zerobrew

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zerobrew brings uv-style architecture to Homebrew packages on macOS and Linux.

curl -fsSL https://zerobrew.rs/install | bash

The installer updates your shell config. After it finishes, restart your terminal or run the source command it prints.

Or via Homebrew:

brew install cachebag/zerobrew/zerobrew

If you used the standalone installer, rerun it:

curl -fsSL https://zerobrew.rs/install | bash
zb --version

If you installed with Homebrew:

brew update && brew upgrade zerobrew

If you installed from the old lucasgelfond/zerobrew tap, it's no longer updated. Switch to the new one:

brew uninstall zerobrew
brew untap lucasgelfond/zerobrew
brew install cachebag/zerobrew/zerobrew

zb install jq                   # install one package
zb install wget git             # install multiple
zb bundle                       # install from Brewfile
zb bundle install -f myfile     # install from custom file
zb bundle dump                  # export installed packages to Brewfile
zb bundle dump -f out --force   # dump to custom file (overwrite)
zb uninstall jq                 # uninstall one package
zb outdated                     # list packages with newer versions
zb upgrade                      # upgrade all outdated packages
zb upgrade jq wget              # upgrade specific packages
zb reset                        # uninstall everything
zb gc                           # garbage collect unused store entries
zbx jq --version                # run without linking

Measured on 2026-09-30 with zerobrew 0.3.3 and Homebrew 7.0.7 on macOS 26.6.2, MacBook Pro (M3 Pro, 18 GB RAM), ~410 Mbit/s download bandwidth. Homebrew started with nothing installed.

• Cold: the package and all of its dependencies uninstalled, empty download cache.
• Warm: the package and all of its dependencies uninstalled, downloads from the cold run still cached.
• The median package was 2.7x faster cold and 5.7x faster warm.

To reproduce, run just bench --full results/ on a machine with nothing installed in Homebrew. It resets zerobrew, uninstalls everything it installed in Homebrew, and writes a README-ready table to results/benchmark.md.

zerobrew is more of a performance-optimized client for the Homebrew ecosystem. We rely on:

• Homebrew's formula definitions (homebrew-core)
• Homebrew's pre-built bottles when available
• Homebrew's package metadata and infrastructure

Our innovations focus on:

• Content-addressable storage for deduplication
• APFS clonefiles for zero-overhead copying
• Source build fallback using Homebrew's Ruby DSL

zerobrew is experimental. We recommend running it alongside Homebrew rather than as a replacement, and do not recommend purging homebrew and replacing it with zerobrew unless you are absolutely sure about the implications of doing so.

• Status: Experimental, but already useful for many common Homebrew formulas.
• Feedback: If you hit incompatibilities, please open an issue or PR.
• License: Dual-licensed under Apache 2.0 OR MIT, at your choice.