Homebrew Tap

Homebrew Tap Management

Create and maintain Homebrew taps for distributing CLI tools (Formulas) and macOS apps (Casks).

Tap Structure

homebrew-myproject/
├── Formula/
│   └── mytool.rb      # CLI tools (binaries)
├── Casks/
│   └── myapp.rb       # macOS apps (.app bundles)
└── README.md

Creating a Tap

# Create tap repository
mkdir homebrew-myproject
cd homebrew-myproject
git init

# Create directories
mkdir -p Formula Casks

# Create README
cat > README.md << 'EOF'
# Homebrew Tap for MyProject

## Installation

```bash
brew tap username/myproject
brew install mytool

EOF

Push to GitHub

git add . git commit -m "Initial tap setup" gh repo create homebrew-myproject --public --source=. --push

## Formula (CLI Tools)

### Basic Formula

```ruby
# Formula/mytool.rb
class Mytool < Formula
  desc "Brief description of the tool"
  homepage "https://github.com/username/mytool"
  version "1.0.0"
  license "MIT"

  on_macos do
    on_arm do
      url "https://github.com/username/mytool/releases/download/v#{version}/mytool-macos-aarch64"
      sha256 "SHA256_HASH_FOR_ARM"
    end
    on_intel do
      url "https://github.com/username/mytool/releases/download/v#{version}/mytool-macos-x86_64"
      sha256 "SHA256_HASH_FOR_INTEL"
    end
  end

  on_linux do
    on_arm do
      url "https://github.com/username/mytool/releases/download/v#{version}/mytool-linux-aarch64"
      sha256 "SHA256_HASH_FOR_LINUX_ARM"
    end
    on_intel do
      url "https://github.com/username/mytool/releases/download/v#{version}/mytool-linux-x86_64"
      sha256 "SHA256_HASH_FOR_LINUX_INTEL"
    end
  end

  def install
    bin.install Dir["mytool*"].first => "mytool"
  end

  def caveats
    <<~EOS
      MyTool has been installed!

      Quick start:
        mytool --help

      Documentation: https://github.com/username/mytool
    EOS
  end

  test do
    system "#{bin}/mytool", "--version"
  end
end

Formula with Dependencies

class Mytool < Formula
  desc "Tool with dependencies"
  homepage "https://github.com/username/mytool"
  version "1.0.0"
  license "MIT"

  depends_on "openssl@3"
  depends_on "sqlite"

  # ... rest of formula
end

Cask (macOS Apps)

Basic Cask

# Casks/myapp.rb
cask "myapp" do
  version "1.0.0"
  sha256 "SHA256_HASH_FOR_DMG"

  url "https://myapp.example.com/downloads/#{version}/MyApp.dmg"
  name "MyApp"
  desc "Description of the app"
  homepage "https://myapp.example.com"

  depends_on macos: ">= :ventura"

  app "MyApp.app"

  zap trash: [
    "~/Library/Application Support/MyApp",
    "~/Library/Preferences/com.example.MyApp.plist",
    "~/Library/Caches/com.example.MyApp",
  ]
end

Cask with Sparkle Auto-Update

cask "myapp" do
  version "1.0.0"
  sha256 "SHA256_HASH"

  url "https://myapp.example.com/downloads/#{version}/MyApp.dmg"
  name "MyApp"
  desc "App with auto-updates"
  homepage "https://myapp.example.com"

  livecheck do
    url "https://myapp.example.com/downloads/appcast.xml"
    strategy :sparkle
  end

  auto_updates true
  depends_on macos: ">= :ventura"

  app "MyApp.app"
end

Updating a Release

Get SHA256 Hash

# For remote file
curl -sL https://example.com/download/file | shasum -a 256

# For local file
shasum -a 256 /path/to/file

Update Formula

# Update version and SHA256
cd ~/Workspace/homebrew-mytool

# Edit Formula/mytool.rb
#   - Update version "X.Y.Z"
#   - Update sha256 hashes for each platform

# Commit and push
git add Formula/mytool.rb
git commit -m "Update mytool to X.Y.Z"
git push

Makefile Target (from ethertext)

HOMEBREW_TAP := $(HOME)/Workspace/homebrew-mytool
VERSION := 1.0.0
SHA256_FILE := $(BUILD_DIR)/MyApp.dmg.sha256

brew-update: sha256
	@test -d "$(HOMEBREW_TAP)" || \
		(echo "Error: Homebrew tap not found at $(HOMEBREW_TAP)" && exit 1)
	@SHA=$$(cat $(SHA256_FILE)) && \
	sed -i '' "s/version \".*\"/version \"$(VERSION)\"/" $(HOMEBREW_TAP)/Casks/myapp.rb && \
	sed -i '' "s/sha256 \".*\"/sha256 \"$$SHA\"/" $(HOMEBREW_TAP)/Casks/myapp.rb
	@echo "Updated $(HOMEBREW_TAP)/Casks/myapp.rb to version $(VERSION)"
	@echo "Don't forget to commit and push the homebrew tap!"

Testing

Test Formula Locally

# Install from local tap
brew install --build-from-source ./Formula/mytool.rb

# Or tap locally and install
brew tap username/mytool ~/Workspace/homebrew-mytool
brew install mytool

Test Cask Locally

# Install from local cask
brew install --cask ./Casks/myapp.rb

Audit Formula

brew audit --strict ./Formula/mytool.rb

User Installation

# Tap the repository
brew tap username/myproject

# Install formula
brew install mytool

# Install cask
brew install --cask myapp

# Update
brew upgrade mytool
brew upgrade --cask myapp

Multi-Binary Formula

For projects with multiple binaries:

class Mytools < Formula
  desc "Collection of tools"
  homepage "https://github.com/username/mytools"
  version "1.0.0"
  license "MIT"

  # ... url and sha256 ...

  def install
    bin.install "tool1"
    bin.install "tool2"
    bin.install "tool3"
  end

  test do
    system "#{bin}/tool1", "--version"
    system "#{bin}/tool2", "--version"
  end
end

Common Issues

SHA256 Mismatch

Re-download and recalculate:

curl -sL <url> | shasum -a 256

Quarantine Issues

For unsigned binaries:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/mytool

Version Not Updating

brew update
brew upgrade mytool

"Refusing to load formula ... from untrusted tap"

Newer Homebrew requires third-party taps (including your own) to be explicitly trusted before installing or upgrading from them:

brew trust thrashr888/tap        # or: brew trust --formula thrashr888/tap/mytool

Document this in the tap's install instructions — every new user hits it once.

Checklist: New Release

• Build and upload release artifacts
• Get SHA256 for each platform binary
• Update Formula/Cask with new version and hashes
• Test installation locally
• Commit and push tap repository
• Verify brew upgrade works