Hi HN! Like many of you, for my entire career I have relied on Homebrew to install all kinds of software on my Mac. That's why today I'm really excited to share a new app that my partner and I are building: Brewer X, a refreshing user interface for Homebrew.

Brewer X is graphical interface that lives on top of Homebrew. Leveraging the power of native APIs improves the classic experience and unlocks new features. For example:

• bulk actions are performed in parallel

• syncing the entire library locally provides incredible search performances and the ability to query descriptions and other previously unaccessible fields

• maintenance scripts run automatically for you

• last but not least... app icons (or favicons when not available) let you quickly identify what you're looking for

The app is written in Swift and uses only AppKit with Nib files for top performance, pixel perfect design, and maximum flexibility.

We also designed the app icon and all the others in the UI ourselves. Following the great insights from Sketch[^1] we managed to make them super crispy. We're also very proud to have been featured in the macOS App Icon Book[^2].

The app has only been out for a couple of weeks, but we've already seen an amazing response from the community. We can't tell you all of our future plans yet, but here's a list of things we'd like to see in the app in the near future:

• Import/Export

• Automatic replacement of apps installed without Homebrew

• Notifications about available updates

• Finder actions

• Spotlight integration

I hope you find Brewer X interesting. We're happy to answer any question!

[^1]: https://www.sketch.com/blog/how-we-redesigned-our-toolbar-ic...

[^2]: https://www.appiconbook.com/

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