# Install ain with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

HTTP API client for the terminal. Version 1.6.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-26. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#ain.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:ain
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install ain
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install ain
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: www/ain/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#ain
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:ain
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.6.0
- **Source summary:** HTTP API client for the terminal
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/jonaslu/ain>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/jonaslu/ain>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-26T13:19:49+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- ain (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.6.0
## Project history and usage

Ain is a terminal HTTP API client that uses template files to assemble requests and then delegates the actual call to curl, wget, or httpie. The README describes it as an alternative to Postman, Paw, or Insomnia for users who prefer files, folders, scripts, and pipes.

### Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in October 2020. The project is written in Go and centers on a small `.ain` template format with sections such as Host, Query, Headers, Method, Body, Config, Backend, and BackendOptions.

Ain's design goal is explicit in the README: enable scripting of input and further processing of output through terminal pipes. Rather than building its own HTTP stack as the user-facing primitive, it makes curl, wget, or httpie the backend and focuses on request organization.

### Adoption history

Official installation instructions cover `go install`, Homebrew, Scoop, AUR binary packages, and manual downloads from GitHub releases. The input package facts also list Homebrew, MacPorts, and Nix packages.

Homebrew listed version 1.6.0 as stable and reported 107 installs over 365 days when checked, suggesting a small but packaged Unix-tool audience.

### How it is used

Users write one or more `.ain` template files, pass them to `ain`, optionally provide variables, and receive output from the selected backend. Templates can be layered across files and directories, making it useful for API collections that still behave like shell files.

Ain has no separate credentials store in the official README. Secrets are normally represented through template variables, environment variables, `.env`-style workflows, scripts, or headers inside user-controlled `.ain` files.

### Why package nerds care

Ain is a classic package-manager-friendly CLI: a single Go executable, no service account, no desktop app, and a plain-text file format. Its appeal is to users who want API-client ergonomics without leaving the shell or losing composability with find, fzf, pipes, curl, wget, and httpie.

### Timeline

- 2020: Public GitHub repository created.
- 2020s: README documents Go, Homebrew, Scoop, AUR, and binary-release installation paths.
- 2026: Homebrew lists 1.6.0 as stable in checked metadata.

### Related projects

- curl, wget, and httpie, used as request backends.
- Postman, Paw, and Insomnia, named by the README as GUI/API-client alternatives.
- Shell tools such as find, fzf, and environment-variable based workflows.

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/ain.json>
- <https://github.com/jonaslu/ain>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal


## 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: *.ain
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - ain: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ai/ain/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- MacPorts - ain: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: www/ain/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

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