too, unless you ask it not to.

## Update MiniCut

1. Check your version. The line `Minicut CLI` shows it.

```bash Terminal
minicut status
```

2. Run the update.

```bash Terminal
minicut update
```

3. Wait for it to finish. It ends with `updated to` and the new version. If you already had the newest version, it ends with `ready`. Then it prints `Log:` with the path of the install log and `minicut:` with the full path of the command.

The update installs the newest version beside the one you have, for the region saved at install. You stay signed in. The MiniCut app restarts on the new files, which ends the session of an open app page. Commands that are already running finish on the old files. MiniCut keeps the old version for one more update, so it can go back to it.

If the new app does not start within 10 seconds, MiniCut goes back to your old version and the update exits with code 2. If Python 3.12 or ffmpeg is missing, the update still finishes. It prints a `MISSING:` line. Install the tool, then run `minicut setup`. If another update is running, the command prints `Another Minicut update is running on this computer. Run minicut update again when it has finished.` and exits with code 75.

The command is described in [Setup](/docs/cli/setup#minicut-update). If another command prints `This Minicut is too old. Run minicut update, then the same command again.`, run the update first. That message comes with exit code 12.

## Automatic updates

Automatic updates are on. Any `minicut` command starts a check in the background, and no command waits for it. A check runs at most once a day. The first one runs a day after the first command that follows the install. `minicut update`, `minicut uninstall` and `minicut setup` start no check.

MiniCut updates by itself only when all of these are true:

- The newest version is higher than yours. MiniCut never goes back to a lower version.
- It is your computer's turn. A new version reaches computers in stages.
- No MiniCut app page was used in the last 10 minutes.

If your computer's turn has not come, an app page was in use, or the check cannot reach minicut.ai, MiniCut tries again in an hour. After an automatic update, your next command prints one line on stderr, once:

```text Message
Minicut updated to VERSION.
```

## Turn off automatic updates

Do any one of these. The update then happens only when you run `minicut update`.

- Set the environment variable `MINICUT_NO_AUTOUPDATE` to `1`.
- Add `"auto_update": false` to `settings.json` in your MiniCut home folder, `~/.minicut` on macOS and Linux. Keep the other keys in the file.
- Set `CI`. MiniCut makes no automatic update when `CI` is set to anything except `0` or `false`.

```json settings.json
{
  "auto_update": false
}
```

To check, run `minicut status`. Its last line shows `auto_update` and, when it is off, the reason.

```bash Terminal
MINICUT_NO_AUTOUPDATE=1 minicut status
```

```text Output
auto_update: {"on":false,"off_because":"MINICUT_NO_AUTOUPDATE is set","last_check":null,"last_result":null,"next_check":null}
```

## Uninstall MiniCut

1. Run the uninstall. It asks nothing and starts at once. If your agent runs it, Claude Code and Codex ask you first when you have run `minicut agent-rules`.

```bash Terminal
minicut uninstall
```

2. To remove your projects, library, canvas and settings too, add `--all`.

```bash Terminal
minicut uninstall --all
```

3. Check the exit code. 0 means MiniCut is removed. 7 means it is removed, but minicut.ai did not answer. Then this computer stays on the **Devices** page of your account until you remove it there.

The uninstall prints one line for each step it did, such as `signed out`, `removed the login item` and `removed the tools and the app; kept projects, library, canvas, settings.json`. The steps are listed under `minicut uninstall` on [Setup](/docs/cli/setup#minicut-uninstall).

## Left behind

| Item | `minicut uninstall` | `minicut uninstall --all` |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-in key of this computer | Removed | Removed |
| The MiniCut app, the login item, the tools and old versions | Removed | Removed |
| The `minicut` line in your shell profile, or in your Path on Windows | Removed | Removed |
| The MiniCut skill folder in every agent app, and the MiniCut hooks in Claude Code and Codex | Removed | Removed |
| `projects`, `library`, `canvas` and `settings.json` | Kept | Removed |
| The rules `minicut agent-rules` wrote | Kept | Kept |
| Other skills and other hooks | Kept | Kept |
| Files in the home folder that MiniCut did not make | Kept, and the command says how many | Kept, and the command says how many |
| The home folder | Kept | Removed, only if the install made it and nothing else is left in it |

If the home folder has no `minicut-home.json`, the uninstall changes nothing. It prints `FOLDER has no Minicut install marker (minicut-home.json), so it may hold files that are not Minicut's. Nothing was removed.` and exits with code 1. `FOLDER` is the path of the home folder.

To install again, run the install line from [Install in a terminal](/docs/cli/install-in-a-terminal). The install keeps the `projects`, `library`, `canvas` and `settings.json` it finds in the home folder.

## Next

[Setup](/docs/cli/setup) [Troubleshooting](/docs/cli/troubleshooting) [Changelog](/docs/cli/changelog)