Welcome to Coding Beez Learn at your own pace with structured courses designed for students and professionals. Find out more!
Homebrew is one of the most popular package managers for macOS. It allows you to install developer tools, libraries, and utilities directly from the terminal with a single command.
Although Homebrew installation looks simple, many users struggle with it because of path issues, shell differences (bash vs zsh), or Apple Silicon vs Intel Macs. I’ve personally faced different behaviors across macOS versions, but following the steps below will work reliably.
Homebrew is a free and open-source package manager that simplifies software installation on macOS. Instead of manually downloading and configuring tools, Homebrew manages everything for you.
Homebrew can be installed in two ways:
Download the .pkg file from here: Homebrew PKG Installer
Open the Terminal app on your Mac and paste the following command:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Press Enter and allow the installation to complete. This may take a few minutes depending on your internet speed.
Once installation finishes, you should ideally be able to use the brew command immediately. However, this is where most users face issues.
Run the following command to check whether Homebrew is installed:
brew --versionIf Homebrew is correctly installed and configured, you’ll see output like:
Homebrew 4.x.xIf not, you’ll encounter the following error:
On newer macOS versions (especially Apple Silicon Macs), Homebrew is installed under:
/opt/homebrew/binmacOS does not automatically add this location to your system PATH. You need to add it manually.
First, check your current PATH:
echo $PATHNow add Homebrew to your PATH:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/binVerify that the Homebrew path is added:
echo $PATHClose all Terminal windows and open a new one. Then run:
brew helpIf Homebrew is set correctly, you’ll see the list of available commands.
To avoid setting the PATH every time, add it permanently to your shell configuration.
For zsh (default shell on modern macOS):
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
For bash:
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
Sometimes Homebrew appears installed but doesn’t work due to shell mismatch. Check your shell using:
echo $SHELLIf needed, switch to bash and retry the installation:
bashThen repeat the installation steps.
Finally, verify everything is working:
brew doctorIf no errors appear, Homebrew is ready to use 🎉
You can now install packages like:
brew install node
brew install git
Enjoy hassle-free package management on macOS!
Senior Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience in designing and scaling distributed systems and full-stack applications. Experts in optimizing system performance, and delivering high-impact technical solutions across the entire software development lifecycle.
This guide explains why the hosts file is read-only and shows step-by-step instructions to...
This guide explains the Yarn --frozen-lockfile CI build error, the importance of lock file...
This guide explains how to use the cp command for recursive directory copying in macOS, ha...
This guide explains what .DS_Store files are on macOS, how to view and delete them, ignore...
Jan 31, 2026
This guide explains why the hosts file is read-only and show...
Jan 31, 2026
This article explains circular reference errors in JSON.stri...
Jan 31, 2026
This article explains why JSON.stringify returns an empty ob...
Jan 31, 2026
This guide explains the Yarn --frozen-lockfile CI build erro...
Jan 31, 2026
This guide explains how to install Homebrew on macOS, resolv...
Comments
No comments yet.