# Install cue with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, winget

Validate and define text-based and dynamic configuration. Version 0.17.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-25. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#cue.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:cue
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install cue
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install cue
```

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

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#cue
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/cu/cue/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S cue
```

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

### Windows

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install main/cue
```

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

- winget (92%):

```sh
winget install --id CueLang.Cue -e
```

  Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: CueLang.Cue from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:cue
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.17.1
- **Source summary:** Validate and define text-based and dynamic configuration
- **Homepage:** <https://cuelang.org/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/cue-lang/cue>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-25T14:20:52-04:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- cue (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.17.1
## Project history and usage

CUE is an open-source data validation language, inference engine, and command-line tool for schemas, configuration, policy, and data transformation.

### Project history

The CUE documentation traces the language's roots to GCL, Google's configuration language for Borg, and to graph unification techniques used for large declarative systems. CUE returns to a constraint-based approach where types and values are unified in one model.

### Adoption history

The project positions CUE for validation, configuration, querying, code generation, scripting, and integration with formats such as Go, JSON, YAML, TOML, XML, OpenAPI, Protobuf, and JSON Schema. The public cue-lang/cue repository was created in 2021, while the repository README carries copyright notices beginning in 2018.

### How it is used

The cue command validates data, evaluates CUE files, vets configuration, generates or extracts schemas, and acts as the package's main user-facing interface. Official installation docs include release binaries, source installs, and container images.

### Why package nerds care

CUE matters to package maintainers because it is both a language implementation and a standalone CLI used in build, validation, and configuration pipelines. The upstream README explicitly advises downstream packagers to build from git tags so cue version metadata is embedded correctly.

### Timeline

- 2018: CUE repository README copyright period begins.
- 2021: Public cue-lang/cue repository created on GitHub.
- 2020s: Official docs present CUE as a data validation language and inference engine rooted in GCL and graph unification.

### Related projects

- GCL, Borg, Kubernetes-era configuration systems, Go modules, JSON Schema, OpenAPI, Protobuf.

### Sources

- <https://cuelang.org/docs/>
- <https://cuelang.org/docs/introduction/>
- <https://github.com/cue-lang/cue>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/cue-lang/cue>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cue-lang/cue/master/README.md>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - cue: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/cu/cue/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- pacman - cue - 0.16.1-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: cue from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Validate and define text-based and dynamic configuration | https://github.com/cue-lang/cue
- MacPorts - cue: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: devel/cue/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Scoop - main/cue: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/cue.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- winget - CueLang.Cue: normalized package name match | Windows Package Manager source index: CueLang.Cue from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix


## Combined YAML source

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