Install jfrog-cli with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository

Commands and aliases

• jf
• jfrog

Project history

The public jfrog/jfrog-cli repository was created in 2015, and the first GitHub release series appeared in 2016. The README describes the tool as a compact client for automating JFrog product access through REST APIs, with early emphasis on reliable artifact upload and download, checksum optimization, dry runs, and wildcard or regular-expression based file selection.

The release stream expanded from Artifactory-centered artifact operations into wider software-supply-chain work. The 2021 v2 line added and reorganized Xray scanning and audit commands, while later releases continued to add package ecosystem integrations, build-info handling, plugin support, and container-related workflows.

Adoption history

JFrog CLI became a natural package-manager target because it is a single executable used by build agents and developer laptops. Homebrew, Chocolatey, Scoop, winget, Linux distro packages, and JFrog's own install paths make it easy to pin in automation without embedding product-specific REST calls in every script.

Its adoption follows JFrog Artifactory's role as an artifact repository in CI/CD. Teams using Maven, Gradle, npm, Docker, NuGet, Python, and Go package flows can use one CLI surface to publish artifacts, collect build metadata, promote builds, and run security or compliance scans.

How it is used

Typical use centers on configuring a JFrog server, uploading and downloading artifacts, resolving dependencies, publishing build-info, scanning builds or packages with Xray, and promoting or distributing release artifacts. The `jf` executable is the shorter command name used alongside the older `jfrog` command.

The package is especially common in CI jobs because it can replace hand-written REST calls with commands that understand checksums, retries, build metadata, and package-manager conventions.

Why package nerds care

For package people, JFrog CLI is interesting because it sits at the boundary between language package managers and an enterprise artifact repository. It packages a large amount of repository-specific behavior into a portable CLI that can be installed by the same package managers it automates.

It also shows how artifact-management CLIs evolved from simple upload/download helpers into supply-chain tools that collect provenance, drive scans, and coordinate release promotion.

Timeline

• 2015: The public jfrog/jfrog-cli repository was created on GitHub.
• 2016: JFrog CLI 1.0.1 was tagged and released.
• 2021: The v2 release stream added Xray scan and audit commands and the shorter `jf` command style.
• 2022: Release notes show continued expansion around Docker, .NET, plugins, operational risk data, and build-info workflows.

Related projects

• JFrog Artifactory is the central repository service automated by the CLI.
• JFrog Xray supplies the scan and audit workflows exposed through CLI commands.
• JFrog build-info tooling and jfrog-client-go provide related libraries and metadata plumbing used by the CLI.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/jfrog/jfrog-cli
• https://api.github.com/repos/jfrog/jfrog-cli/releases
• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/jfrog-cli
• https://github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli/master/README.md