# Install gurk with Homebrew, pacman

Signal Messenger client for terminal. Version 0.10.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-26. Also installable with pacman: sudo pacman -S gurk.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:gurk
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install gurk
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S gurk
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:gurk
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.10.1
- **Source summary:** Signal Messenger client for terminal
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-26T12:01:16Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- gurk (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.10.1
## Project history and usage

gurk is a terminal Signal Messenger client written in Rust. It provides a text UI for linked-device Signal use and stores its configuration in `gurk.toml` under XDG-style or home-directory paths.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in July 2020, and an early v0.2.0 release was published in July 2021. The README describes first-run linking through a QR code, after which the program creates a configuration file at the default config location.

The project cannot publish its binary through crates.io according to the README because it depends on official Signal libraries that are not available there, so distribution relies on release binaries, source installs, and OS package managers.

### Adoption history

The README documents installation through GitHub release binaries, `cargo binstall`, `cargo install --git`, Arch Linux packages, Nix/NixOS, and FreeBSD packages or ports. Homebrew and Arch package metadata make it available as a named package for terminal and messaging users.

Its adoption is necessarily niche: it is useful to users who want Signal in a terminal workflow and are comfortable with linked-device semantics, local configuration, and terminal keybindings.

### How it is used

Users run `gurk`, link it as a Signal device via QR code on first launch, and then interact through keyboard-driven channel, message, selection, file upload, URL, reaction, mute, and help commands.

Configuration supports custom keybindings and default-keybinding control in `gurk.toml`; the same config locations may contain sensitive linked-client settings, which is why credentials and configuration locations are the same for curation purposes.

### Why package nerds care

gurk is notable as a package because it sits at an awkward boundary: a Rust TUI application with Signal protocol dependencies that cannot use the ordinary crates.io binary path. That pushes distributors toward GitHub releases, git-based Cargo installs, and OS package recipes.

For terminal users, it is an example of packaging a messaging client as a keyboard-first command rather than a desktop application.

### Timeline

- 2020: GitHub repository created.
- 2021: v0.2.0 release published.

### Related projects

- Signal Messenger is the service and protocol ecosystem gurk connects to.
- presage is referenced by the README as a related Signal client library.
- libsignal-related libraries are part of the dependency reason the binary is not published on crates.io.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/boxdot/gurk-rs>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/boxdot/gurk-rs/releases?per_page=100>
- <https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/boxdot/gurk-rs/main/README.md>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal


## 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: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gurk/gurk.toml, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gurk.toml, ~/.config/gurk/gurk.toml, ~/.gurk.toml

## Credential files

- Unix: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gurk/gurk.toml, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gurk.toml, ~/.config/gurk/gurk.toml, ~/.gurk.toml
## Other Package-Manager Records

- pacman - gurk - 0.10.1-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: gurk from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Signal Messenger client for terminal | https://github.com/boxdot/gurk-rs


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph