install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install fzf

provider-native install command

overview

Package summary

Command-line fuzzy finder written in Go

Project links

Commands and aliases

fzf
fzf-preview.sh
fzf-tmux

history

Project history and usage

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder and interactive terminal toolkit. Its README describes it as a fast, portable, programmable single-binary tool for selecting files, browsing command history, previewing data, navigating datasets, and building custom terminal menus.

Project history

The GitHub repository was created in October 2013, and the README copyright line spans 2013-2026. Over time the project expanded from a fuzzy selector into a terminal UI toolkit with preview windows, event bindings, reload actions, shell integrations, Vim and Neovim support, and packaged binaries.

Recent changelog entries show active development in the 0.70 series and later, including popup support for tmux and Zellij, reload tracking, performance improvements, Nushell integration, new preview and border behavior, and HTTP/listen-related enhancements.

Adoption history

fzf is widely packaged by operating-system and language-adjacent package managers. The official README documents Homebrew, MacPorts, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Alpine, Nix, Arch, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Gentoo, Spack, Void, Chocolatey, Scoop, Winget, MSYS2, git installs, binary releases, and Vim plugin installation.

How it is used

The basic model is Unix-pipeline friendly: fzf reads newline-separated candidates from stdin and writes the selected item to stdout. Without stdin, it can traverse the current directory. Shell integration adds key bindings and fuzzy completion for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and Nushell, while the Vim integration exposes functions and the `:FZF` command.

Why package nerds care

fzf is one of the canonical examples of a small CLI package becoming a platform primitive. Package maintainers care about it because it is not just an executable but also shell scripts, editor integration, completions, optional tmux/Zellij behavior, binary releases, and cross-platform package-manager coverage.

Timeline

2013: GitHub repository created.
2013: README copyright period begins.
2020: GitHub Releases feed includes release 0.24.0.
2026: Release v0.73.1 published.

Related projects

The README points to fzf.vim as a separate project for richer Vim commands, fzf-lua for Neovim users who prefer Lua plugins, fzf-tmux for tmux-pane use on older setups, and an official wiki page for related projects.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

local files

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

Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.

Unix: $FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS_FILE~/.fzfrc

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`fzf`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`fzf-preview.sh`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`fzf-tmux`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version0.74.2

manager updated2026-08-01

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:fzf
Version	0.74.2
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://junegunn.github.io/fzf/
Repository	https://github.com/junegunn/fzf
Last updated	2026-08-01T03:36:13Z
Pulse	updated
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/fzf.yml

Used sources

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

Install fzf with Homebrew