kombrucha 0.1.5

Fast, parallel package manager compatible with Homebrew formulae
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bru

A fast, Homebrew-compatible package manager

Faster than Homebrew with modern UX. Works with Homebrew's formulae and bottles.

# Install packages with command aliases
bru i ripgrep fd bat
bru up              # upgrade all
bru rm old-package  # uninstall

# Same commands, same formulae, just faster
bru install wget    # works exactly like brew

Why bru?

Feature Homebrew bru
upgrade --dry-run (339 packages) 3.56s 0.65s (5.5x faster)
Startup time ~100ms 14ms (7x faster)
Parallel operations Limited Fully parallelized
Memory usage Higher Lower
Compatibility ✅ ✅ Bottle-based
Installation Built-in macOS Install once

Bottom line: Same formulae, same ecosystem, faster performance.

Status: Beta (v0.1.4)

  • ✅ Core Commands: Fully functional (install, upgrade, uninstall, etc.)
  • ✅ Bottle-Based: Works with pre-built bottles (most common formulae)
  • ✅ Well-Tested: 27 automated tests, integration tests in CI
  • ✅ Mostly Implemented: Usable for common workflows
  • ⏳ Source Builds: Not yet supported (less common formulae)

Installation

Via Homebrew (Easiest)

brew install nijaru/tap/bru

Via Cargo

cargo install kombrucha

From Source

git clone https://github.com/nijaru/kombrucha.git
cd kombrucha
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/bru /usr/local/bin/

Quick Start

# Use command aliases for speed
bru i wget           # install
bru up              # upgrade all
bru re wget         # reinstall
bru rm wget         # uninstall

# Or use full commands (same as brew)
bru install wget
bru upgrade
bru uninstall wget

# Everything else works the same
bru search rust
bru info python
bru list
bru outdated

What's Different?

Performance

Fully parallelized - All API operations happen concurrently:

  • In-memory caching eliminates redundant API calls
  • Dependency resolution uses breadth-first parallelization
  • All fetches, validations, and checks run in parallel

Result: Faster than Homebrew across common operations (see benchmarks below).

Modern UX

Tree connectors show clear operation hierarchy:

Installing sccache...
  ├ ✓ Linked 1 files
  └ ✓ Installed sccache 0.12.0

Command aliases for faster workflow:

  • bru i → install
  • bru up → upgrade
  • bru re → reinstall
  • bru rm / bru remove → uninstall

Clear messaging - No more confusing "Already installed" when nothing happened:

ℹ Already installed:
  python@3.14 3.14.0
  openssl@3 3.6.0

  Use --force to reinstall

Optimizations

Every sequential operation has been parallelized:

  1. ✅ Upgrade checks
  2. ✅ Fetch metadata
  3. ✅ Install validation
  4. ✅ Dependency resolution
  5. ✅ Cask operations
  6. ✅ Downloads (with progress bars)
  7. ✅ In-memory caching (LRU, 1000 formulae + 500 casks)

What Works ✅

Core Package Management

  • install, uninstall, upgrade, reinstall - All bottle-based formulae
  • install --cask, upgrade --cask - macOS applications (DMG, ZIP, PKG)
  • fetch, list, outdated, leaves, autoremove, cleanup
  • pin, unpin - Version locking
  • Full dependency resolution and conflict detection

Discovery & Information

  • search, info, desc, deps, uses
  • list, missing, formulae, casks, unbottled
  • which-formula, cat, log

Repository Management

  • tap, untap, tap-info, update
  • Works with all Homebrew taps

System & Utilities

  • config, doctor, env, shellenv
  • services - launchd integration
  • bundle - Brewfile support
  • Shell completions (bash, zsh, fish)

What Doesn't Work ❌

Source Builds

  • Formulae without bottles
  • --build-from-source flag
  • --HEAD installations
  • Custom build options

Workaround: Use brew for these cases.

Development Tools

  • create, audit, livecheck, test - Use brew instead

For most daily package management, bru works well.

Performance Benchmarks

Latest (v0.1.4) - M3 Max, macOS 15.1, 339 packages:

Operation brew bru Speedup
upgrade --dry-run 3.56s 0.65s 5.5x
search rust 1.03s 0.05s 20x
info wget 1.15s 0.10s 12x
deps ffmpeg 1.26s 0.15s 8x
Startup ~100ms 14ms 7x

Why so fast?

  • Compiled binary (no interpreter startup)
  • Parallel API calls (not sequential)
  • In-memory caching (no redundant requests)
  • Efficient data structures

See v0.1.4 release notes for optimization details.

Compatibility

Compatible with Homebrew for bottle-based workflows:

  • ✅ Same formulae (Homebrew API)
  • ✅ Same Cellar (/opt/homebrew/Cellar)
  • ✅ Same taps (all third-party taps work)
  • ✅ Same bottles (GHCR)
  • ✅ Can use brew and bru interchangeably
  • ✅ No migration needed

You can mix and match:

brew install python    # Install with brew
bru upgrade python     # Upgrade with bru
brew uninstall python  # Uninstall with brew

For packages with pre-built bottles (most common packages), they work interchangeably.

Shell Completions

# Bash
bru completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/bru

# Zsh (add to ~/.zshrc)
eval "$(bru completions zsh)"

# Fish
bru completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/bru.fish

Documentation

User Docs:

Project Status:

Technical:

Contributing

bru is in active development. Contributions welcome!

Found a bug? Open an issue

Want to help? Check ai/TODO.md for active work.

Testing

# Run all tests
cargo test

# Integration tests (run in CI)
cargo test --test integration_tests -- --ignored --test-threads=1

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

FAQ

Is bru stable?

It's in beta. Tested with 339 packages, has 27 automated tests, and runs integration tests in CI on every commit. Works well for bottle-based workflows.

Will it break my Homebrew setup?

No. bru uses the same Cellar and infrastructure as Homebrew. You can use both interchangeably.

Why not just improve Homebrew?

Different tradeoffs. Homebrew prioritizes comprehensive features. bru prioritizes speed and simplicity. Both are valid approaches.

What's the catch?

Source builds aren't supported yet. For those less common cases, use brew.

Can I uninstall it?

Yes. Since bru is just a faster frontend to Homebrew's infrastructure:

brew uninstall nijaru/tap/bru  # or: cargo uninstall kombrucha
# All your packages remain intact

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0

Made by nijaru