# Install chkbit with Homebrew

Check your files for data corruption. Version 6.6.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-27.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:chkbit
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install chkbit
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:chkbit
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 6.6.0
- **Source summary:** Check your files for data corruption
- **Homepage:** <https://laktak.github.io/chkbit/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/laktak/chkbit>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-27T22:03:46+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- chkbit (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 6.6.0
## Project history and usage

chkbit is a file-integrity checker for detecting data corruption during transfers, backups, recovery, and related storage workflows.

### Project history

The official GitHub history starts in 2019. The README and project site describe chkbit as a tool that hashes files, detects corruption, and in newer versions can detect duplicates and run deduplication on supported systems.

### Adoption history

Homebrew and Nix package chkbit. The upstream documentation is intentionally package-manager-friendly, with a GitHub repository, Codeberg mirror, install page, usage page, and release notes in the README.

### How it is used

Users initialize a directory tree in split mode, storing indexes in each directory, or atom mode, storing one index for the tree. They then add or update hashes and run chkbit check to verify files, especially before or after backup operations.

### Why package nerds care

chkbit is interesting to package maintainers because it is a small, modern integrity tool in a space often served by scripts, rsync options, or filesystem-specific mechanisms. Its recent version line also adds deduplication without turning into a full backup suite.

### Timeline

- 2019: First commits in the official chkbit repository.
- 2024: v4 and v5 release lines appear in official tags.
- 2025: v6 line introduces simplified CLI syntax, atom mode, fuse, and deduplication work in release notes.
- 2026: Homebrew tracks stable v6.6.0.

### Related projects

- The README lists GitHub and Codeberg repositories. The usage model overlaps with backup verification, checksum catalogs, and deduplication tools, but chkbit remains a standalone CLI.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/laktak/chkbit#readme>
- <https://laktak.github.io/chkbit/usage/>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/chkbit.json>
- <https://github.com/laktak/chkbit>


## 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: .chkbitignore

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/chkbit.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/chkbit.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation