BrewNotifier

A macOS menu bar app that tracks outdated Homebrew packages and lets you upgrade them without leaving the menu bar.

Screenshots

Menu bar	Main menu	Package list

Features

• Badge count on the menu bar icon showing how many packages have updates
• Package list with formulae and casks grouped separately, showing installed → latest version
• Search to filter packages by name — filters live as you type
• Check Now — opens a popup with live brew outdated output and a summary when done
• Upgrade individual packages — click any package to open an upgrade popup with live brew upgrade output
• Update All — runs brew upgrade with live output in a popup
• Auto-refresh — after any upgrade completes, the outdated list is automatically refreshed
• Scheduled checks — interval-based (every N minutes) or daily at a configured hour
• Ignored packages — exclude packages from the outdated list via Settings

Requirements

• macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• Homebrew installed

Build & Run

swift build
.build/debug/BrewNotifier

Test

swift test

Run at Login

Option A — just serve-release (recommended)

Builds a release binary, assembles the .app bundle, installs it to /Applications, and registers a LaunchAgent so BrewNotifier starts automatically at login:

just serve-release

To stop and unregister:

just unserve

Option B — Manual LaunchAgent setup

If you already have the app installed at /Applications/BrewNotifier.app:

mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents
cat > ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.volaka.BrewNotifier.plist << 'EOF'
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.volaka.BrewNotifier</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Applications/BrewNotifier.app/Contents/MacOS/BrewNotifier</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Logs/BrewNotifier/launchagent.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Logs/BrewNotifier/launchagent.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>
EOF

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.volaka.BrewNotifier.plist

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your macOS username. To disable:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.volaka.BrewNotifier.plist

Project Structure

Sources/
  BrewNotifierCore/       # Library — business logic, testable
    Models.swift          # BrewPackage, BrewCask, PackageMenuInfo
    BrewService.swift     # Runs brew outdated --json=v2
    UpgradeService.swift  # Runs brew upgrade [package]
    UpdateChecker.swift   # Scheduling, @Published state
    AppSettings.swift     # UserDefaults-backed settings
    DailySchedule.swift   # Wall-clock daily schedule helper
  BrewNotifier/           # Executable — AppKit UI
    App.swift             # AppDelegate entry point
    StatusBarController.swift
    CheckNowWindowController.swift
    UpgradeWindowController.swift
    SettingsView.swift
Tests/
  BrewNotifierTests/      # 28 unit tests

Settings

Open Settings from the menu bar (⌘,):

• Check interval — how often to check for updates (interval mode)
• Schedule mode — interval (every N minutes) or daily (once at a configured hour)
• Daily start hour — hour of day for daily checks (e.g. 9 = 9 AM)
• Ignored packages — packages to exclude from the outdated list