# Install node-red with Homebrew, Nix

Low-code programming for event-driven applications. Version 5.0.4 via Homebrew; verified 2026-08-01. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#node-red.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:node-red
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install node-red
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#node-red
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/no/node-red/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:node-red
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 5.0.4
- **Source summary:** Low-code programming for event-driven applications
- **Homepage:** <https://nodered.org/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-08-01T03:34:27Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- node-red (alias)
- node-red-pi (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 5.0.4
## Project history and usage

Node-RED is a flow-based, low-code programming tool for event-driven applications. Its own site frames it as a way to collect, transform, and visualize real-time data, with a browser editor, Node.js runtime, JSON flow files, and a community library of more than 5,000 nodes and flows.

### Project history

Node-RED began in early 2013 as a side project by Nick O'Leary and Dave Conway-Jones in IBM's Emerging Technology Services group. The original proof of concept visualized and manipulated mappings between MQTT topics, then grew into a general-purpose tool for wiring hardware devices, APIs, online services, and application logic.

### Adoption history

The project was open-sourced in September 2013 and became one of the founding JS Foundation projects in October 2016. The Node.js Foundation and JS Foundation later merged into the OpenJS Foundation in 2019, giving Node-RED a vendor-neutral home alongside other JavaScript ecosystem projects.

A major adoption moment came on 25 November 2015, when Node-RED announced that the November 2015 Raspbian Jessie image shipped with Node-RED pre-installed and that it was also available through the Raspbian Jessie APT repositories. That helped push it into Raspberry Pi, home automation, education, and industrial IoT workflows.

### How it is used

Homebrew users install it with `brew install node-red` and run the `node-red` command, then open the editor at `http://localhost:1880`. Node-RED's local install docs also show the npm path with `npm install -g node-red`, Docker via `docker run -it -p 1880:1880 --name mynodered nodered/node-red`, and command-line flags such as `--settings`, `--userDir`, `--port`, and `--safe`.

### Why package nerds care

Node-RED sits in a funny and useful place for package people: it is a Node.js app, a visual programming environment, and a runtime for long-lived flows. The package pulls in the usual Node dependency world, but its users often think in deployed flow files, credentials files, palettes, and hardware-adjacent integrations rather than in conventional application source trees.

Homebrew Formulae lists node-red 5.0.0 and reports 1,044 installs over 365 days. That is small compared with npm usage, but it is a convenient macOS/Linux package-manager path for local flow development and lightweight automation boxes.

### Related projects

- Node.js
- OpenJS Foundation
- Raspberry Pi
- FlowFuse
- MQTT

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/node-red>
- <https://github.com/node-red/node-red>
- <https://nodered.org/>
- <https://nodered.org/about/>
- <https://nodered.org/blog/2015/11/25/node-red-included-in-raspian-jessie>
- <https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/local>
- <https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/runtime/securing-node-red>
- <https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/press-release/node-js-foundation-and-js-foundation-merge-to-form-openjs-foundation>


## Security Notes

formula declares a Homebrew service.

- **Geiger risk:** orange / medium
- formula declares a Homebrew service


## Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.


## Configuration files

- Unix: ~/.node-red/settings.js
- Windows: %HOMEPATH%\.node-red\settings.js

## Credential files

- Unix: ~/.node-red/flows_<hostname>_cred.json
- Windows: %HOMEPATH%\.node-red\flows_<hostname>_cred.json
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - node-red: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/no/node-red/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph