# Install magic-wormhole with Homebrew, chocolatey, apt, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, winget

Securely transfers data between computers. Version 0.24.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-20. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install magic-wormhole.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:magic-wormhole
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install magic-wormhole
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

- MacPorts (94%):

```sh
sudo port install magic-wormhole
```

  Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: net/magic-wormhole/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install magic-wormhole
```

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

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#magic-wormhole
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: magic-wormhole from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix

- pacman (92%):

```sh
sudo pacman -S magic-wormhole
```

  Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: magic-wormhole from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz

### Windows

- Chocolatey (92%):

```sh
choco install magic-wormhole
```

  Evidence: Chocolatey community package catalog: magic-wormhole from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','logexpert'

- Scoop (92%):

```sh
scoop install main/magic-wormhole
```

  Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/magic-wormhole.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1

- winget (92%):

```sh
winget install --id magic-wormhole.magic-wormhole -e
```

  Evidence: Windows Package Manager source index: magic-wormhole.magic-wormhole from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:magic-wormhole
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.24.0
- **Source summary:** Securely transfers data between computers
- **Homepage:** <https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-20T10:48:59Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- magic-wormhole (alias)
- wormhole (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.24.0
## Project history and usage

Magic Wormhole is a command-line tool and Python library for moving files, directories, text, and streams from one computer to another using short one-time codes. Its cultural niche is secure ad hoc transfer: the thing you reach for when the two humans can talk but the two computers have no prearranged account, URL, or SSH path.

### Project history

Brian Warner's Magic Wormhole repository was created in February 2015. The official documentation presents the project as both a `wormhole` CLI and a Python library, with a protocol built around a mailbox server, optional transit relay, and a PAKE exchange that turns a human-sized code into end-to-end encryption keys.

The project became well known after its PyCon 2016 presentation and early documentation emphasized a memorable UX: one side runs `wormhole send`, the other runs `wormhole receive`, and both type or paste the same short code. Over time the documentation expanded into protocol references for the mailbox server, client-to-client protocol, file-transfer protocol, Tor support, journaled mode, and dilation.

### Adoption history

Magic Wormhole moved from Python package to operating-system package quickly enough that the official installation docs recommend packaged versions first. They document Homebrew on macOS, Debian and Ubuntu packages, openSUSE packages, Chocolatey on Windows, and source installs through `pip`.

The project has broad package-manager presence in the supplied Homebrew input, including Homebrew, Chocolatey, Debian, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, Scoop, Ubuntu, and winget. Its GitHub repository also shows more than twenty thousand stars and hundreds of forks, a strong adoption signal for a small security-oriented CLI.

### How it is used

The standard file-transfer workflow is `wormhole send FILENAME` on one machine and `wormhole receive` on the other. The sender displays a short code, the receiver enters it, and the clients negotiate a direct or relayed encrypted transfer.

The library is used by other applications that need code-authenticated channels. Official docs point to protocol APIs and related applications, and the ecosystem page lists multiple implementations and clients.

### Why package nerds care

Magic Wormhole matters to package people because it is a tiny CLI with a big trust and bootstrap story. It avoids accounts, shared storage, long URLs, SSH setup, and manual key exchange, so it often appears in package collections as the pragmatic secure-transfer utility alongside rsync, scp, croc, and age-like tools.

It is also a protocol family, not just a Python command. The existence of Rust, GUI, mobile, relay, and mailbox-server packages gives package managers a small ecosystem to represent, which is why the original package remains the canonical anchor.

### Timeline

- 2015: Public GitHub repository created.
- 2016: PyCon presentation referenced by official docs.
- 2017: Official docs describe availability in Debian 9 and Ubuntu 17.04 or later.
- 2023: Official docs note several client implementations of the protocol.
- 2026: Repository remains active with many tags and current Python compatibility documentation.

### Related projects

- magic-wormhole.rs is the Rust implementation and CLI variant.
- magic-wormhole-mailbox-server and magic-wormhole-transit-relay provide the relay-side infrastructure.
- Fowl, Warp, Android Wormhole clients, and other ecosystem tools build on the protocol or interoperate with it.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole>
- <https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole/tags>
- <https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>
- <https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/en/latest/welcome.html>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for magic-wormhole. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.


## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - magic-wormhole - 0.18.0-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: magic-wormhole from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Securely and simply transfer data between computers | https://github.com/warner/magic-wormhole
- Nix - magic-wormhole: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: magic-wormhole from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
- Ubuntu apt - magic-wormhole - 0.12.0-1.1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: magic-wormhole from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Securely and simply transfer data between computers | https://github.com/warner/magic-wormhole
- pacman - magic-wormhole - 0.24.0-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: magic-wormhole from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Securely transfer data between computers | https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole
- MacPorts - magic-wormhole: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: net/magic-wormhole/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Chocolatey - magic-wormhole: normalized package name match | Chocolatey community package catalog: magic-wormhole from http://community.chocolatey.org/api/v2/Packages?$filter=IsLatestVersion&$select=Id&$top=1000&$skiptoken='11','logexpert'
- Scoop - main/magic-wormhole: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/magic-wormhole.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- winget - magic-wormhole.magic-wormhole: normalized package name match | Windows Package Manager source index: magic-wormhole.magic-wormhole from https://cdn.winget.microsoft.com/cache/source.msix


## Combined YAML source

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