diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fc6d63e..7b97b53 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ Review [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) and [SECURITY_AUDIT.md](SECURITY_AUDIT.md) for
 ## Tips
 
 - Video tutorial: Watch the [Mole tutorial video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEe9-w4CcQ0), thanks to PAPAYA 電腦教室.
-- Safety and logs: `clean`, `uninstall`, `purge`, `installer`, and `remove` are destructive. Review with `--dry-run` first, and add `--debug` when needed. File operations are logged to `~/.config/mole/operations.log`. Disable with `MO_NO_OPLOG=1`. Review [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) and [SECURITY_AUDIT.md](SECURITY_AUDIT.md).
+- Safety and logs: `clean`, `uninstall`, `purge`, `installer`, and `remove` are destructive. Review with `--dry-run` first, and add `--debug` when needed. File operations are logged to `~/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log`. Disable with `MO_NO_OPLOG=1`. Review [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) and [SECURITY_AUDIT.md](SECURITY_AUDIT.md).
 - Navigation: Mole supports arrow keys and Vim bindings `h/j/k/l`.
 
 ## Features in Detail
diff --git a/SECURITY_AUDIT.md b/SECURITY_AUDIT.md
index 3663832..3a40b37 100644
--- a/SECURITY_AUDIT.md
+++ b/SECURITY_AUDIT.md
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ Mole exposes multiple safety controls before and during destructive actions:
 - interactive high-risk flows require explicit confirmation before deletion
 - purge marks recent projects conservatively and leaves them unselected by default
 - analyzer delete uses Finder Trash rather than direct permanent removal
-- operation logs are written to `~/.config/mole/operations.log` unless disabled with `MO_NO_OPLOG=1`
+- operation logs are written to `~/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log` unless disabled with `MO_NO_OPLOG=1`
 - timeouts bound external commands so stalled discovery or uninstall operations do not silently hang the entire flow
 
 Relevant timeout behavior includes:
diff --git a/lib/core/app_protection.sh b/lib/core/app_protection.sh
index e8a1163..f6cb487 100755
--- a/lib/core/app_protection.sh
+++ b/lib/core/app_protection.sh
@@ -802,6 +802,10 @@ should_protect_path() {
         */Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist | */Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist)
             return 0
             ;;
+        # Protect Mole's own runtime logs so cleanup cannot delete its active log targets.
+        */Library/Logs/mole | */Library/Logs/mole/ | */Library/Logs/mole/*)
+            return 0
+            ;;
         # Bluetooth and WiFi configurations
         */ByHost/com.apple.bluetooth.* | */ByHost/com.apple.wifi.*)
             return 0
diff --git a/lib/core/log.sh b/lib/core/log.sh
index 8001402..3092257 100644
--- a/lib/core/log.sh
+++ b/lib/core/log.sh
@@ -37,6 +37,22 @@ fi
 # Log Rotation
 # ============================================================================
 
+append_log_line() {
+    local file_path="$1"
+    local line="${2:-}"
+
+    ensure_user_file "$file_path"
+    printf '%s\n' "$line" >> "$file_path" 2> /dev/null || true
+}
+
+append_log_lines() {
+    local file_path="$1"
+    shift
+
+    ensure_user_file "$file_path"
+    printf '%s\n' "$@" >> "$file_path" 2> /dev/null || true
+}
+
 # Rotate log file if it exceeds maximum size
 rotate_log_once() {
     # Skip if already checked this session
@@ -81,9 +97,9 @@ log_info() {
     echo -e "${BLUE}$1${NC}"
     local timestamp
     timestamp=$(get_timestamp)
-    echo "[$timestamp] INFO: $1" >> "$LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_line "$LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] INFO: $1"
     if [[ "${MO_DEBUG:-}" == "1" ]]; then
-        echo "[$timestamp] INFO: $1" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] INFO: $1"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -92,9 +108,9 @@ log_success() {
     echo -e "  ${GREEN}${ICON_SUCCESS}${NC} $1"
     local timestamp
     timestamp=$(get_timestamp)
-    echo "[$timestamp] SUCCESS: $1" >> "$LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_line "$LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] SUCCESS: $1"
     if [[ "${MO_DEBUG:-}" == "1" ]]; then
-        echo "[$timestamp] SUCCESS: $1" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] SUCCESS: $1"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -103,9 +119,9 @@ log_warning() {
     echo -e "${YELLOW}$1${NC}"
     local timestamp
     timestamp=$(get_timestamp)
-    echo "[$timestamp] WARNING: $1" >> "$LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_line "$LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] WARNING: $1"
     if [[ "${MO_DEBUG:-}" == "1" ]]; then
-        echo "[$timestamp] WARNING: $1" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] WARNING: $1"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -114,9 +130,9 @@ log_error() {
     echo -e "${YELLOW}${ICON_ERROR}${NC} $1" >&2
     local timestamp
     timestamp=$(get_timestamp)
-    echo "[$timestamp] ERROR: $1" >> "$LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_line "$LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] ERROR: $1"
     if [[ "${MO_DEBUG:-}" == "1" ]]; then
-        echo "[$timestamp] ERROR: $1" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] ERROR: $1"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -126,7 +142,7 @@ debug_log() {
         echo -e "${GRAY}[DEBUG]${NC} $*" >&2
         local timestamp
         timestamp=$(get_timestamp)
-        echo "[$timestamp] DEBUG: $*" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "[$timestamp] DEBUG: $*"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -163,7 +179,7 @@ log_operation() {
     local log_line="[$timestamp] [$command] $action $path"
     [[ -n "$detail" ]] && log_line+=" ($detail)"
 
