Brewfile Tool

A tool to manage Homebrew packages from a CSV file.

Features

Generate a Brewfile from a CSV list of packages.
Install packages via the Brewfile, automatically resolving required dependencies.
Check installation status and clean up packages not listed in the Brewfile.

Requirements

macOS
Homebrew
Python 3

CSV Format

Packages are defined in apps.csv. Each row describes one package.

Columns

Column	Required	Type	Description
name	Yes	string	Exact package name used by the installer.
type	Yes	enum	One of `formula`, `cask`, `mas`, `vscode`, or `manual`.
mas_id	No	string	Mac App Store app ID. Required only when `type` is `mas`.
install_on_setup	Yes	bool	`yes` to include the package in the Brewfile, otherwise `no`.
description	No	string	Short note about the package, written as a Brewfile comment.

Rows with a type of manual are ignored during generation. Thus, setting install_on_setup with manual type doesn't have any effect.
This tool only reads and uses 5 columns stated in this table. It is free to make more columns to add more metadata for packages.

Types

Type	Brewfile Entry	Dependency
formula	`brew "..."`	none
cask	`cask "..."`	none
mas	`mas "...", id: ...`	`mas` (install if missing)
vscode	`vscode "..."`	`code` (install if missing)

Usage

Run the tool and select an option from the menu.

python3 brewfile_tool.py

╰─➤ Select option
     1) Create Brewfile
     2) Install packages
     3) Check packages
     4) Cleanup packages
     5) Exit
    option:

Option	Description
Create Brewfile	Generate a Brewfile from `apps.csv`. The old Brewfile is automatically backed up.
Install packages	Install dependencies if needed, then run `brew bundle install`.
Check packages	Verify that every package in the Brewfile is installed.
Cleanup packages	Remove installed packages that are not listed in the Brewfile.
Exit	Quit the tool.