# Install brook with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Cross-platform strong encryption and not detectable proxy. Zero-Configuration. Version 20260101 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-25. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#brook.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:brook
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install brook
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install brook
```

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

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#brook
```

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

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S brook
```

  Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: brook from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:brook
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 20260101
- **Source summary:** Cross-platform strong encryption and not detectable proxy. Zero-Configuration
- **Homepage:** <https://brook.app/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/txthinking/brook>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-25T14:19:44-04:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- brook (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 20260101
## Project history and usage

Brook is TxThinking's cross-platform programmable network tool, packaged as a Go-based proxy/VPN-style command-line program with clients for desktop, mobile, Linux, and OpenWrt. Its public positioning has shifted from a simple encrypted proxy toward a broader programmable network layer.

### Project history

The official GitHub repository describes Brook as a cross-platform programmable network tool and documents a basic server/client workflow around commands such as `brook server` and `brook link`. Its tag history includes date-stamped releases starting in 2017, showing a long-running release model rather than a one-off proxy experiment.

The current official product page emphasizes system-level networking, TCP/UDP/IPv4/IPv6 coverage, client-side and server-side programmability, DNS and routing control, packet capture, MITM HTTP/HTTPS capabilities, and cross-platform clients for iOS, macOS, Android, Windows, and Linux.

### Adoption history

Brook's adoption is strongest in the privacy, proxy, and programmable-networking niche. GitHub shows a large open-source audience with thousands of stars and forks, while the input package facts show distribution through Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, and other Unix-like package channels.

### How it is used

Common use starts with a Brook server listening on a port and a client or generated link carrying connection parameters. Later Brook workflows extend into system-wide routing, DNS policy, destination rewriting, application-level controls, and OpenWrt or mobile clients.

### Why package nerds care

Brook is notable in package-manager history as one of several post-Shadowsocks-era Go networking tools that package cleanly into a single binary while covering a wide surface area: proxying, VPN-like routing, mobile clients, DNS policy, and traffic inspection. Its date-based release tags also make it recognizable in rolling-release packaging.

### Timeline

- 2017-03-16: Earliest public release tag observed in the official Git repository.
- 2017-2020s: Brook evolves through frequent date-stamped releases.
- 2025-12-31: GitHub lists v20260101 as the latest release at the time researched.

### Related projects

- Related networking packages include Shadowsocks, V2Ray/Xray, sing-box, gost, WireGuard, OpenVPN, and OpenWrt proxy tooling. Brook differs by combining proxy transport, programmable policy, and cross-platform commercial-style clients around the same project.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/txthinking/brook#readme>
- <https://www.txthinking.com/brook.html>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

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

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - brook: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/br/brook/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- pacman - brook - 20260101.0-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: brook from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | A cross-platform proxy/vpn software | https://github.com/txthinking/brook
- MacPorts - brook: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: net/brook/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/brook.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/brook.yml)


## Sources

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