Installation

Install zerobrew on macOS or Linux

Installation

Install zerobrew on macOS or Linux using the installation script.

Prerequisites

The installer will check for and install the following if needed:

• curl - for downloading files
• git - for cloning the repository (source builds only)
• cargo and Rust toolchain (source builds only)

Quick install

1. Run the installation script

   Download and execute the zerobrew installer:

   curl -fsSL https://zerobrew.rs/install | bash
   

   The installer will:

   • Download the latest pre-built binaries for your platform (if available)
   • Fall back to building from source if pre-built binaries are unavailable
   • Install zb and zbx binaries to ~/.local/bin
   • Set up environment variables and PATH configuration
2. Configure your shell

   After installation, run the export command that the installer prints, or restart your terminal:

   # Example output from installer
   export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
   

   The installer automatically modifies your shell configuration files (.zshrc, .bashrc, etc.) unless you use the --no-modify-path flag.

3. Verify installation

   Check that zerobrew is installed correctly:

   zb --version
   

Installation options

The installer supports several options for customization:

Don’t modify PATH

Prevent the installer from modifying your shell configuration files:

curl -fsSL https://zerobrew.rs/install | bash -s -- --no-modify-path

Install from local binaries

If you’ve already built zerobrew locally, you can install the binaries directly:

curl -fsSL https://zerobrew.rs/install | bash -s -- --binary /path/to/zb /path/to/zbx

View help

To see all available options:

curl -fsSL https://zerobrew.rs/install | bash -s -- --help

Installation directories

zerobrew uses the following directory structure:

Directory	Purpose	Default Location
ZEROBREW_ROOT	Root directory for zerobrew data	/opt/zerobrew (macOS) $XDG_DATA_HOME/zerobrew (Linux)
ZEROBREW_PREFIX	Symlink prefix for installed packages	Same as ZEROBREW_ROOT (macOS) $ZEROBREW_ROOT/prefix (Linux)
ZEROBREW_BIN	Binary installation directory	$HOME/.local/bin
ZEROBREW_DIR	Repository clone location	$HOME/.zerobrew

On macOS, zerobrew uses the root directory directly as the prefix to maintain compatibility with Mach-O binary path length constraints (13 characters, same as /opt/homebrew).

Supported platforms

Pre-built binaries are available for:

• macOS: ARM64 (Apple Silicon), x86_64 (Intel)
• Linux: ARM64, x86_64

If a pre-built binary isn’t available for your platform, the installer will automatically fall back to building from source.

Building from source

If you prefer to build from source or need a platform without pre-built binaries:

1. Install Rust

   Install the Rust toolchain if you don’t have it:

   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   
2. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/lucasgelfond/zerobrew.git
   cd zerobrew
   
3. Build the binaries

   cargo build --release --bin zb --bin zbx
   

   The binaries will be available in target/release/.

4. Install the binaries

   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   cp target/release/zb target/release/zbx ~/.local/bin/
   
5. Initialize zerobrew

   zb init
   

Troubleshooting

Command not found after installation

If zb is not found after installation, ensure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Add this line to your shell configuration file (.zshrc, .bashrc, etc.) to make it permanent.

Build failures

If the source build fails, check that you have:

• A recent version of Rust (run rustup update)
• Required system libraries (the installer will guide you)

Permission errors

Do not run the installer with sudo. The installer will automatically request privileges when needed for system directory access.