Brewer 1.3.0

Tap trust the way Homebrew recommends, and no installed package left out of view.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

New

• Trust just what you installed. Homebrew only loads packages from
  third-party taps you trust, and its Tap Trust guide recommends trusting the
  specific formula or cask instead of a whole tap. On the Taps page, an
  untrusted tap now offers Trust Installed, which trusts only the formulae
  and casks you installed from it (brew trust --formula / --cask). Trusting
  the whole tap is still there, behind a confirmation that explains what it
  covers. Each tap row names the installed packages that still wait for trust.
• Packages from untrusted taps no longer vanish. Homebrew leaves them out of
  brew info --installed, so earlier releases never listed them at all. Brewer
  now reads Homebrew's install receipts, the way brew doctor does, and
  Installed, Formulae, Casks and Updates show which packages are hidden, with a
  link to Taps.

Changed

• Search: "Add Tap & Install" no longer trusts the whole tap. Installing by
  the full owner/tap/package name makes Homebrew trust just that package.
• The Add Tap dialog explains the difference between "Add & Trust" and
  "Add Only".

Install

brew install --cask monzdigital/tap/brewer

or download Brewer-1.3.0.zip below, unzip, and drag Brewer.app to
/Applications.

Brewer is not notarized yet, so macOS blocks the first launch, and the first
launch after each update: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll
down and click "Open Anyway", or clear the quarantine flag in Terminal:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Brewer.app

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew.
Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel). Building from source with the macOS
27 SDK needs Xcode's toolchain; make app picks it automatically.

Checksum

SHA-256  57038836ceb39640604597ba9f1df2668edbfe07d5b324354841fc4fb39171e0  Brewer-1.3.0.zip

Brewer 1.2.0

Ready for macOS 27 and Homebrew 7, with fixes from a full check of real-world use.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

Fixed

• Operations could hang forever. Brewer waited for each command with a
  call that could miss a process finishing at just the wrong moment. The
  operation then stayed "running" with no process behind it, and everything
  queued after it never started. This affected every earlier release. Brewer
  now gets the exit status from the process's termination callback; a stress
  test that hung within a few dozen commands now completes hundreds.
• SmartDelete never worked without Full Disk Access. macOS protects the
  Trash folder, so the old Trash watcher silently failed to start. SmartDelete
  now watches your Applications folders instead (no special permission), tells
  real removals apart from moves and updates, ignores changes made by brew
  commands, and offers to clean up the leftovers of apps that are already gone.
• Setapp apps were offered vendor updates. Setapp editions keep the
  vendor's regular (sometimes trial) update feed, so updating one could swap in
  an unlicensed build. Setapp and Mac App Store editions are now left to their
  own stores, and the Apps inventory shows Setapp as a source.
• The administrator password dialog was easy to miss. It could open behind
  other windows, and its "Allow" button read like a permission click. It now
  names the operation it is for, comes to the front and asks plainly for your
  Mac login password. While it waits, Brewer says so and offers Show Dialog.
• App update backups: a failed direct update no longer leaves its backup
  behind, the same version is never backed up twice, and existing duplicates
  are cleaned up.
• Discover: Arc is discontinued in Homebrew and was replaced with Zen;
  cards now show when Homebrew deprecates or disables a pick.
• Brewfile preview no longer counts description comments as entries.

New for Homebrew 7

• Structured brew doctor: findings with the affected packages, the
  suggested fix and a Run button for plain brew commands.
• Security Advisories: scan installed formulae with brew vulns (OSV.dev),
  ranked by severity, with links, fix status and upgrade buttons. The scan
  only runs when you start it, because it sends formula names and versions to
  OSV.dev.
• Tap trust comes straight from Homebrew (brew tap-info).
• Support-tier notices when Homebrew 7 treats your Mac as Tier 3: Intel
  Macs, Rosetta installs and macOS 14 Sonoma.
• History keeps the output of failed operations - double-click one to read
  what went wrong, even after a restart.

Install

brew install --cask monzdigital/tap/brewer

or download Brewer-1.2.0.zip below, unzip, and drag Brewer.app to
/Applications.

Brewer is not notarized yet, so macOS blocks the first launch, and the first
launch after each update: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll
down and click "Open Anyway", or clear the quarantine flag in Terminal:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Brewer.app

Homebrew 7 removed the old --no-quarantine install option.

