# Install lunchy with Homebrew

Friendly wrapper for launchctl. Version 0.10.4 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:lunchy
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install lunchy
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:lunchy
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.10.4
- **Source summary:** Friendly wrapper for launchctl
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/eddiezane/lunchy>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/eddiezane/lunchy>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- lunchy (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.10.4
## Project history and usage

Lunchy is a Ruby command-line wrapper around macOS `launchctl`. It was created to make common launch agent operations feel like simple service commands rather than exact plist-path invocations.

### Project history

The public repository was created in 2011. The README says Lunchy was written as part of project time at Carbon Five and lists Mike Perham, Eddie Zaneski, Mr Rogers, and other contributors in its About section.

The README also preserves a bit of package-culture trivia: the name was originally intended to be `launchy`, but the gem name was already taken, so the project became Lunchy.

### Adoption history

Lunchy gained the most visible adoption among macOS developers who wanted short commands for launch agent plists. Its README documents installation through both RubyGems and Homebrew, and the supplied package metadata identifies the Homebrew formula.

Repository metadata shows a larger audience than the later Go port, with thousands of stars, which fits its role as the older and better-known Lunchy implementation.

### How it is used

Lunchy accepts commands such as `ls`, `start`, `stop`, `restart`, `status`, `install`, `uninstall`, `show`, and `edit`, using a substring pattern matched against launch agent plist filenames.

The README contrasts `launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/io.redis.redis-server.plist` with `lunchy start redis`, which captures the package's appeal: hide verbose plist mechanics behind the service name a developer remembers.

### Why package nerds care

Lunchy is package-nerd-significant because it sits directly at the intersection of Homebrew-installed daemons, user LaunchAgents, and local development services. It made package-installed plist files feel more like init-system services on macOS.

For historical package data, Lunchy is also the origin point for later ports such as lunchy-go, making it a small but recognizable node in the macOS service-management tooling family.

### Timeline

- 2011: eddiezane/lunchy repository created.
- 2011: README says Lunchy was written as part of project time at Carbon Five.
- Later: Lunchy distributed through RubyGems and Homebrew per upstream README and supplied package metadata.

### Related projects

- `launchctl` and launchd are the macOS facilities Lunchy wraps.
- RubyGems and Homebrew are the installation channels documented by upstream.
- lunchy-go is a later Go port of the Lunchy workflow.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/eddiezane/lunchy>
- <https://github.com/eddiezane/lunchy#readme>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph