FAQ
General
Is Brewwery free?
Yes. Brewwery is free and open source under the MIT license, with no paid tiers, subscriptions, or accounts.
Is Brewwery part of Homebrew?
No. Brewwery is an independent app that uses Homebrew. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Homebrew project.
Who makes Brewwery?
Brewwery is made by Made Büro and developed in public on GitHub .
How do I contact the team?
Email [email protected], or use GitHub Issues for bugs.
Install and updates
Which Macs are supported?
Any Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Brewwery is a universal app.
Is the app signed and notarized?
Yes. Brewwery is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens without Gatekeeper warnings.
How does Brewwery update itself?
Through Sparkle. Brewwery checks for new versions automatically, and you can check manually from Settings → Application updates or the Brewwery menu. Updates are signed and verified before they are installed.
I used Brewwery 0.9. Do I need to do anything?
Download 1.0 and replace the old app in Applications. The 0.9 builds cannot update to 1.0 automatically. Your Homebrew installation is unaffected; settings, history, and favorites from 0.9 are not carried over.
Is there a Linux or Windows version?
No. Brewwery is a native Mac app.
Security and privacy
Does Brewwery run arbitrary shell commands?
No. Brewwery never starts a shell. It runs brew directly from a fixed set of typed commands, and every package, tap, or service name is validated first. See Security for the full list.
Does it collect data?
No. There is no telemetry, crash reporting, analytics, account, or cloud sync. Brewwery also sets HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS=1 for the commands it runs.
Does it need my password or sudo?
No. All commands run as your user, just like typing them in Terminal.
Can it break my Homebrew installation?
Brewwery only runs standard Homebrew commands, and asks before any of them changes something. The confirmation shows the exact command.
Features
Can I install and uninstall packages?
Yes, both formulae and casks, with a confirmation, live output, and a record in History.
Does Brewwery update Homebrew automatically?
No. brew update only runs when you click Check for updates and confirm. Background checks for the Dock badge only read brew outdated.
Can I manage taps?
Yes. The Taps page lists your taps and can add or remove them after confirmation.
Can I install from a Brewfile?
Yes. Read a Brewfile on the Brewfile page and Brewwery compares it with this Mac, then Install missing installs only the taps, formulae, and casks you do not have yet. Brewwery writes its own list of validated names for that, so Homebrew never runs Ruby code from the original file. mas, vscode, and other entries only brew bundle knows are listed as skipped — run brew bundle install in Terminal for those.
Can I use Brewwery and Terminal together?
Yes. They share the same Homebrew installation. Press ⌘R in Brewwery after making changes in Terminal.
My Homebrew is in a custom location. Will it work?
Yes. Set the path in Settings → Custom Homebrew path. Brewwery validates it before saving.
Technical
What is Brewwery built with?
Swift 6, SwiftUI, and AppKit, with Sparkle for app updates. There is no Electron, web view, or bundled runtime. See Architecture.
Why was Brewwery rewritten?
Versions up to 0.9.7 used Electron, React, and a Rust core. The native rewrite makes Brewwery much smaller and lighter and more at home on macOS, and it made signing, notarization, universal builds, and automatic updates straightforward — while keeping every feature and the same security rules.
Which Homebrew versions are supported?
Current Homebrew releases. When a Homebrew version rejects brew list --json=v2, Brewwery falls back to brew list --versions --json.