# Install ccat with Homebrew, scoop

Like cat but displays content with syntax highlighting. Version 1.1.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with scoop: scoop install main/ccat.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:ccat
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install ccat
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Windows

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install main/ccat
```

  Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/ccat.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:ccat
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.1.0
- **Source summary:** Like cat but displays content with syntax highlighting
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/owenthereal/ccat>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/owenthereal/ccat>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- ccat (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.1.0
## Project history and usage

ccat is a small Go command-line utility that reimagines cat as a syntax-highlighting terminal viewer. Its official README describes it as a colorizing cat that works like cat while displaying source files with syntax highlighting.

### Project history

The upstream GitHub repository was created in May 2015 and published MIT-licensed Go code. The README positions ccat as a native-speed, single-binary alternative to syntax highlighters such as Pygments and GNU source-highlight.

### Adoption history

The README documents Homebrew installation on macOS, Arch Linux/AUR installation, standalone binaries, and source installation with Go. The supplied package facts also show distribution through Homebrew and Scoop.

### How it is used

Typical usage is the cat-like form ccat FILE1 FILE2, reading from standard input, producing HTML output, selecting dark-background colors, changing token colors, or aliasing cat=ccat for interactive terminal use.

### Why package nerds care

ccat matters as an example of the mid-2010s wave of single-purpose Go CLIs shipped as static-ish binaries and immediately wrapped by package managers. It is also a predecessor-in-spirit to later terminal viewers that made syntax-highlighted source display feel routine.

### Timeline

- 2015: GitHub repository created.
- 2015: README documented Homebrew, AUR, standalone binary, and go get installation paths.
- 2022: Repository metadata shows later maintenance activity.

### Related projects

- The README credits Sourcegraph's syntaxhighlight package and names Pygments and GNU source-highlight as alternatives.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/owenthereal/ccat>
- <https://github.com/owenthereal/ccat>
- <https://github.com/owenthereal/ccat#readme>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/ccat.json>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Scoop - main/ccat: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/ccat.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

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