zb list

List all installed packages

Displays all packages currently installed by zerobrew, showing their names and versions.

Usage

zb list

Arguments

This command takes no arguments.

Options

--root · path

Environment: ZEROBREW_ROOT

Override the root directory for zerobrew’s content-addressable store.

--prefix · path

Environment: ZEROBREW_PREFIX

Override the prefix directory where packages are linked.

--concurrency · number

Default: 20

Number of concurrent operations to perform.

--auto-init · boolean

Alias: --yes

Environment: ZEROBREW_AUTO_INIT

Automatically initialize zerobrew if not already set up.

Output Format

Each installed package is displayed on a single line:

<name> <version>

• name - The formula name (bold)
• version - The installed version (dimmed)

Examples

List installed packages

zb list

jq 1.7.1
wget 1.21.4
git 2.44.0
openssl@3 3.2.1
pcre2 10.43
gettext 0.22.5

No packages installed

If you haven’t installed any packages yet:

zb list

No formulas installed.

After installing packages

zb install jq wget
zb list

jq 1.7.1
wget 1.21.4
openssl@3 3.2.1

Note that dependencies (like openssl@3) are also shown.

Use Cases

Check what’s installed

Quickly see all packages managed by zerobrew:

zb list

Export to Brewfile

Use list output to manually create a Brewfile, or use zb bundle dump to do it automatically:

zb bundle dump

Count installed packages

zb list | wc -l

12

Find specific package

zb list | grep node

node 21.6.2

Script usage

Check if a package is installed in a script:

if zb list | grep -q "^jq "; then
  echo "jq is installed"
else
  echo "jq is not installed"
  zb install jq
fi

Implementation Details

The list command reads from zerobrew’s local installation database, which tracks:

• Formula name
• Installed version
• Store key (content-addressable hash)
• Installation timestamp
• Link status

For more detailed information about a specific package, use zb info.

Comparison with Homebrew

Feature	zerobrew	Homebrew
List installed	zb list	brew list
Output format	name + version	name only (or verbose)
Show dependencies	Yes	With --formula
Machine-readable	Output is parseable	Use brew list --json

Performance

The list command is instant, as it reads from a local SQLite database rather than scanning the filesystem:

time zb list > /dev/null

0.01s user 0.00s system 95% cpu 0.012 total

Related Commands

• zb info - Show detailed information about a specific package
• zb install - Install packages
• zb uninstall - Uninstall packages
• zb bundle dump - Export packages to a Brewfile
• zb outdated - Show packages with available updates