multibrew

share one Homebrew installation between trusted administrator accounts on macOS

Warning

multibrew only supports Apple Silicon Macs

why?

Homebrew is normally owned by a single user. on Macs with multiple trusted administrator accounts, this often leads to seperate Homebrew installations for each user

multibrew configures a single shared Homebrew installation so every trusted administrator uses the same packages, casks, and updates

features

• share one Homebrew installation between trusted administrator accounts
• uses the local multibrew group
• install or adopt an existing Homebrew installation
• doesn't run Homebrew as root
• simple install and removal

install

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/octomako/multibrew/main/install.sh)"

sudo multibrew mount

commands

command	description
mount	install or adopt a shared Homebrew installation
status	show current configuration
members	manage shared users
repair	restore permissions after membership changes
update	update multibrew
unmount	disable sharing while keeping Homebrew
erase	remove Homebrew and shared configuration

managing members

mount lets you choose administrator accounts during setup

you can later manage members with:

sudo multibrew members

if group membership is changed outside multibrew, run:

sudo multibrew repair

users should sign out and back in for the changes to take effect

security

• every multibrew member can modify software used by every other member
• only add trusted administrator accounts
• multibrew never runs Homebrew itself as root
• root access is used for system configuration, permissions, group management, and cleanup

uninstall

only remove the multibrew command:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/octomako/multibrew/main/uninstall.sh)"

disable sharing but keep homebrew:

sudo multibrew unmount

remove the shared homebrew installation and multibrew configuration:

sudo multibrew erase