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brew install notmuchprovider-native install command
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Install notmuch with Homebrew
Thread-based email index, search, and tagging. Version 0.40 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Thread-based email index, search, and tagging
Project links
Commands and aliases
- notmuch
- notmuch-emacs-mua
- notmuch-git
history
Project history and usage
Notmuch is a thread-based email index, search, and tagging system built around local mail stores and Xapian search. It deliberately does not receive or send mail; instead it provides the database, CLI, library, tags, and frontends that let other tools build a mail workflow.
The project began as an answer to Sup. The Notmuch homepage says it started as an effort to rewrite Sup's performance-critical pieces in C rather than Ruby, then grew into a separate project with a clean separation between search/indexing and user interface.
Project history
Notmuch's first public source tarball in the official release directory is notmuch-0.1.tar.gz, dated 2010-04-05. The project had many 0.x releases through the 2010s and reached version 0.40 on 2026-01-31.
The architecture choice that mattered was treating mail as a local searchable database with arbitrary tags. Xapian handles the heavy search work, while Notmuch exposes command-line tools, a C library, language bindings, an Emacs client, Vim support, Mutt integration, and scripts such as notmuch-git.
Adoption history
Notmuch has long-running Unix email adoption rather than mass-market adoption. Its homepage lists packages for Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, Gentoo, NetBSD, openSUSE, macOS Homebrew/MacPorts/pkgsrc, and Slackware, and the av.db package record also maps it across Homebrew, apk, Debian/Ubuntu, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, and zypper.
Homebrew's formula API reported 2,580 install-on-request events and 6,314 installs for notmuch in its 365-day analytics window. That is meaningful for a local-mail power-user tool, especially because many Notmuch users install from Linux distribution packages rather than Homebrew.
How it is used
Users point Notmuch at an existing Maildir-style mail store, run the initial setup/indexing flow, then use queries and tags to triage mail. Practical setups commonly pair it with offlineimap/isync or another mail synchronizer, an editor or terminal MUA, and tagging rules for inbox, lists, patches, and saved searches.
Package nerds use Notmuch as infrastructure: notmuch search for shell scripts, notmuch show for extracting messages or patches, Emacs notmuch for a full mail UI, notmuch-mutt for Mutt workflows, and language bindings or libnotmuch for custom tools.
Why package nerds care
Notmuch is one of the canonical examples of Unix-style personal information tooling: it does one hard local thing, makes it fast, keeps data out of hosted search, and lets frontends compete on workflow. Its long release history and packaging breadth make it much more significant than its mainstream visibility suggests.
Timeline
- 2010-04-05: notmuch-0.1 tarball appears in the official release directory.
- 2011-12-26: Notmuch frontend wiki page created, later documenting shipped and external clients.
- 2025-03-15: Notmuch 0.39 released.
- 2026-01-31: Notmuch 0.40 released.
Related projects
- Sup
- Xapian
- notmuch-emacs
- notmuch-mutt
- notmuch-vim
- NeoMutt
- aerc
- alot
- astroid
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
local files
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
Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.
- Unix
$NOTMUCH_CONFIG$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/notmuch/<profile>/config$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/notmuch/default/config~/.notmuch-config.<profile>~/.notmuch-config
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
notmuch | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
notmuch-emacs-mua | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
notmuch-git | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version0.40
manager updated2026-06-22
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:notmuch |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.40 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://notmuchmail.org/ |
| Last updated | 2026-06-22T14:05:38-07:00 |
| Pulse | updated |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation