braeburn

A macOS system updater CLI. Keeps tools installed via Homebrew, npm, pip, .NET, and others up to date.

Install

npm install -g braeburn

Usage

braeburn              # run all enabled steps interactively
braeburn -y           # run all steps, auto-accept everything
braeburn homebrew npm # run specific steps only
braeburn config add --name "Oh My Zsh" --command "omz update"

Commands

| Command | Description | |---|---| | braeburn [steps...] [-y] | Run update steps (default) | | braeburn log [step] | View the latest output log for a step | | braeburn config | Show config subcommand help | | braeburn config list | Print current configuration | | braeburn config update | Open interactive configuration editor | | braeburn config update --no-<step> | Disable a step | | braeburn config update --<step> | Re-enable a step | | braeburn config add --name <name> --command <command> | Add a custom update command | | braeburn config remove <id> | Remove a custom update command |

Steps

Steps are grouped by system capability. For new setups, braeburn uses a conservative default profile: only package-manager-driven CLI/tooling updates are enabled by default.

| Step | Category | Default (new setup) | Requires | |---|---|---|---| | pyenv | Runtimes | off | pyenv or Homebrew | | nvm | Runtimes | off | ~/.nvm | | rustup | Runtimes | off | rustup | | homebrew | Apps & Packages | on | brew (required) | | mas | Apps & Packages | off | mas | | macos | Apps & Packages | off | — | | npm | CLI Tools | on | npm | | braeburn | CLI Tools | on | npm | | pip | CLI Tools | on | pip3 | | uv | CLI Tools | off | uv | | gh | CLI Tools | off | gh | | dotnet | CLI Tools | on | dotnet | | aspire | Aspire | off | aspire | | ohmyzsh | Shell | off | ~/.oh-my-zsh | | cleanup (homebrew cleanup) | Maintenance | off | brew |

User-managed commands

Add a named shell command to the default update run:

braeburn config add --name "Oh My Zsh" --command "omz update"

Braeburn stores it in the config as a [[custom]] block:

[[custom]]
id = "oh-my-zsh"
name = "Oh My Zsh"
command = "omz update"

User-managed commands run after enabled built-in steps when running braeburn or braeburn -y. They are not included when explicitly selecting built-in steps such as braeburn homebrew -y. Commands run through your shell, show a user-managed warning before interactive execution, and receive the normal confirmation prompt unless -y is supplied.

List configured commands with braeburn config list, remove one with braeburn config remove oh-my-zsh, and view its latest log with braeburn log custom-oh-my-zsh.

Requirements

• macOS
• Node.js ≥ 24
• Homebrew (required)