# Install charm-tools with Homebrew

Tools for authoring and maintaining juju charms. Version 3.0.9 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-24.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:charm-tools
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install charm-tools
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:charm-tools
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 3.0.9
- **Source summary:** Tools for authoring and maintaining juju charms
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/juju/charm-tools>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-24T18:11:37Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- charm-build (alias)
- charm-create (alias)
- charm-help (alias)
- charm-layers (alias)
- charm-proof (alias)
- charm-pull-source (alias)
- charm-version (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 3.0.9
## Project history and usage

Juju Charm Tools is a collection of command-line tools for creating, building, validating, and publishing Juju charms.

### Project history

Canonical's Juju ecosystem uses charms as operational packages for deploying and managing applications. The charm-tools README describes this project as tools that make writing Juju charms easier, with commands for the charm authoring lifecycle.

### Adoption history

The official README points users to the Snap package named `charm` for stable releases and notes PyPI availability for Python dependency use. The supplied package facts show Homebrew also packaged charm-tools for macOS users.

### How it is used

The README highlights `charm create`, `charm build`, `charm proof`, `charm login`, `charm push`, `charm release`, and `charm show`; the Homebrew facts expose split executables such as `charm-build`, `charm-create`, and `charm-proof`.

### Why package nerds care

charm-tools is package-nerd interesting because it predates the newer Charmcraft-centered workflow and shows Juju charm authoring distributed across Snap, PyPI, and Homebrew with both a combined `charm` interface and split command executables.

### Timeline

- 2013: juju/charm-tools public GitHub repository created.
- 2021: Read the Docs build metadata shows charm-tools documentation generated from the GitHub docs tree.
- 2023: GitHub releases include v3.0.x and v2.8.x maintenance lines.
- 2024: v2.8.9 release published.

### Related projects

- Juju is the orchestration system whose charms this tool helps author and maintain.
- charmstore-client provides the Charm Store client commands used for charm store interactions.
- Charmcraft is the newer Canonical charm authoring tool in the same ecosystem.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/juju/charm-tools#readme>
- <https://charm-tools.readthedocs.io/en/latest>
- <https://charm-tools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/commands.html>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/charm-tools>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

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