-    echo "$log_line" >> "$OPERATIONS_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_line "$OPERATIONS_LOG_FILE" "$log_line"
 }
 
 # Log session start marker
@@ -175,10 +191,10 @@ log_operation_session_start() {
     local timestamp
     timestamp=$(get_timestamp)
 
-    {
-        echo ""
-        echo "# ========== $command session started at $timestamp =========="
-    } >> "$OPERATIONS_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_lines \
+        "$OPERATIONS_LOG_FILE" \
+        "" \
+        "# ========== $command session started at $timestamp =========="
 }
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2329
@@ -198,9 +214,9 @@ log_operation_session_end() {
         size_human="0B"
     fi
 
-    {
-        echo "# ========== $command session ended at $timestamp, $items items, $size_human =========="
-    } >> "$OPERATIONS_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+    append_log_line \
+        "$OPERATIONS_LOG_FILE" \
+        "# ========== $command session ended at $timestamp, $items items, $size_human =========="
 }
 
 # Enhanced debug logging for operations
@@ -214,11 +230,18 @@ debug_operation_start() {
         [[ -n "$operation_desc" ]] && echo -e "${GRAY}[DEBUG] $operation_desc${NC}" >&2
 
         # Also log to file
-        {
-            echo ""
-            echo "=== $operation_name ==="
-            [[ -n "$operation_desc" ]] && echo "Description: $operation_desc"
-        } >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        if [[ -n "$operation_desc" ]]; then
+            append_log_lines \
+                "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" \
+                "" \
+                "=== $operation_name ===" \
+                "Description: $operation_desc"
+        else
+            append_log_lines \
+                "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" \
+                "" \
+                "=== $operation_name ==="
+        fi
     fi
 }
 
@@ -232,7 +255,7 @@ debug_operation_detail() {
         echo -e "${GRAY}[DEBUG] $detail_type: $detail_value${NC}" >&2
 
         # Also log to file
-        echo "$detail_type: $detail_value" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "$detail_type: $detail_value"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -252,7 +275,7 @@ debug_file_action() {
         echo -e "${GRAY}[DEBUG] $action: $msg${NC}" >&2
 
         # Also log to file
-        echo "$action: $msg" >> "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" 2> /dev/null || true
+        append_log_line "$DEBUG_LOG_FILE" "$action: $msg"
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/clean_user_core.bats b/tests/clean_user_core.bats
index ec21cbc..a7ca90a 100644
--- a/tests/clean_user_core.bats
+++ b/tests/clean_user_core.bats
@@ -80,6 +80,41 @@ EOF
     [[ "$output" == *"Trash · emptied, 2 items"* ]]
 }
 
+@test "clean_user_essentials keeps Mole runtime logs while cleaning other user logs" {
+    mkdir -p "$HOME/Library/Logs/mole"
+    mkdir -p "$HOME/Library/Logs/OtherApp"
+    touch "$HOME/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log"
+    touch "$HOME/Library/Logs/OtherApp/old.log"
+
+    run env HOME="$HOME" PROJECT_ROOT="$PROJECT_ROOT" bash --noprofile --norc <<'EOF'
+set -euo pipefail
+source "$PROJECT_ROOT/lib/core/common.sh"
+source "$PROJECT_ROOT/lib/clean/user.sh"
+DRY_RUN=false
+start_section_spinner() { :; }
+stop_section_spinner() { :; }
+note_activity() { :; }
+is_path_whitelisted() { return 1; }
+safe_clean() {
+    local path=""
+    for path in "${@:1:$#-1}"; do
+        if should_protect_path "$path"; then
+            continue
+        fi
+        /bin/rm -rf "$path"
+    done
+}
+
+clean_user_essentials
+
+[[ -d "$HOME/Library/Logs/mole" ]]
+[[ -f "$HOME/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log" ]]
+[[ ! -e "$HOME/Library/Logs/OtherApp/old.log" ]]
+EOF
+
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+}
+
 @test "clean_app_caches includes macOS system caches" {
     run env HOME="$HOME" PROJECT_ROOT="$PROJECT_ROOT" bash --noprofile --norc <<'EOF'
 set -euo pipefail
diff --git a/tests/core_common.bats b/tests/core_common.bats
index eb2e8b5..4314d99 100644
--- a/tests/core_common.bats
+++ b/tests/core_common.bats
@@ -69,6 +69,25 @@ setup() {
     grep -q "ERROR: $message" "$log_file"
 }
 
+@test "log_operation recreates operations log if the log directory disappears mid-session" {
+    run env HOME="$HOME" PROJECT_ROOT="$PROJECT_ROOT" bash --noprofile --norc <<'EOF'
+set -euo pipefail
+source "$PROJECT_ROOT/lib/core/common.sh"
+rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Logs/mole"
+log_operation "clean" "REMOVED" "/tmp/example" "1KB"
+EOF
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+
+    local oplog="$HOME/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log"
+    [[ -f "$oplog" ]]
+    grep -Fq "[clean] REMOVED /tmp/example (1KB)" "$oplog"
+}
+
+@test "should_protect_path protects Mole runtime logs" {
+    result="$(HOME="$HOME" bash --noprofile --norc -c "source '$PROJECT_ROOT/lib/core/common.sh'; should_protect_path '$HOME/Library/Logs/mole/operations.log' && echo protected || echo not-protected")"
+    [ "$result" = "protected" ]
+}
+
 @test "rotate_log_once only checks log size once per session" {
     local log_file="$HOME/Library/Logs/mole/mole.log"
     mkdir -p "$(dirname "$log_file")"