# Install kube-score with Homebrew, Nix

Kubernetes object analysis recommendations for improved reliability and security. Version 1.20.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-27. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#kube-score.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:kube-score
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install kube-score
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#kube-score
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:kube-score
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.20.0
- **Source summary:** Kubernetes object analysis recommendations for improved reliability and security
- **Homepage:** <https://kube-score.com>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/zegl/kube-score>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-27T21:58:43+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- kube-score (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.20.0
## Project history and usage

kube-score is a Kubernetes manifest analysis CLI that scores object definitions and recommends reliability and security improvements. It is aimed at the pre-deployment stage, where YAML, Helm output, or Kustomize output can still be changed cheaply.

### Project history

The kube-score repository was created on 2018-09-16, and its first beta release, v0.1.0-beta1, was published on 2018-09-26. The README presents it as static code analysis for Kubernetes object definitions, with checks for resources, network policy coverage, pod disruption budgets, probes, security contexts, and stable APIs.

Unlike cluster-side policy systems, kube-score kept a developer-tool shape: a single CLI that reads manifests, prints human or machine-readable findings, and exits with a CI-friendly status code.

### Adoption history

The project documents several distribution paths: GitHub release binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows, a Docker image, Homebrew, and Krew as the kubectl score plugin. Its website also hosts an online demo backed by the kube-score/web repository, giving users a low-friction way to try the checks without installing the CLI.

### How it is used

Typical usage pipes rendered Kubernetes resources into kube-score, for example from helm template or kustomize build. The tool can also read static YAML files or resources exported from a live cluster, then produce recommendations in human, JSON, CI, or SARIF-oriented formats.

Annotations such as kube-score/ignore and kube-score/enable let users suppress or opt into checks on individual objects, which keeps the linter usable in repositories where not every workload has the same operational constraints.

### Why package nerds care

kube-score matters in package-manager culture because it is a small, composable quality gate for Kubernetes manifests. It turns a broad operational checklist into a command that can live in a Makefile, pre-commit hook, GitHub Action, or CI job.

It also illustrates a common Kubernetes packaging pattern: one Go binary, release artifacts for multiple platforms, a Docker image for containerized CI, Homebrew for local developer machines, and Krew for kubectl-plugin users.

### Timeline

- 2018-09-16: GitHub repository created.
- 2018-09-26: First GitHub release, v0.1.0-beta1, published.
- 2018-10-08: v0.1.0 published.
- 2025-04-28: GitHub release v1.20.0 published.

### Related projects

- Helm and Kustomize are common input producers for kube-score.
- Krew distributes kube-score as a kubectl plugin named score.
- kube-score/web provides the browser demo linked from the README.
- KubeLinter occupies a related manifest-linting space with a stronger production-readiness and security-check branding.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/zegl/kube-score>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/zegl/kube-score/releases>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kube-score>
- <https://github.com/kube-score/web>
- <https://github.com/zegl/kube-score>
- <https://kube-score.com/>


## Security Notes

infrastructure mutation or orchestration signal.

- **Geiger risk:** orange / medium
- infrastructure mutation or orchestration signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - kube-score: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ku/kube-score/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

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