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew.
Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel). Building from source with the macOS
27 SDK needs Xcode's toolchain; make app picks it automatically.

Checksum

SHA-256  37a05d3d9da68fa370deeed97fb9e6a686e126aa5ec1cbf20f368f2320bf8b31  Brewer-1.2.0.zip

Brewer 1.1.0

A full review of the code base: 18 bug fixes, safer direct app updates, Homebrew 6 tap trust, and a menu-bar-only mode.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

Fixed

• Crash when two casks resolve to the same app (renamed tokens such as
  docker → docker-desktop) - the Apps inventory and App Updates scans no
  longer trap.
• Leftover scanner matched sibling bundle ids (com.foo.bar claimed
  com.foo.barbaz files); matching is now dot-boundary aware.
• "Upgrade All" (Updates, Health, menu bar, background auto-upgrade)
  ignored snoozed packages; snoozed updates are now left untouched.
• Direct app updates: the old version is restored if the swap fails, HTTP
  error pages are no longer treated as archives, and every download is
  verified before install - EdDSA signature when the app publishes a
  SUPublicEDKey, plus a codesign Team ID match with the version being
  replaced. .pkg payloads inside zip/dmg are handed to Installer.
• Sparkle comparison now follows Sparkle's own rule (build numbers), skips
  beta channels, Windows enclosures and releases that need a newer macOS, and
  shows build numbers when the marketing version is unchanged.
• Refreshing while a refresh was already running could show stale data after
  an install; backup pruning could delete the newest backup; the scheduled
  brew update ran outside the operation queue; the last favorite/tag/snooze
  change could be lost on quit; expired snoozes were still counted; queued
  operations could not be cancelled; "check on launch" off still checked ten
  minutes after launch; SmartDelete notified about apps Brewer trashed itself.
• Apps inside /Applications subfolders (Setapp, Utilities, vendor folders)
  are now part of the Apps inventory, App Updates and Apple Silicon scans.

New

• Homebrew 6 tap trust: "Add & Trust" when adding a tap, a "not trusted"
  badge and one-click Trust for existing taps (brew trust --tap).
• keg-only / unlinked badges with Link and Unlink actions.
• Consistent greedy mode: with "Include self-updating casks" on, the
  Updates list shows exactly what Upgrade All will upgrade
  (--greedy-auto-updates).
• Reopen apps that were closed for their upgrade (preference).
• Launch at login and menu bar only (hidden Dock icon) preferences.
• Notification clicks open the page they are about.
• Drop an app on the Dock icon to open the Uninstaller review.
• Reinstall, Reveal in Finder, "Ignore updates" for casks (the cask
  equivalent of brew pin), console Cancel for queued operations, Copy Command.
• Self-test grew from 25 to 32 checks.

Install

brew install --cask monzdigital/tap/brewer

or download Brewer-1.1.0.zip below, unzip, and drag Brewer.app to
/Applications. Not yet notarized - first launch: System Settings →
Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway" (one time), or run
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Brewer.app
(Homebrew 7 removed the --no-quarantine option this release first suggested).

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew.
Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel).

Checksum

SHA-256  93c09e4bde49c6cd6fb688940912ddd09913e1c3b84ea64ce2b98989eaa43e3d  Brewer-1.1.0.zip

Brewer 1.0.3

Follow-up fix: Mac App Store upgrades now actually work.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

What's fixed

• App Store (mas) upgrades run with the native password dialog.
  mas 7 requires root for install/upgrade (App Store apps are owned by
  root) and re-executes itself through a hardcoded /usr/bin/sudo - which
  cannot prompt without a terminal and ignores askpass helpers unless
  invoked with -A. Brewer now elevates mas itself with sudo -A, so the
  standard macOS administrator-password dialog appears and the upgrade
  proceeds. mas is designed for this and restores your user context via
  SUDO_UID/SUDO_GID. (1.0.2's environment-only approach was not enough;
  this one is verified against how the mas binary actually calls sudo.)
• Per-app "Queued" states on App Store rows while their upgrade is in line.

As always: the password goes from Apple's dialog straight to sudo - Brewer
never sees or stores it, and Cancel aborts cleanly.

Install

brew install --cask monzdigital/tap/brewer

or download Brewer-1.0.3.zip below, unzip, and drag Brewer.app to
/Applications. Not yet notarized - first launch: System Settings →
Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway" (one time), or add --no-quarantine
to the brew command above.

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew.
Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel).

