How to Install Homebrew on a Mac

To download Homebrew on a Mac, you just need to execute a few commands in a Terminal window. Homebrew works on both Apple Silicon (M1, M2, and so on) Mac models as well as older Intel-based machines.

To get started, launch Terminal (use Spotlight or find it under Applications > Utilities), then paste (or type) the following followed by the Enter key:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

You’ll be prompted for your admin password. Type it and then hit Enter to proceed.

Next, you’ll be notified of what is about to be installed as part of the Homebrew setup process. This includes the Xcode Command Line Tools, which will be installed for you alongside other essential Homebrew components. Hit Enter to start installing Homebrew on macOS.

Now, you must wait for the various packages to download and install. How long this takes largely depends on your internet speed, but the whole thing should be over in around five minutes or so. Once the installation is complete, you’ll be prompted to run two more commands.

First, run the following two commands to add Homebrew to your PATH:

echo 'eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)' >> /Users/$USER/.zprofile
eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)

If you don’t run these two commands, you’ll get a “command not found: brew” when trying to run Homebrew commands.

You can run brew update to make sure your list of available packages is up to date. Lastly, run the brew doctor command to make sure everything is working as advertised. Homebrew will list any issues and the commands you need to run to fix them.

Use the “brew install name command to install applications on your Mac, replacing “name” with the name of the application you want to install. Homebrew can install both graphical applications (known as casks) and open-source command-line tools (known as formulae). For example, to install Firefox, you would run:

brew install firefox

If you’re looking for a particular piece of software, you can search for it using the brew search command:

brew search google

Homebrew makes it possible to install applications with a single command, right from macOS Terminal. This removes the need to search for an app website, find a download link, download a .DMG or .PKG file, drag the .APP file into your Applications folder or run the .PKG, and dispose of whatever’s left over.

Using brew search you can find applications based purely on their name and install them in a flash. It’s also easy to keep these apps up to date, simply run the brew upgrade command to update everything, or limit the command to a specific cask or formula for example:

brew upgrade firefox

For open-source utilities, Homebrew is an all-in-one tool that can find, download, install, and maintain everything for you. It installs any other dependencies you may need for a utility to work, a tedious process that can otherwise require step-by-step installation.

Homebrew is a free package manager that allows you to find, install, and maintain open-source utilities and graphical applications using simple text commands. The application can be installed and used entirely via the Terminal utility built into macOS.

You can remove Homebrew by downloading and running the uninstall script with the following command:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/uninstall.sh)"

This is covered in the final part of the Homebrew setup process. Once you’ve installed Homebrew the installer should prompt you to run two more commands, the first is:

echo 'eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)' >> /Users/$USER/.zprofile

And the second is:

eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)

If you encounter a “command not found” error while attempting to run brew commands you’ve either not got Homebrew installed or you didn’t run the final two commands as prompted during the setup process.

Don’t remember installing Homebrew? Run the installer using the following command in Terminal:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Otherwise, run the final two commands so that macOS recognizes the brew command when you try and run it. The first is:

echo 'eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)' >> /Users/$USER/.zprofile

And the second is:

eval $(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)

If you find formulae or casks in the Homebrew Formulae browser that won’t show up when you run the brew search command, you might need to tap the core package list again. To do this, first run:

rm -rf "/opt/homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core"

Now tap the core again manually using:

brew tap homebrew/core

Don’t forget to run brew doctor if things aren’t working properly for more guidance.

Homebrew is installed in the /opt/homebrew directory on your Macintosh HD drive. You can get there by launching Finder followed by Go > Go to Folder (Command+Shift+G) and typing “/opt/homebrew” followed by Enter.

To find out where a specific package is installed, use the brew info command, for example:

brew info firefox

You don’t need the full Xcode package to install Homebrew, just the Xcode Command Line Tools. These should be installed when you attempt to install Homebrew. Alternatively, you can install them yourself using the following Terminal command:

xcode-select --install