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Homebrew

Homebrew is the community-run package manager for macOS (and Linux), maintained entirely by open-source volunteer maintainers. It's the #7 most-used dev tool in the world, reported in roughly 25.7% of developer surveys, and it's usually the very first thing a new Mac developer installs. People use it because it installs command-line tools and full desktop apps ("casks") with a single terse command, handling all the dependency and PATH setup automatically.

Quick facts
Type: Package manager for macOS/Linux
Made by: Homebrew maintainers (open-source community project)
License: Free / open-source (BSD 2-Clause)
Platforms/Hosting: macOS and Linux (runs from the terminal)
Primary use case: Installing command-line tools, developer utilities, and desktop apps on a Mac or Linux machine with one command

Jump to: Example Getting started Best for

Example

Installing a CLI tool or a full desktop app both use the same brew command — Homebrew tells the two apart automatically via "formulae" and "casks."

# install a command-line tool (a "formula")
brew install node

# install a full desktop app (a "cask")
brew install --cask visual-studio-code

# list everything currently installed
brew list

# update Homebrew itself and upgrade all packages
brew update && brew upgrade

Getting started

Install Homebrew with the official one-line install script, run in Terminal.

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

# verify it installed correctly
brew --version

Best for: Any Mac (or Linux) developer setting up a new machine — it's the fastest way to get a full toolchain (Node, Python, Git, databases, editors) installed and kept up to date without hunting for individual installers.