Homebrew is the missing package manager for macOS. This guide covers installation, installing CLI tools and apps, updating packages, and essential Homebrew commands every developer needs.
In this guide
Open Terminal and run the official install command from brew.sh: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)". It will prompt for your password and install Xcode Command Line Tools if needed. On Apple Silicon Macs, Homebrew installs to /opt/homebrew — add it to your PATH by following the instructions shown at the end of installation.
Install any command-line tool with: brew install <name>. Essential developer tools: brew install git node python wget curl jq htop tree. After installation, the tool is immediately available in your terminal. Unlike downloading installers manually, Homebrew tracks what you installed and makes it easy to update everything at once.
Homebrew Cask installs full macOS applications: brew install --cask visual-studio-code google-chrome docker rectangle iterm2. This is faster than visiting individual download pages and means all your apps can be installed with a single script — useful for setting up a new Mac. Apps installed via Cask appear in your Applications folder like any normal app.
Run brew update to fetch the latest package definitions, then brew upgrade to update all installed packages to the latest version. Run brew upgrade <name> to update a specific package. Run brew outdated to see what needs updating without upgrading yet. Set a reminder to run brew update && brew upgrade monthly — outdated CLI tools accumulate security vulnerabilities.
brew list — show installed packages. brew info <name> — show details about a package. brew search <term> — search available packages. brew uninstall <name> — remove a package. brew cleanup — remove old versions and free disk space. brew doctor — diagnose issues with your Homebrew installation. brew bundle dump — export all installed packages to a Brewfile for reproducible setups.
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