How to uninstall SillyTavern

Last updated October 4, 2026 · Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android (Termux) · By the developer of LonelyTavern

There is no uninstaller. SillyTavern is one folder, on a computer or inside Termux on a phone, so removing it means deleting that folder. Back up first, because your chats and characters live in it.

1. Back up your chats and characters first

Everything you would miss lives in one folder inside SillyTavern: data. Copy it somewhere outside the SillyTavern folder before you delete anything.

On a computer: copy SillyTavern/data to your Documents folder or a USB drive with your file manager, plus config.yaml beside it if you changed any settings. If you installed with the SillyTavern Launcher, SillyTavern sits inside it, so the folder is SillyTavern-Launcher/SillyTavern/data. With Docker, copy every folder beside your docker-compose.yml: data, config, plugins, and extensions.

On Android: copy it to shared storage, where it survives anything you then do to Termux.

termux-setup-storage
cp -r ~/SillyTavern/data ~/storage/shared/SillyTavern-backup

The first command asks Android for storage permission, so accept the prompt when it appears. Check the folder exists in your file manager before you delete anything.

2. Remove it from Windows, macOS, or Linux

Stop the server first: close its terminal window, or press Ctrl+C in it. Then delete the SillyTavern folder, wherever you cloned or unzipped it. That is the whole removal. If you cloned or unzipped it yourself, SillyTavern installed nothing outside that folder, so no registry entries or system files are left behind.

Installed with the SillyTavern Launcher? SillyTavern lives inside the launcher's folder, so back up SillyTavern-Launcher/SillyTavern/data first. To remove Node.js too, use the launcher's Toolbox, then App Uninstaller, before anything else. Then delete the whole SillyTavern-Launcher folder, and the desktop shortcuts it offered to create.

Running it in Docker? From the folder with your docker-compose.yml (inside the clone, that is SillyTavern/docker):

docker compose down
docker rmi ghcr.io/sillytavern/sillytavern:latest

If you started it with docker run instead, docker stop and docker rm the container before removing the image. Then delete the SillyTavern clone, or whichever folder holds your docker-compose.yml and its data folders.

Node.js and Git were installed separately and other programs may use them. Remove them only if nothing else needs them: on Windows through Settings, Apps; on a Mac with brew uninstall node git if you used Homebrew; on Linux with your package manager.

3. Remove it from Android, keep Termux

Do this if you still use Termux for other things. Press Ctrl+C to stop the server if it is running, then:

rm -rf ~/SillyTavern ~/SillyTavern-old

That is the whole removal. Nothing is left behind elsewhere on the phone, because SillyTavern never installed anything outside that folder.

To drop the packages it needed as well:

pkg uninstall nodejs-lts git

4. Remove everything on Android, including Termux

Uninstalling the Termux app from Android's own app settings deletes Termux's entire home folder in one step, SillyTavern included. Settings, Apps, Termux, Uninstall.

This is the fastest route and the most complete. Only the copy you made in shared storage survives it, so do not skip the backup.

5. Reinstall cleanly

On a computer: clone a fresh copy, then copy your backed-up data folder over the new, empty one, and config.yaml into the SillyTavern folder, before you start it.

git clone https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern -b release

On Android: install Termux from F-Droid rather than the Play Store. The Play Store build is no longer maintained and ships outdated packages, which is the most common cause of a broken install.

pkg update && pkg upgrade
pkg install git nodejs-lts
git clone https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern -b release
cp -r ~/storage/shared/SillyTavern-backup ~/SillyTavern/data
cd ~/SillyTavern && bash start.sh

The cp line restores your backup over the empty data folder the clone just created. Skip it for a genuinely blank start.

6. What this does not touch

Your API key and provider account. SillyTavern saves your keys in data/default-user/secrets.json, so they travel with your backup, but deleting the folder does not revoke them. Revoke a key in the provider's dashboard if you want it gone.
Your backup. That is the point of it: it sits outside the SillyTavern folder and nothing here reaches it.
Character cards you downloaded elsewhere. Files in your Downloads folder stay where they are.

Not trying to leave, just to fix it?

A broken install usually does not need removing. A fresh clone that keeps your data folder fixes most of it. On Android, our Termux troubleshooting guide covers update failures, start.sh errors, the server dying on screen lock, npm error 134, and lost chats.

If you're leaving because of the server, not the software

Running a Node server on a phone is the part most people give up on. LonelyTavern is a native Android and iPhone app that needs no server at all. It imports V3 character cards and world-info lorebooks, works with any OpenAI-compatible provider under your own key, and keeps everything on the device.

Free, no account, no ads, and nothing to maintain at 2 a.m. It is 18+, and confirming your age is the only thing it ever asks you for.

SillyTavern and Termux are independent projects of their respective authors. LonelyTavern is not affiliated with or endorsed by either project. Commands follow the official SillyTavern documentation at docs.sillytavern.app; check there for current instructions.