# Install cask with Homebrew, MacPorts

Emacs dependency management. Version 0.9.1 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with macports: sudo port install cask.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:cask
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install cask
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install cask
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:cask
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.9.1
- **Source summary:** Emacs dependency management
- **Homepage:** <https://cask.readthedocs.io/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/cask/cask>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- cask (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.9.1
## Project history and usage

Cask is an Emacs Lisp project-management and dependency tool centered on a project-local `Cask` file. It helped Emacs package authors declare dependencies, run commands in an isolated package environment, and build packages from the command line.

### Project history

The public repository was created in 2012 and later moved under the cask GitHub organization. Official documentation describes Cask as dependency management for Emacs and documents a small domain-specific language for package metadata and dependencies.

### Adoption history

Cask became part of the Emacs package-author toolchain during the period when package.el, MELPA, and CI workflows were becoming common. Its presence in Homebrew and MacPorts made it easy for package maintainers to install the same command-line tool used in project automation.

Homebrew analytics show continued use despite the project's age, with 27,894 stable installs in the last 365 days in the formula API.

### How it is used

A project declares dependencies in a file named `Cask`; users then run commands such as `cask install`, `cask exec`, `cask emacs`, `cask build`, and `cask package`. The DSL reference covers package metadata and dependency declarations.

### Why package nerds care

Cask matters to package nerds because it brought Bundler-style dependency declarations and repeatable command execution to Emacs Lisp projects, making Emacs packages easier to test and publish from CI and shell scripts.

### Timeline

- 2012: Public GitHub repository created.
- 2010s: Cask documented as an Emacs dependency-management CLI with a project-local DSL.
- 2026: Homebrew packages v0.9.1 and reports continuing install activity.

### Related projects

- Emacs package.el and MELPA are the broader package ecosystem that Cask projects usually target.
- Homebrew and MacPorts distribute the Cask command-line tool on macOS.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/cask/cask>
- <https://github.com/cask/cask>
- <https://cask.readthedocs.io/>
- <https://cask.readthedocs.io/en/latest>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/cask.json>


## 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: Cask
## Other Package-Manager Records

- MacPorts - cask: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: devel/cask/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/cask.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/cask.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