Homebrew Scraper - Formulae, Casks & Installs

Disclaimer: This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Homebrew project. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. "Homebrew" is referenced only to describe the kind of check this Actor performs.

Search Homebrew formulae and casks or look them up by name and get clean rows: 30/90/365-day install counts, latest version, license, dependencies, homepage, tap and deprecation status. Built on the official formulae.brew.sh API - no API key, no browser, no proxy. The whole catalogue is read in one request and filtered in memory.

What you get per package

Field	Meaning
name / type / fullName	Name, whether it is a formula or cask, and the tap-qualified name
description / homepage / license	Description, homepage and license (formulae)
version	Latest stable version
installs30d / installs90d / installs365d	Install counts over 30, 90 and 365 days
dependencies / buildDependencies	Runtime and build-time dependencies
hasBottle / kegOnly	Precompiled-bottle and keg-only flags (formulae)
displayName / autoUpdates	Display name and self-update flag (casks)
deprecated / disabled / deprecationReason / tap / url	Lifecycle status, tap and the brew page

Input

{ "searchQueries": ["database", "kubernetes"], "maxItemsPerQuery": 50 }

• Search terms - matched against name and description, one per line (e.g. database, video).
• Package names - fetch exact formulae/casks (e.g. wget, node, google-chrome).
• Include casks - set includeCasks to also search macOS GUI apps (google-chrome, docker), not just command-line formulae.
• Import from a file - paste a list, or link a public .txt/.csv, a Google Sheet/Drive link, or an Apify key-value-store record.
• Output fields - trim every record to exactly the columns you need.

Leave everything empty and the run returns the most-installed formulae as a free sample.

Reliability

Reads the official formulae.brew.sh JSON API - static CDN files, so there is no rate limit, no key, no proxy and no anti-bot. The catalogue is downloaded once per run and filtered locally. Results are ranked by 30-day installs. An empty search or an unreadable import bills $0 and says why.

Honest limits

• displayName and autoUpdates are cask fields - null for formulae; populated when includeCasks is on.
• deprecationReason is set only for deprecated packages - the deprecated flag is always present.
• dependencies / buildDependencies are empty when the formula has none - an empty array is a real value.
• Install counts are Homebrew's own anonymous analytics (opt-in telemetry), covering 30/90/365-day windows.

Pricing

$0.001 per package on the FREE tier (tiered pricing lowers it with volume). Only packages actually saved are billed; empty searches and unreadable imports cost nothing.

Output views

• Packages - name, type, description, version, 30-day installs and homepage.

Use with AI assistants (MCP)

Available through the Apify MCP server - an agent can find the most-installed tool for a task, compare install trends across alternatives, or enrich a list of package names with versions and dependencies in one call.

Agent-ready: autonomous payments (x402 & Skyfire)

This actor is agent-ready - AI agents can discover it, run it, and pay for it autonomously, with no Apify account and no human in the loop. It uses pay-per-event pricing and limited permissions, so it qualifies for Apify's agentic-payment standards:

• x402 - an open, HTTP-native payment protocol. Agents pay per run in USDC on the Base network directly through the Apify MCP server - no account, no API key.
• Skyfire - agent-to-service payments for fully autonomous AI-agent workflows.

Building an AI agent, MCP tool, or autonomous data pipeline? This scraper is ready to plug in and pay as it goes.

Automate & schedule

Run this Actor on autopilot and pull results into your own stack:

• Apify API - start runs, fetch datasets and manage schedules over REST.
• apify-client for JavaScript and apify-client for Python - official SDKs.
• Schedules - run it hourly, daily or weekly and keep your dataset current.
• Webhooks - trigger downstream actions (CRM import, Slack alert, email sequence) the moment a run finishes.

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'MY_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('scrapesage/homebrew-scraper').call({
    "searchQueries": [
        "database"
    ],
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 10
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Got ${items.length} records`);

Integrate with any app

Connect the dataset to thousands of apps - no code required:

• Make - multi-step automation scenarios.
• Zapier - push new records straight into your CRM or spreadsheet.
• Slack - get notified when a scheduled run finds something new.
• Google Drive / Sheets - auto-export every run to a spreadsheet.
• Airbyte - pipe results into your data warehouse.
• GitHub - trigger runs from commits or releases.

FAQ

How is this Actor billed? Pay-per-event: you pay only for the results it delivers, with no monthly rental and no start fee. The per-event price is shown on the Pricing tab.

Can I schedule it and get results automatically? Yes - create a Schedule and add a webhook or an integration (Google Sheets, Slack, Make, Zapier) to push each run's dataset wherever you need it.

Which export formats are available? Every run's dataset can be downloaded as JSON, CSV, Excel (XLSX), XML, HTML or RSS from the Apify Console or the API.

Can I run it from code or an AI agent? Yes - through the Apify API and client libraries, or from Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants via the Apify MCP server.

Is it legal to use this Actor? This Actor collects publicly available data only. You are responsible for using the output in compliance with applicable laws (including data-protection law where personal data is involved) and the source's terms. See the Disclaimer below.

Disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Homebrew project. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

"Homebrew" is referenced only in a descriptive, nominative sense - to describe the kind of check this Actor performs. This Actor is an independent implementation, is not an official Homebrew product and is not authorised or certified by the Homebrew project. It collects only publicly available information; you are responsible for ensuring your use of that data complies with applicable laws and regulations.

Need help?

Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab, or visit the Apify help center. Feature requests are welcome - this Actor is actively maintained.