# Install aiken with Homebrew, Nix

Modern smart contract platform for Cardano. Version 1.1.23 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-26. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#aiken.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:aiken
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install aiken
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#aiken
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:aiken
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.1.23
- **Source summary:** Modern smart contract platform for Cardano
- **Homepage:** <https://aiken-lang.org/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/aiken-lang/aiken>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-26T19:14:50Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- aiken (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.1.23
## Project history and usage

Aiken is a modern smart-contract language and toolchain for Cardano. The official repository describes it as a modern smart contract platform for Cardano, and the docs cover installation, language concepts, modules, packages, playground usage, and the built-in language server.

### Project history

The public Aiken repository was created in April 2022. The project is organized around a compiler/toolchain, a website, a standard library, a package registry, a playground, and `aikup`, a version-management installer for Aiken releases.

Aiken's README says the name comes from Howard Aiken, the American physicist and computing pioneer. The project presents itself as a developer-friendly Cardano smart-contract stack rather than just a compiler binary.

### Adoption history

Aiken is published through multiple developer package channels. The official README links to crates.io and npm badges, the npm registry lists `@aiken-lang/aiken`, and Homebrew packages the `aiken` formula. The official installation page now recommends `aikup` and documents npm, Homebrew, shell, PowerShell, and MSI paths.

Homebrew listed version 1.1.23 as stable and the npm registry listed 1.1.23 as latest when checked. The input package facts also list Nix packaging, showing adoption among reproducible-build users.

### How it is used

Aiken users create Cardano smart-contract projects, write modules, use the language server, and build/test contracts through the command-line toolchain. The docs identify `aiken.toml` as the project root pattern for language-server integration.

No credentials file is part of ordinary Aiken operation; it is a compiler/toolchain rather than a hosted-service client.

### Why package nerds care

Aiken is interesting as a blockchain language package because it spans several ecosystems at once: Rust/crates.io for implementation culture, npm and Homebrew for user installation, Nix for reproducibility, and its own package registry for language libraries.

For package maintainers, the important object is not only the `aiken` executable but the surrounding developer platform: version manager, LSP, standard library, package registry, playground, and `aiken.toml` project convention.

### Timeline

- 2022: Public Aiken GitHub repository created.
- 2024: npm package record for `@aiken-lang/aiken` created.
- 2026: npm and Homebrew list 1.1.23 as current/latest.

### Related projects

- Cardano and Plutus smart-contract tooling.
- aikup, the official Aiken version manager.
- Aiken standard library, packages site, and playground.

### Sources

- <https://aiken-lang.org/>
- <https://aiken-lang.org/installation-instructions>
- <https://aiken-lang.org/language-tour/modules>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/aiken.json>
- <https://github.com/aiken-lang/aiken>
- <https://registry.npmjs.org/@aiken-lang%2faiken>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for aiken. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.



## 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

- Unix: aiken.toml in project root
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - aiken: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ai/aiken/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/aiken.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/aiken.yml)


## Sources

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