# Install mender-artifact with Homebrew, apt, Nix

CLI tool for managing Mender artifact files. Version 4.4.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-29. Also installable with debian: sudo apt install mender-artifact.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:mender-artifact
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install mender-artifact
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Debian apt (92%):

```sh
sudo apt install mender-artifact
```

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

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#mender-artifact
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:mender-artifact
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 4.4.1
- **Source summary:** CLI tool for managing Mender artifact files
- **Homepage:** <https://mender.io>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender-artifact>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-29T17:04:53+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- mender-artifact (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 4.4.1
## Project history and usage

mender-artifact is the library and CLI for working with Mender Artifact files, the .mender archives used by Mender's over-the-air update system. Mender documentation defines an Artifact as a tar-based archive containing versioning data, extensions, metadata, and one or more payload files. The GitHub project describes artifacts as wrappers that can carry binaries, metadata, checksums, signatures, and scripts used during deployments.

### Project history

The tool grew around the practical lifecycle of embedded-Linux updates: create an Artifact, validate it, inspect or dump it, sign it, and preserve metadata while modifying update payloads. Release notes show the format and tooling maturing through signing support in 2017, artifact format v3 documentation and image/artifact modification work in 2018, update-module read/write support in 2019, safer handling of signed and compressed artifacts in 2021, and cloud/HSM-oriented signing additions such as GCP KMS support in 2022.

### How it is used

In package-manager terms, mender-artifact is a workstation tool rather than a device daemon. Developers and CI pipelines use it to package operating-system and application updates before upload to a Mender server; Mender's GitHub Actions documentation builds on that flow by uploading artifacts and triggering deployments from CI.

### Sources

- <https://docs.mender.io/artifact-creation/ci-cd/github-actions>
- <https://docs.mender.io/artifact-creation/create-an-artifact>
- <https://docs.mender.io/overview/artifact>
- <https://docs.mender.io/release-information/release-notes-changelog/mender-artifact>
- <https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender-artifact>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Debian apt - mender-artifact - 3.9.0+ds1-2+b5: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: mender-artifact from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | utility to generate .mender artifacts | https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender-artifact
- Nix - mender-artifact: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/me/mender-artifact/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- Ubuntu apt - mender-artifact - 3.9.0+ds1-1build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: mender-artifact from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | utility to generate .mender artifacts | https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender-artifact


## Combined YAML source

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