brewgen

brewgen is the hosted script repo for Tanaab based Brewfile generation. It inspects the current Homebrew state and writes a Brewfile, with options to limit package types, exclude packages, and choose the output path. Under the hood it uses brew bundle dump and assembles the selected sections into one output file.

Runtime support: Bash on macOS.

Quickstart

curl -fsSL https://brewgen.tanaab.sh/brewgen.sh | bash

Installation

brewgen is designed around the hosted raw script at https://brewgen.tanaab.sh/brewgen.sh.

• The supported runtime is Bash on macOS.
• The hosted URL serves the generated dist/brewgen.sh entrypoint used for release-shaped validation and Netlify publishing.

Usage

By default, brewgen.sh writes a Brewfile in the current directory from the local Homebrew state. The default package types are tap, cask, and brew, and the script will refuse to overwrite an existing file unless you pass --force.

brewgen.sh
brewgen.sh --help
brewgen.sh --version
brewgen.sh --brewfile ./Brewfile.work --force
brewgen.sh --package-type tap --package-type brew
brewgen.sh --exclude codex --exclude visual-studio-code
TANAAB_DEBUG=1 brewgen.sh --package-type cask

If you are working from a local checkout instead of a hosted URL, replace brewgen.sh with ./brewgen.sh.

brewgen.sh expects a working Homebrew installation and brew bundle support on the current machine.

The examples/ directory contains Leia-backed usage scenarios that run on every pull request in CI and are intended for runner validation rather than local execution.

Common Patterns

# write the default Brewfile in the current directory
brewgen.sh

# write to a different file and allow overwrite
brewgen.sh --brewfile ./Brewfile.work --force

# generate only taps and formulae
brewgen.sh --package-type tap --package-type brew

# exclude specific packages from the final output
brewgen.sh --exclude codex --exclude visual-studio-code

Options

• --brewfile <path> writes the generated Brewfile to the chosen path. Parent directories are created when needed.
• --package-type <type> limits generation to one or more package types. Supported values are tap, brew or formula, cask, mas, vscode, go, cargo, uv, and flatpak. Repeat the flag to include multiple sections.
• --exclude <name> removes matching package names from the final output. Repeat it to exclude multiple packages. Matching is by exact package name in the generated Brewfile entries.
• --force allows overwriting an existing output file.
• --debug turns on debug logging and enables Homebrew debug mode for the current run.
• --version and --help print metadata and usage.

CLI options override environment variables, and environment variables override built-in defaults.

Environment Variables

• TANAAB_BREWFILE sets the output Brewfile path.
• TANAAB_PACKAGE_TYPES sets a comma-separated default list of package types.
• TANAAB_EXCLUDE sets a comma-separated default list of package names to exclude.
• TANAAB_FORCE enables overwrite behavior when set to a truthy value.
• TANAAB_DEBUG enables debug logging when set to a truthy value.

Advanced

If you want a reusable local command instead of piping the hosted script every time, install it into a directory that is already in your PATH or one you manage yourself.

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
curl -fsSL https://brewgen.tanaab.sh/brewgen.sh -o "$HOME/.local/bin/brewgen"
chmod +x "$HOME/.local/bin/brewgen"

brewgen --help
brewgen --version

Development

brewgen uses Bun for repo-local tooling and treats dist/ as a tracked, Netlify-ready release surface.

bun install
bun run lint
bun run build

The examples run in CI with Leia against the prepared dist/ artifact.

Issues, Questions and Support

Use the GitHub issue queue for bugs, regressions, or feature requests.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release history and GitHub releases for published artifacts.

Maintainers

• @pirog

Contributors

Made with contrib.rocks.