Migration from Homebrew
Coldbrew is designed to work alongside Homebrew. Migrate at your own pace.
Coldbrew Works Alongside Homebrew
You don't need to uninstall Homebrew to use Coldbrew. Both can coexist on the same system. Just make sure Coldbrew's bin directory comes first in your PATH:
export PATH="$HOME/.coldbrew/bin:$PATH" # Coldbrew first
This way, packages installed with Coldbrew take precedence, but Homebrew packages are still available as a fallback.
Command Comparison
Most commands work the same way. Here's a quick reference:
| Homebrew | Coldbrew |
|---|---|
| brew install node | crew install node |
| brew uninstall node | crew uninstall node |
| brew update | crew update |
| brew upgrade | crew upgrade |
| brew search node | crew search node |
| brew info node | crew info node |
| brew list | crew list |
| brew tap user/repo | crew tap user/repo |
| brew cleanup | crew gc |
Key Differences
No Auto-Updates
Homebrew may auto-update when you run brew install. Coldbrew never does this. crew install only installs. Run crew update explicitly when you want to refresh the index.
Interactive Upgrades
crew upgrade shows you a plan and asks for confirmation. No more surprise dependency cascades. Use --yes for CI environments.
User Space Installation
Homebrew installs to /opt/homebrew or /usr/local (may require sudo). Coldbrew always installs to ~/.coldbrew. No sudo ever.
Multiple Versions
Homebrew only keeps one version per package. Coldbrew lets you install node@18, node@20, and node@22 side-by-side.
Migration Steps
1. Install Coldbrew
curl -fsSL coldbrew.sh/install | bash
2. Set Up Your PATH
Add Coldbrew to your PATH before Homebrew:
# In ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc export PATH="$HOME/.coldbrew/bin:$PATH"
3. Reinstall Key Packages
Start with packages you use most often:
crew update crew install node python go rust
4. Migrate Project by Project
For each project, create a coldbrew.toml:
cd my-project crew init # Edit coldbrew.toml to add your dependencies crew lock
5. Optional: Remove Homebrew Duplicates
Once you're comfortable, you can remove packages from Homebrew:
brew uninstall node python go
Packages That May Need Homebrew
Some packages with complex post-install hooks or system integrations may work better with Homebrew. Coldbrew focuses on development tools with straightforward installs. For packages like database servers or system daemons, you may want to keep using Homebrew.
Rollback
If you need to go back to Homebrew, simply remove Coldbrew's PATH entry and optionally delete the directory:
# Remove from ~/.zshrc # export PATH="$HOME/.coldbrew/bin:$PATH" # Optional: delete Coldbrew rm -rf ~/.coldbrew