# Install cryptol with Homebrew, pacman, apt

Domain-specific language for specifying cryptographic algorithms. Version 3.5.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-22. Also installable with ubuntu: sudo apt install cryptol.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:cryptol
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install cryptol
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S cryptol
```

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

- Ubuntu apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install cryptol
```

  Evidence: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: cryptol from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:cryptol
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 3.5.0
- **Source summary:** Domain-specific language for specifying cryptographic algorithms
- **Homepage:** <https://galoisinc.github.io/cryptol/master/RefMan.html>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/GaloisInc/cryptol>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-22T14:10:44Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- check-exercises (alias)
- cryptol (alias)
- cryptol-html (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 3.5.0
## Project history and usage

Cryptol is a domain-specific language and toolchain for specifying and checking cryptographic algorithms. It is packaged as a developer tool because its main value is an executable specification language, REPL-like interpreter, and solver-backed verification workflow rather than a conventional application.

### Project history

The official README says Cryptol was designed by Galois for the NSA Laboratory for Advanced Cybersecurity Research as a public standard for specifying cryptographic algorithms. The current repository represents Cryptol version 3 and carries Galois copyright notices beginning in 2013, with the public GitHub repository created in 2014.

### Adoption history

Cryptol is distributed through official GitHub release binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows, and the README explicitly documents Homebrew installation for macOS. The supplied package metadata also lists Arch and Ubuntu packages, reflecting a tool that is niche but important enough for language, formal-methods, and cryptography users to want through normal package channels.

### How it is used

Users write executable specifications of cryptographic algorithms in Cryptol, then use the interpreter's :check command for randomized testing and :prove or :sat commands through SMT solvers such as Z3. The README also points users toward examples, the standard library, and the related SAW tooling for checking implementations against specifications.

### Why package nerds care

Cryptol is interesting to packagers because it bundles a language runtime, documentation, examples, and solver expectations into a CLI package. Its README notes that Homebrew installs the appropriate Z3 version automatically, which is the kind of dependency detail that determines whether a formal-methods package works out of the box.

### Timeline

- 2013: The version 3 codebase carries Galois copyright notices beginning in this year.
- 2014: The official GitHub repository was created.
- 2026: The hosted reference manual shows active 3.x documentation and master-branch docs.

### Related projects

- Cryptol is closely related to Galois's SAW tools and to the cryptol-specs repository of example specifications. Its everyday operation also depends on SMT solvers such as Z3.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/GaloisInc/cryptol>
- <https://galoisinc.github.io/cryptol/master/RefMan.html>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/GaloisInc/cryptol>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Ubuntu apt - cryptol - 3.0.0-1build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: cryptol from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | domain-specific language of cryptography | http://www.cryptol.net/
- pacman - cryptol - 3.3.0-129: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: cryptol from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | The Language of Cryptography | https://tools.galois.com/cryptol


## Combined YAML source

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