brew / rank 7188

Install parca with Homebrew, Nix

Continuous profiling for analysis of CPU and memory usage. Version 0.29.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-10-03. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#parca.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install parca

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#parca

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/pa/parca/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Continuous profiling for analysis of CPU and memory usage

Project links

Commands and aliases

parca

history

Project history and usage

Parca is an open-source continuous-profiling server for storing, querying, and comparing CPU and memory profiles over time, down to function and line-number detail.

Project history

Parca was originally created by Polar Signals as an open-source continuous-profiling system. It combines profile ingestion, storage, querying, and visualization so CPU and memory behavior can be compared over time and across labeled dimensions.

The broader project separates the Parca server from Parca Agent. The agent continuously samples Linux user-space and kernel-space stacks with eBPF and can send pprof-formatted profiles to a Parca server.

Adoption history

Parca targets infrastructure-wide production profiling and follows operational patterns familiar from the Prometheus ecosystem: service discovery, labels, a purpose-built query engine, and an integrated web interface. Its official site highlights contributors with backgrounds in Prometheus, Thanos, Kubernetes, and related cloud-native projects.

The supplied package metadata records Homebrew and Nix packaging, complementing the project's documented binary and Kubernetes deployment workflows.

How it is used

Run the server with its default `parca.yaml` or select another file with `--config-path`. Profiles may be scraped or pushed, stored by the server, queried with label selectors, compared across time or deployment dimensions, and explored in the web interface.

Why package nerds care

Parca helped make continuous profiling feel like a normal observability service rather than an occasional developer-only profiler. For package users, the server is the query-and-storage side of an ecosystem that also includes the Linux eBPF-based Parca Agent and pprof-compatible profile data.

Timeline

Parca was created by Polar Signals and developed publicly as an Apache-licensed project.

Related projects

Parca Agent supplies low-overhead Linux profiles to the Parca server. pprof compatibility lets profiles participate in the wider Go profiling-tool ecosystem.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 5 platform targets.
Build metadata lists 3 build dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

local files

Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.

Configuration files

Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.

Unix: parca.yaml

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`parca`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-11-04

manager version0.29.1

manager updated2026-10-03

local dataok

upstreamcurrent

latest detectedv0.29.1

https://github.com/parca-dev/parca

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:parca
Version	0.29.1
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/parca
Homepage	https://www.parca.dev/
Repository	https://github.com/parca-dev/parca
Upstream docs	https://www.parca.dev/
License	Apache-2.0
Source archive	https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/archive/refs/tags/v0.29.1.tar.gz
Last updated	2026-10-03T06:08:21Z
Pulse	updated
Build dependencies	go, node, pnpm
Bottle	available (on arm64_golden_gate, arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_tahoe, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	parca
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Head Version	HEAD
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	head stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

parca

nix profile install nixpkgs#parca

normalized package name match
Matched by: Parca

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/pa/parca/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/parca.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated configuration and credential file locations
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment
pkg.so package database
pkgdb category and tag curation