Is it safe to delete ~/.ollama/models?
Likely recoverable, but it costs you something to get back. Read before you move it.
- What it is
- The model files Ollama downloaded so it can run an AI model locally on this Mac, without sending anything over the network.
- Made by
- Ollama
- If you remove it
- The named model is removed and has to be downloaded again before anything that uses it can work, or built again, if you made it yourself with `ollama create`. Model sizes vary widely, from under 100 MB to tens of gigabytes; check this specific model's size in Spaceific before removing it.
- How it comes back
- Run: ollama pull <model>:<tag> (for example, ollama pull qwen2.5:3b). For a pinned tag like that, you get back the exact version you had. For a :latest tag, you get whatever the current version of that model is right now, not necessarily the identical bytes you deleted, since :latest can change over time.
The tool's own commands
ollama lsLists the models (Ollama's CLI reference, “List models”). Ollama's FAQ gives the macOS location as ~/.ollama/models.From docs.ollama.com/cli, read 3 Nov 2026.ollama rm <model>Removes a model (Ollama's CLI reference, “Remove a model”, example: ollama rm gemma4).From docs.ollama.com/cli, read 3 Nov 2026.
The proof
- Verified by
- locally tested
- Checked on
- macOS 26.6.2, Ollama 0.33.3
- Catalogue
- Spaceific's rules.json 1.2.0, 2 Nov 2026. The whole file.
- Measured
- 21.09 GB on the builder's Mac (6 Oct 2026)
Related
- Ollama models are filling your Mac (guide)
- Hugging Face cache
~/.cache/huggingfaceNo rule yet - EasyOCR
~/.EasyOCRNo rule yet - Every rule
Spaceific shows this rule for this folder in the app, checks it again at the moment you act, and moves only to the Trash, with Put Back. What Spaceific is.