# Install bender with Homebrew, Nix

Dependency management tool for hardware projects. Version 0.32.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-07. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#bender.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:bender
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install bender
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#bender
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:bender
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.32.1
- **Source summary:** Dependency management tool for hardware projects
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/pulp-platform/bender>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/pulp-platform/bender>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-07T15:31:59Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- bender (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.32.1
## Project history and usage

Bender is PULP Platform's dependency manager for hardware design projects. It manages HDL package dependencies from Git repositories and local paths, resolves compatible versions, writes a `Bender.lock`, and emits ordered source sets for downstream EDA tools.

### Project history

The official GitHub repository was created in May 2018 and is maintained by the PULP Platform at ETH Zurich and the University of Bologna. The README positions Bender as a tool that fits existing hardware flows instead of imposing a registry, directory layout, or simulator.

By the 0.24.0 release in January 2022, Bender had an established public release stream; releases continued through the 0.32.0 release in June 2026. The project is written and distributed as a developer CLI with crates.io, Homebrew, and Nix packaging signals.

### Adoption history

Bender's adoption sits in the open hardware and HDL ecosystem rather than general software packaging. It is used to pin Git-based IP dependencies, handle local overrides, and generate scripts for tools such as QuestaSim, VCS, Vivado, and Verilator.

The PULP Platform affiliation gives it a notable institutional context: it serves the kind of multi-repository hardware IP workflow common in research and silicon-development groups.

### How it is used

A typical workflow is to create or edit `Bender.yml`, run `bender update` to resolve dependencies and write `Bender.lock`, optionally run `bender checkout`, and generate simulator or synthesis tool inputs with `bender script`.

`Bender.local` is used for local dependency overrides when developing hardware IP in place. This makes Bender closer to Cargo or Bundler in spirit than to a simulator wrapper, but specialized for HDL source ordering and EDA tool integration.

### Why package nerds care

Bender is package-nerd significant because hardware projects often have dependency problems that look like software package management but with HDL-specific source ordering, include directories, defines, and simulator targets. Bender packages those concerns into a reproducible CLI.

It is also an example of package management without a central registry: dependencies can come from Git tags, revisions, or local paths, and reproducibility is carried by the lockfile.

### Timeline

- 2018: GitHub repository created.
- 2022: v0.24.0 release published.
- 2024: v0.28.0 release published.
- 2025: v0.29.0 release published.
- 2026: v0.32.0 release published.

### Related projects

- The PULP Platform maintains Bender and uses it in the open hardware ecosystem.
- QuestaSim, VCS, Vivado, and Verilator are documented downstream tool targets.
- Cargo/crates.io is part of the distribution story for the Rust-based CLI.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/pulp-platform/bender>
- <https://github.com/pulp-platform/bender/releases>
- <https://pulp-platform.github.io/bender/>
- source_facts.package-manager
- source_facts.repo


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## 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: ./Bender.yml, ./Bender.local
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - bender: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/be/bender/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/bender.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/bender.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