nanobrew

A fast package manager for macOS and Linux. Written in Zig. Uses Homebrew's bottles and formulas under the hood, plus native .deb support for Docker containers.

Why nanobrew?

• Fast warm installs — packages already in the local store reinstall in ~3.5ms
• Parallel downloads — all dependencies download and extract at the same time
• No Ruby runtime — single static binary, instant startup
• Third-party taps — nb install user/tap/formula just works. The only fast Homebrew client with tap support
• Drop-in Homebrew replacement — same formulas, same bottles, same casks
• Linux + Docker — native .deb support, 2.8x faster than apt-get

Package	Homebrew	zerobrew (cold)	zerobrew (warm)	nanobrew (cold)	nanobrew (warm)
tree (0 deps)	6.309s	3.115s	0.458s	0.845s	0.009s
ffmpeg (11 deps)	18.898s	5.823s	3.725s	1.994s	0.537s
wget (6 deps)	5.672s	8.485s	0.755s	4.356s	0.043s

Benchmarks on Apple Silicon (GitHub Actions macos-14), 2026-02-23. Auto-updated weekly.

	nanobrew	zerobrew	Homebrew
Binary size	1.2 MB	7.9 MB	57 MB (Ruby runtime)

nanobrew is 6.8x smaller than zerobrew and 47x smaller than Homebrew. See how these are measured in the benchmark workflow.

Linux / Docker (deb packages vs apt-get)

Command	apt-get	nanobrew --deb	Speedup
curl (32 deps)	8.763s	9.410s	0.9x
curl wget git (60+ deps)	12.897s	11.870s	1.1x

Benchmarks in Docker (ubuntu:24.04, GitHub Actions ubuntu-latest), 2026-02-23. Auto-updated weekly.

Install

# One-liner
curl -fsSL https://nanobrew.trilok.ai/install | bash

# Or via Homebrew
brew tap justrach/nanobrew https://github.com/justrach/nanobrew
brew install nanobrew

# Or build from source (needs Zig 0.15+)
git clone https://github.com/justrach/nanobrew.git
cd nanobrew && ./install.sh

Usage

Basics

nb install tree               # install a package
nb install ffmpeg wget curl   # install multiple at once
nb remove tree                # uninstall
nb list                       # see what's installed
nb info jq                    # show package details
nb search ripgrep             # search formulas and casks

Third-Party Taps

nb install steipete/tap/sag   # install from a third-party tap
nb install indirect/tap/bpb   # taps with bottles work too

nanobrew fetches the Ruby formula directly from GitHub, parses it, and installs — no brew tap step needed. Supports bottles, source builds, and pre-built binaries.

macOS Apps (Casks)

nb install --cask firefox     # install a .dmg/.pkg/.zip app
nb remove --cask firefox      # uninstall it
nb upgrade --cask             # upgrade all casks

Linux / Docker (deb packages)

nb install --deb curl wget git    # install from Ubuntu repos (2.8x faster than apt-get)

# Replace slow apt-get in Dockerfiles
COPY --from=nanobrew/nb /nb /usr/local/bin/nb
RUN nb init && nb install --deb curl wget git

• Resolves dependencies, downloads .debs with streaming SHA256 verification
• Content-addressable cache — warm installs are instant
• Produces byte-identical files to dpkg-deb extraction

Keep packages up to date

nb outdated                   # see what's behind
nb upgrade                    # upgrade everything
nb upgrade tree               # upgrade one package
nb pin tree                   # prevent a package from upgrading
nb unpin tree                 # allow upgrades again

Undo and backup

nb rollback tree              # revert to the previous version
nb bundle dump                # export installed packages to a Nanobrew file
nb bundle install             # reinstall everything from a Nanobrew file

Diagnostics

nb doctor                     # check for common problems
nb cleanup                    # remove old caches and orphaned files
nb cleanup --dry-run          # see what would be removed first

Dependencies and services

nb deps ffmpeg                # list all dependencies
nb deps --tree ffmpeg         # show dependency tree
nb services list              # show launchctl services from installed packages
nb services start postgresql  # start a service
nb services stop postgresql   # stop a service

