uninstall

Remove the ephemerd binary, system service, and optionally all data.

ephemerd uninstall [flags]

Flags

Steps

1. Clean up runtime state

Runs the same cleanup as ephemerd doctor --clean to remove stale containers, network bridges, WSL distros, and other runtime state before removing the data directory.

2. Stop and remove the service

Platform-specific service removal:

• Linux: systemctl stop ephemerd, systemctl disable ephemerd, removes /etc/systemd/system/ephemerd.service, runs systemctl daemon-reload.
• macOS: launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/dev.ephpm.ephemerd.plist, removes the plist file.
• Windows: sc.exe stop ephemerd, sc.exe delete ephemerd.

3. Remove the binary

Removes the ephemerd binary from its installed location. On Windows, the running binary cannot be deleted – a message is printed asking you to delete it manually after the process exits.

4. Remove the data directory

Unless --keep-data is set, removes the entire data directory (/var/lib/ephemerd or C:\ProgramData\ephemerd) including config, logs, and all container state.

Also removes environment files at /etc/default/ephemerd and /etc/sysconfig/ephemerd if they exist.

Examples

# Full uninstall (remove everything)
sudo ephemerd uninstall

# Uninstall but keep config and logs
sudo ephemerd uninstall --keep-data