# Install dafny with Homebrew, Nix, apt, scoop

Verification-aware programming language. Version 4.11.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#dafny.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:dafny
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install dafny
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#dafny
```

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

- Ubuntu apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install dafny
```

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

### Windows

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install main/dafny
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:dafny
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 4.11.0
- **Source summary:** Verification-aware programming language
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/dafny-lang/dafny/blob/master/README.md>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/dafny-lang/dafny>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:03:07-07:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- dafny (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 4.11.0
## Project history and usage

Dafny is a verification-aware programming language and toolchain. It occupies a special package-manager niche: a single CLI that lets developers write programs, specifications, and proofs together, then verify them and compile to mainstream languages.

### Project history

The official Dafny README describes Dafny as a verification-ready programming language whose verifier checks code against specifications while the developer writes. The public dafny-lang/dafny repository was created in 2016, and GitHub release metadata records Dafny 1.9.7 in June 2016.

### Adoption history

Dafny has grown through language documentation, binary releases for common operating systems, a wiki and issue tracker, and editor-centered workflows such as Visual Studio Code installation. Its README also points to tutorials, reference material, a Zulip channel, and a standard library, which are typical signs of a specialist language moving from research use into practical developer workflows.

### How it is used

Users write Dafny programs with specifications such as preconditions, postconditions, invariants, and proofs; the Dafny verifier checks them, and the compiler can emit C#, Go, Python, Java, or JavaScript. The reference manual is the authoritative source for the language and verification system.

### Why package nerds care

Dafny matters in package history because it packages formal methods as an installable developer tool rather than a one-off theorem-proving environment. It gives package managers a concrete artifact for a verification language, including CLI binaries, documentation, and cross-platform releases.

### Timeline

- 2016: Public dafny-lang/dafny GitHub repository is created.
- 2016: Dafny 1.9.7 is published on GitHub releases.
- 2017: Dafny 2.0.0 is published on GitHub releases.
- 2025: Dafny 4.11.0 is published on GitHub releases.

### Related projects

- The official README lists influences including Euclid, Eiffel, CLU, Java, C#, Scala, ML, Coq, and VeriFast, and points to Dafny libraries and editor integrations.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/dafny-lang/dafny>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dafny-lang/dafny/master/README.md>
- <https://dafny.org/dafny/DafnyRef/DafnyRef>
- <https://github.com/dafny-lang/dafny/releases/tag/v1.9.7>


## Security Notes

generalized runtime or code generation signal.

- **Geiger risk:** yellow / medium
- generalized runtime or code generation signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - dafny: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/da/dafny/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - dafny - 2.3.0+dfsg-0.1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: dafny from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | programming language with program correctness verifier | https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/dafny/
- Scoop - main/dafny: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/dafny.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/dafny.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/dafny.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