diff --git a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/drag_folder_with_mandeye_data_and_drop_here-precision_forestry.cpp b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/drag_folder_with_mandeye_data_and_drop_here-precision_forestry.cpp
index e8535b88..f40a1bdd 100644
--- a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/drag_folder_with_mandeye_data_and_drop_here-precision_forestry.cpp
+++ b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/drag_folder_with_mandeye_data_and_drop_here-precision_forestry.cpp
@@ -2217,10 +2217,7 @@ void display()
 
 void on_exit()
 {
-    // remove cache
-    std::cout << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' START" << std::endl;
-    std::filesystem::remove_all(params.working_directory_cache);
-    std::cout << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' FINISHED" << std::endl;
+    remove_cache(params);
 }
 
 void mouse(int glut_button, int state, int x, int y)
diff --git a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.cpp b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.cpp
index 5dea711c..d02e0d52 100644
--- a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.cpp
+++ b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.cpp
@@ -1192,6 +1192,19 @@ void release_raw_clouds(std::vector<std::vector<Point3Di>>& pointsPerFile, Lidar
     release_freed_heap();
 }
 
+void remove_cache(const LidarOdometryParams& params)
+{
+    if (params.working_directory_cache.empty())
+        return;
+    std::cout << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' START" << std::endl;
+    std::error_code ec;
+    fs::remove_all(params.working_directory_cache, ec);
+    if (ec)
+        std::cerr << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' FAILED: " << ec.message() << std::endl;
+    else
+        std::cout << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' FINISHED" << std::endl;
+}
+
 std::vector<WorkerData> run_lidar_odometry(const std::string& input_dir, LidarOdometryParams& params)
 {
     HDMAP_ZONE_SCOPE("run_lidar_odometry");
diff --git a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.h b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.h
index 41d9cb5e..3b2fc1da 100644
--- a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.h
+++ b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry.h
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ bool compute_step_1(
     const std::atomic<bool>& pause);
 // after a successful step 1: free the raw clouds (and the lazy loader) — nothing after step 1 reads them
 void release_raw_clouds(std::vector<std::vector<Point3Di>>& pointsPerFile, LidarOdometryParams& params);
+// remove params.working_directory_cache; call only once nothing reads worker_data[*].*_cache_file_name any more
+void remove_cache(const LidarOdometryParams& params);
 void run_consistency(std::vector<WorkerData>& worker_data, const LidarOdometryParams& params);
 void filter_reference_buckets(LidarOdometryParams& params);
 void load_reference_point_clouds(const std::vector<std::string>& input_file_names, LidarOdometryParams& params);
diff --git a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry_gui.cpp b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry_gui.cpp
index c528603c..03099c22 100644
--- a/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry_gui.cpp
+++ b/apps/lidar_odometry_step_1/lidar_odometry_gui.cpp
@@ -2626,10 +2626,7 @@ void display()
 
 void on_exit()
 {
-    // remove cache
-    std::cout << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' START" << std::endl;
-    std::filesystem::remove_all(params.working_directory_cache);
-    std::cout << "remove cache: '" << params.working_directory_cache << "' FINISHED" << std::endl;
+    remove_cache(params);
 }
 
 void mouse(int glut_button, int state, int x, int y)
@@ -2759,6 +2756,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
                 const fs::path result_dir = get_next_result_path(working_directory);
                 save_results(false, elapsed_seconds.count(), working_directory, worker_data, params, result_dir);
                 std::cout << "Results saved to folder: '" << result_dir.string() << "'" << std::endl;
+                remove_cache(params);
             }
         }
         else if (argc == 4) // runnning from command line with custom params
@@ -2789,6 +2787,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
                       << "Elapsed time: " << formatTime(elapsed_seconds.count()).c_str() << "s\n";
 
             save_results(false, elapsed_seconds.count(), working_directory, worker_data, params, argv[3]);
+            remove_cache(params);
         }
         else // full GUI mode
         {