# Install grip with Homebrew

GitHub Markdown previewer. Version 4.6.2 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-21.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:grip
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install grip
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:grip
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 4.6.2
- **Source summary:** GitHub Markdown previewer
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/joeyespo/grip>
- **Last updated:** 2026-05-21T12:12:20Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- grip (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 4.6.2
## Project history and usage

Grip, short for GitHub Readme Instant Preview, is a Python command-line server for previewing Markdown as GitHub renders it. Its history is small but clear: it solved the old README loop of commit, push, inspect, and amend by running a local preview server.

### Project history

The official README frames Grip as a command-line server application that uses the GitHub Markdown API to render a local README file with GitHub's styling. It was designed for README-driven development and for authors who wanted to inspect GitHub-flavored Markdown before sending changes upstream.

The project later added conveniences that mattered to daily CLI use: browser opening, explicit ports and files, exporting rendered HTML, offline rendering work, authentication for GitHub API limits, and auto-refresh when files change.

### Adoption history

Grip spread through developer package channels because it had a simple command and a familiar problem. Its README documents installation with both `pip install grip` and `brew install grip`, and the package also appears in Linux distribution metadata.

Its adoption niche narrowed as editors, GitHub web previews, and local Markdown renderers improved, but the package remained recognizable because it aimed for GitHub-compatible rendering rather than generic Markdown preview.

### How it is used

The normal workflow is to enter a repository and run `grip`, optionally passing a file or port, then open the local server in a browser. Grip can also export a rendered README to an HTML file with inline styles and assets.

Credentials are optional and only used to raise GitHub API limits or access a different GitHub API endpoint. That is why the settings file can be both configuration and credential storage.

### Why package nerds care

Grip is a classic small developer-tool package: one executable, a Python web app under the hood, and a workflow that made more sense as a CLI than a full desktop app.

For packagers it is also a reminder that tools built around third-party web APIs age with those APIs. The command stays simple, but rendering fidelity and authentication behavior depend on GitHub's Markdown service and styles.

### Timeline

- 2014: Grip was already serving the GitHub README preview workflow documented by early users and package metadata.
- 2015-11-18: Grip 4.0.0 reworked internals and added file-change refresh behavior.
- 2015-12-11: Grip 4.1.0 improved authentication prompting and documented browser-opening behavior.
- Later releases: The project documented export, local rendering work, themes, and enterprise API URL options in the README.

### Related projects

- GitHub Markdown API is the rendering service Grip was built around.
- Python-Markdown is used for the optional offline rendering path described by the project.
- Other Markdown preview tools overlap with Grip, but Grip's package identity is GitHub-style local README preview.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/joeyespo/grip>
- <https://github.com/joeyespo/grip/blob/master/CHANGES.md>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for grip. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.



## 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: ~/.grip/settings.py

## Credential files

- Unix: ~/.grip/settings.py

## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

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