# Install minibwa with Homebrew

Successor of BWA-MEM for short-read alignment. Version 0.6 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-30.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:minibwa
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install minibwa
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:minibwa
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.6
- **Source summary:** Successor of BWA-MEM for short-read alignment
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/lh3/minibwa>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/lh3/minibwa>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-30T15:48:22Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- minibwa (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.6
## Project history and usage

minibwa is a genomic read aligner from the BWA/minimap2 lineage. The repository identifies it as the successor of BWA-MEM for short-read alignment, and the arXiv preprint by Heng Li and Nils Homer presents it as a next iteration of BWA-MEM for standard whole-genome short reads, Hi-C reads, accurate long reads, and directional bisulfite sequencing data.

### Project history

The design deliberately mixes earlier tools by the same lineage: a BWA-MEM-style BWT/FM-index and variable-length seed search, ropebwt3-inspired supermaximal exact-match work, and minimap2-style chaining plus SIMD-based base alignment. The authors report comparable accuracy with much higher speed than BWA-MEM and BWA-MEM2, while noting that exact BWA-MEM compatibility is traded for algorithmic improvement.

### How it is used

In practice, minibwa is a bioinformatics command-line aligner for pipelines that map sequencing reads to a reference genome before variant calling, methylation analysis, or related downstream analysis. Its package-manager niche is narrow but important: it gives genomics users an installable replacement candidate for BWA-MEM where performance and support for newer read types matter more than byte-for-byte legacy output.

### Sources

- <https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.15357>
- <https://arxiv.org/html/2606.15357v1>
- <https://github.com/lh3/bwa>
- <https://github.com/lh3/minibwa>


## Security Notes

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



## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

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