# Install metashell with Homebrew Metaprogramming shell for C++ templates. Version 5.0.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:metashell ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install metashell ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:metashell - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Version:** 5.0.0 - **Source summary:** Metaprogramming shell for C++ templates - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00 ## Executables - metashell (alias) - templight_metashell (alias) ## Install behavior - Bottle: not available ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-08-03 - Package-manager version: 5.0.0 ## Project history and usage Metashell is a C++ template metaprogramming REPL: its project README describes the goal as providing an interactive shell for template metaprogramming, and the project documentation frames it as the C++ template analogue of Python, Haskell, or Erlang interactive shells. Its core niche is making compile-time C++ template evaluation inspectable without forcing developers to encode every experiment as compiler diagnostics. ### Project history The tool is tied to the mid-2010s wave of C++ metaprogramming tooling around Clang and Templight. Public Templight material names Abel Sinkovics and Andras Kucsma in connection with Metashell, and a Meeting C++ 2014 talk presented an interactive metaprogramming shell based on Clang. Metashell's own documentation says it uses Clang to evaluate metaprograms, while later discussion of Metashell 2.0.0 highlighted a GDB-like template metaprogram debugger. ### How it is used In practice, Metashell is used by C++ library authors and template-heavy codebases to experiment with types, evaluate metaprograms, and debug template instantiation flows. Boost.Metaparse documentation explicitly assumes Metashell can be used while building compile-time parsers, which places it in the same ecosystem as Boost.MPL, Metaparse, Clang, and Templight rather than in general-purpose C++ build tooling. The Homebrew package exposes both metashell and templight_metashell, matching that role as a specialist command-line tool for template metaprogramming work. ### Sources - - - - - - - ## Security Notes generalized runtime or code generation signal. - **Geiger risk:** yellow / medium - generalized runtime or code generation signal ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/metashell.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/metashell.yml) ## Sources - pkg.so package database - Geiger risk classifier - curated package history - pkgdb category and tag curation - cross-ecosystem install command graph