Shell completions

nb completions zsh >> ~/.zshrc
nb completions bash >> ~/.bashrc
nb completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/nb.fish

Other

nb update                     # self-update nanobrew
nb init                       # create directory structure (run once)
nb help                       # show all commands

How it works

nb install ffmpeg                        # macOS: Homebrew bottles
  │
  ├─ 1. Resolve dependencies (BFS, parallel API calls)
  ├─ 2. Skip anything already installed (warm path: ~3.5ms)
  ├─ 3. Download bottles in parallel (native HTTP, streaming SHA256)
  ├─ 4. Extract into content-addressable store (/opt/nanobrew/store/<sha>)
  ├─ 5. Clone into Cellar via APFS clonefile (zero-copy, instant)
  ├─ 6. Relocate Mach-O headers + batch codesign
  └─ 7. Symlink binaries into /opt/nanobrew/prefix/bin/

nb install --deb curl                    # Linux: .deb packages
  │
  ├─ 1. Fetch + decompress package index (native gzip)
  ├─ 2. Resolve dependencies (BFS topological sort)
  ├─ 3. Download .debs with streaming SHA256 verification
  ├─ 4. Parse ar archive, decompress data.tar natively (zstd/gzip)
  └─ 5. Extract to / (tar --skip-old-files)

nb install steipete/tap/sag              # Third-party taps
  │
  ├─ 1. Detect tap syntax (user/tap/formula)
  ├─ 2. Fetch Ruby formula from GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com)
  ├─ 3. Parse .rb file (version, url, sha256, deps, bottle blocks)
  ├─ 4. Resolve dependencies normally (they're homebrew-core names)
  └─ 5. Install via bottle or source path (same pipeline as above)

Key design choices:

• Content-addressable store — deduplicates bottles by SHA256. Reinstalls are instant because the data is already there.
• APFS clonefile — copy-on-write on macOS means no extra disk space when materializing from the store.
• Streaming SHA256 — hash is verified during download, no second pass over the file.
• Native binary parsing — reads Mach-O (macOS) and ELF (Linux) headers directly instead of spawning otool/patchelf.
• Native ar + decompression — .deb extraction without dpkg, ar, or zstd binaries. Only needs tar.
• Single static binary — no runtime dependencies. 1.2 MB.

Directory layout

/opt/nanobrew/
  cache/
    blobs/      # downloaded bottles (by SHA256)
    api/        # cached formula metadata (5-min TTL)
    tokens/     # GHCR auth tokens (4-min TTL)
    tmp/        # partial downloads
  store/        # extracted bottles (by SHA256)
  prefix/
    Cellar/     # installed packages
    Caskroom/   # installed casks
    bin/        # symlinks to binaries
    opt/        # symlinks to keg dirs
  db/
    state.json  # installed package state

Relationship with Homebrew

nanobrew uses Homebrew's formulas, bottles, and cask definitions. It's a faster client for the same ecosystem — not a fork. We recommend running it alongside Homebrew. Source builds work for formulae without pre-built bottles.

Project status

Experimental — works well for common packages. If something breaks, open an issue.

License: Apache 2.0

All commands

Command	Short	What it does
nb install <pkg>	nb i	Install packages
nb install --cask <app>		Install macOS apps
nb install --deb <pkg>		Install .deb packages (Linux/Docker)
nb install user/tap/formula		Install from a third-party tap
nb remove <pkg>	nb ui	Uninstall packages
nb list	nb ls	List installed packages
nb info <pkg>		Show package details
nb search <query>	nb s	Search formulas and casks
nb upgrade [pkg]		Upgrade packages
nb outdated		List outdated packages
nb pin <pkg>		Prevent upgrades
nb unpin <pkg>		Allow upgrades
nb rollback <pkg>	nb rb	Revert to previous version
nb bundle dump		Export installed packages
nb bundle install		Import from bundle file
nb doctor	nb dr	Health check
nb cleanup	nb clean	Remove old caches
nb deps [--tree] <pkg>		Show dependencies
nb services		Manage services (launchctl/systemd)
nb completions <shell>		Print shell completions
nb update		Self-update nanobrew
nb init		Create directory structure
nb help		Show help

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.