# Install lavat with Homebrew, Nix

Lava lamp simulation using metaballs in the terminal. Version 3.0.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#lavat.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:lavat
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install lavat
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#lavat
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:lavat
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 3.0.0
- **Source summary:** Lava lamp simulation using metaballs in the terminal
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/AngelJumbo/lavat>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/AngelJumbo/lavat>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- lavat (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 3.0.0
## Project history and usage

lavat is a terminal lava-lamp simulation that renders moving metaballs in a Unix-like terminal. It is a small C-and-make style visual toy rather than a media-processing framework, but package managers classify it naturally with terminal animation and screensaver-like utilities.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created on 2022-10-17 and its first GitHub release, v1.0.0, was published the same day. The README presents it as a little program for simulating a lava lamp in the terminal, requiring a Unix-like system, a C compiler, and make.

Subsequent releases added interactive and visual controls: v2.0.0 on 2023-01-14 added terminal-resize detection and runtime controls, while later release metadata records v2.1.0 on 2024-01-25, v2.2.0 on 2025-04-18, and v3.0.0 on 2026-01-27.

### Adoption history

lavat spread through lightweight package channels rather than a large application ecosystem. The README advertises repository availability through packaging badges, and Homebrew and Nix package metadata both list it for convenient installation.

### How it is used

Users run lavat directly in a terminal and tune colors, gradients, speed, metaball radius, rim size, ball count, containment, party modes, and runtime controls. Its role is mostly decorative: a terminal animation, demo, or screensaver-like process.

### Why package nerds care

lavat is package-nerd catnip because it is the tiny terminal visual toy every package index needs: simple to build, visibly testable, and dependent on terminal behavior rather than a GUI stack.

### Timeline

- 2022: GitHub repository created on 2022-10-17.
- 2022: v1.0.0 release published on 2022-10-17.
- 2023: v2.0.0 release published on 2023-01-14 with terminal resize and runtime controls.
- 2024: v2.1.0 release published on 2024-01-25.
- 2025: v2.2.0 release published on 2025-04-18.
- 2026: v3.0.0 release published on 2026-01-27.

### Related projects

- Related ideas include terminal screensavers, metaball demos, ASCII/ANSI animation programs, Homebrew packaging, and Nix packaging.

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/lavat>
- <https://github.com/AngelJumbo/lavat>
- <https://github.com/AngelJumbo/lavat/releases>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - lavat: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/la/lavat/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/lavat.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/lavat.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