Checksum

SHA-256  06356342e9062d14d70ea1be0fda6eda033eff3575ad435e9c629ef81fbafe5d  Brewer-1.0.3.zip

Brewer 1.0.2

Fix release: operations that need administrator rights now work.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

What's fixed

• Native password prompt for sudo - mas upgrades of Mac App Store apps
  (which are owned by root) and pkg-based cask installers previously failed
  with "sudo: a terminal is required". Brewer now provides a SUDO_ASKPASS
  helper, so these operations show the standard macOS administrator-password
  dialog instead. The password goes directly from Apple's dialog to sudo -
  Brewer never sees or stores it, and Cancel aborts the operation cleanly.
• First-launch documentation now matches macOS 15+ Gatekeeper (System
  Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway"); the right-click bypass no
  longer exists there.

Install

brew install --cask --no-quarantine monzdigital/tap/brewer

or download Brewer-1.0.2.zip below, unzip, and drag Brewer.app to
/Applications. This build is not yet notarized, so macOS blocks the first
launch: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click
"Open Anyway" (one time).

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew.
Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel).

Checksum

SHA-256  961436fdfbf123314936c26d5f8043c0b539407061205a87902eba62f49348e4  Brewer-1.0.2.zip

Brewer 1.0.1

Quality-of-life release focused on the operation queue and live console.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

What's new

• Queue everything - install, upgrade, uninstall and service actions can
  now be started at any time; they line up behind the running operation
  instead of the whole app locking up (Homebrew allows one command at a time).
  Each row shows its own "Queued" state, and clicking the same action twice
  just focuses the operation already in line.
• Live download progress - curl/brew progress bars now render in place in
  the console, so large downloads no longer look frozen.
• Honest operation states - queued operations show a clock (not a
  spinner), durations count actual execution time, and a "waiting for the
  operation ahead" panel explains what's happening.
• Apps are closed right before their upgrade executes - not while the upgrade
  is still waiting in the queue.
• Snooze/Unsnooze available from every package context menu (Snoozed screen
  included).
• Duplicates no longer shows a false "all clean" when brew itself errors
  (for example an unaccepted Xcode license).
• Brewer terminates its running brew command on quit, so no orphaned process
  is left holding Homebrew's lock.
• Operation-finished notifications, docked console polish, and hyphen-only
  typography across the app.

Install

brew install --cask monzdigital/tap/brewer

or download Brewer-1.0.1.zip below, unzip, and drag Brewer.app to
/Applications. This build is not yet notarized, so macOS blocks the first
launch: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click
"Open Anyway" (one time). Installing via brew? Add --no-quarantine to
skip the prompt.

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew.
Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel).

Checksum

SHA-256  3b6c323cdbf74d4a67ea806c99c97c3f671eb52ed569227b03c2363c4788b18e  Brewer-1.0.1.zip

Brewer 1.0.0

The first public build of Brewer - a free, native SwiftUI app that turns Homebrew into point-and-click.

Website: https://monzdigital.github.io/brewer/

Install

1. Download Brewer-1.0.0.zip below and unzip.
2. Drag Brewer.app to /Applications.
3. First launch - this build is not yet notarized, so macOS blocks it once:
   open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click
   "Open Anyway". (Installing via brew? Add --no-quarantine to skip
   the prompt.)

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Homebrew. Universal binary (Apple Silicon & Intel).

Highlights

• Browse, search and install formulae, casks and third-party taps - with dependencies, license, caveats and disk usage shown before you commit
• Live command console docked in the window: every action runs a real brew command and streams its output (with a Stop button)
• Updates with scheduled checks, notifications, snoozing, battery-aware background upgrades, and a menu-bar outdated counter
• Full app inventory: every app on the Mac with its install source (Homebrew / App Store / Sparkle / manual), size and architecture
• Direct Sparkle updates with release notes, automatic backup of the old version, and one-click rollback
• AppCleaner-style deep uninstaller: drag & drop an app, review its leftovers, trash everything together (SmartDelete optional)
• Services, taps, Brewfile import/export, health dashboard, readable brew doctor, cleanup with size preview, duplicates, history, favorites/tags/collections, Apple Silicon scan, mas App Store integration

Checksum

SHA-256  c9cba07275b20651e05f23a9e26781699c0e2fffca283215fff181222583d08c  Brewer-1.0.0.zip

Everything runs locally on your Mac - no accounts, no tracking, no telemetry.