# Install igv with Homebrew, apt, Nix, scoop

Interactive Genomics Viewer. Version 2.19.8 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-11. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install igv.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:igv
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install igv
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install igv
```

  Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: igv from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#igv
```

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

### Windows

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install extras/igv
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:igv
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 2.19.8
- **Source summary:** Interactive Genomics Viewer
- **Homepage:** <https://igv.org/doc/desktop/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-11T23:03:30Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- igv (alias)
- igvtools (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 2.19.8
## Project history and usage

The Integrative Genomics Viewer is a desktop genome visualization tool for interactively exploring large genomic datasets, annotations, alignments, and metadata across local, public, and cloud-hosted sources.

### Project history

IGV originated at the Broad Institute as a response to the growing size and heterogeneity of genomic datasets. The 2011 Nature Biotechnology paper introduced IGV as a tool for integrated visual exploration, and the 2013 Briefings in Bioinformatics paper described it as a high-performance viewer for large heterogeneous genomics data.

The desktop application later became one member of a broader IGV family. The official desktop docs list the original Java desktop application, IGV-Web, and igv.js as related forms, while the GitHub README identifies the desktop repository as the Mac, Windows, and Linux application.

### Adoption history

IGV's adoption is unusually strong for a desktop scientific package because it became both a research citation target and a practical review tool. The docs explicitly tell researchers how to cite IGV, and the project site lists follow-on publications including variant review and igv.js.

### How it is used

Desktop IGV is used to load genome references and inspect aligned reads, variants, annotations, expression data, and other genomics tracks. The Homebrew package exposes both `igv` and `igvtools`, reflecting the split between interactive visualization and command-line data preparation.

### Why package nerds care

IGV is package-nerd interesting because it is a heavyweight scientific GUI shipped through developer package managers. It crosses desktop launchers, Java runtime bundling, genomics file formats, command-line helper tools, and citation-grade scientific reproducibility.

### Timeline

- 2011: Nature Biotechnology paper introduced Integrative Genomics Viewer.
- 2012: Public GitHub repository created for the desktop application.
- 2013: Briefings in Bioinformatics article described high-performance genomics data visualization and exploration with IGV.
- 2017: Cancer Research article documented IGV use in variant review.
- 2023: igv.js publication documented an embeddable JavaScript implementation of IGV.

### Related projects

- Related IGV projects include IGV-Web, igv.js, igv-notebook, and igvtools. In package-manager terms, IGV also sits near bioinformatics tools that produce or transform BAM/CRAM, VCF, BED, and genome annotation files.

### Sources

- <https://academic.oup.com/bib/article/14/2/178/208453>
- <https://github.com/igvteam/igv>
- <https://igv.org/>
- <https://igv.org/doc/desktop/>
- <https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.1754>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - igv - 2.18.5+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: igv from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Integrative Genomics Viewer | https://www.broadinstitute.org/igv/
- Nix - igv: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ig/igv/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - igv - 2.17.3+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: igv from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Integrative Genomics Viewer | https://www.broadinstitute.org/igv/
- Scoop - extras/igv: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/igv.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Extras/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

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