# Install betty with Homebrew

English-like interface for the command-line. Version 0.1.7 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:betty
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install betty
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:betty
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.1.7
- **Source summary:** English-like interface for the command-line
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/pickhardt/betty>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/pickhardt/betty>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- betty (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.1.7
## Project history and usage

Betty is a Ruby command-line assistant that translates English-like phrases into shell commands, pitched by its README as a friendly natural-language interface for users who do not remember exact commands.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in May 2014. Its README presents Betty as version 0.1.8, documents a broad set of command phrases, and notes that the original maintainer no longer has time to actively maintain it while remaining open to new maintainers.

### Adoption history

Betty's package history is narrow compared with the other tools in this batch: the input records Homebrew packaging only. Its adoption belongs mostly to the 2010s wave of playful natural-language CLI helpers rather than to a broad multi-distro system package footprint.

### How it is used

Users invoke commands such as asking for word counts, dates, file searches, archive extraction, process lists, permissions changes, and music controls. Betty prints the command it is about to run and can ask users to choose among multiple matching commands.

### Why package nerds care

Betty is package-nerd interesting as a small artifact of the pre-LLM natural-language CLI era: it packaged a phrase-to-command rule set as an installable Unix tool, showing how command discovery and shell ergonomics were explored before modern AI assistants.

### Timeline

- 2014: Repository created in May.
- 2010s: README documents version 0.1.8 and an English-like command catalog.
- 2021: Repository metadata shows later maintenance activity, but the README asks for new maintainers.

### Related projects

- Related projects include shell command explainers and natural-language assistants such as howdoi, tldr-style command discovery tools, and later AI-backed shell helpers.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/pickhardt/betty>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pickhardt/betty/master/README.md>
- source_facts.package-manager


## 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: ~/.bettyconfig

## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

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