Homebrew MCP

What jeannier/homebrew-mcp MCP server does

The jeannier/homebrew-mcp MCP server lets an MCP-compatible client operate a local Homebrew installation through natural-language requests. It is intended for macOS systems with Homebrew installed, and it exposes package, source, version, service, and diagnostic operations as MCP tools.

The server can perform package changes such as installing, uninstalling, upgrading, and cleaning up packages. It can also inspect the local setup by listing installed packages, searching Homebrew, showing package information, identifying outdated packages, and examining dependencies. Additional tools cover Homebrew health checks, repository updates, taps, pinned versions, and services.

How it works

The jeannier/homebrew-mcp MCP server runs as a local Python process and invokes the real brew executable through subprocesses. MCP requests and responses travel over standard input and output using JSON-RPC 2.0. The README describes the implementation as compliant with the MCP specification version 2025-06-18.

Requests and results are written to homebrew_mcp.log. This provides a local record that can be followed with standard shell tools while testing or troubleshooting. The repository also includes an interactive test script that discovers the server's available tools and can make multiple calls for one prompt through the Anthropic API; that script is separate from the MCP server itself.

Setup and configuration

Clone the repository, install uv, create a virtual environment, and install the dependencies from requirements.txt. The documented local launch command is:

uv run python homebrew_mcp.py

The process listens silently for MCP requests over stdio, so the log file is the main indication that it started successfully. Claude Desktop can launch it automatically when configured with uv, the run subcommand, the project's directory, and homebrew_mcp.py. The configuration requires an absolute path to the cloned project.

Cursor support is also documented. Its generated configuration assumes the repository is under ~/Documents/GitHub/homebrew-mcp; if the project is elsewhere, update the path in ~/.cursor/mcp.json and restart Cursor. The README lists Claude Desktop and Cursor as tested clients.

Tools and capabilities

The jeannier/homebrew-mcp MCP server groups its supported commands as follows:

• Package management: install, uninstall, upgrade, cleanup
• Information and discovery: list, search, info, outdated, deps
• Health and updates: doctor, update
• Taps and sources: tap, untap
• Version control: pin, unpin
• Services: services

These tools allow an agent to answer questions about installed software or request changes such as installing a package. Because commands are executed against the local Homebrew installation, operations that modify packages or services affect the host macOS system.

Limitations and notes

This project is specifically documented for macOS and requires Homebrew to be installed. The README reports testing with macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, Homebrew 4.5.8, Python 3.13 managed by uv, and MCP module version 1.9.4. Other environments are not established by the provided material.

The Anthropic API key mentioned in the repository is needed for the optional interactive Claude test script, not for the MCP server's documented stdio operation. The server itself does not list an API-key configuration requirement. Use care with package-management requests because the exposed tools can install, remove, upgrade, or otherwise change local Homebrew state.