# Install notmuch with Homebrew

Thread-based email index, search, and tagging. Version 0.40 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:notmuch
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install notmuch
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:notmuch
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.40
- **Source summary:** Thread-based email index, search, and tagging
- **Homepage:** <https://notmuchmail.org/>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:05:38-07:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- notmuch (alias)
- notmuch-emacs-mua (alias)
- notmuch-git (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.40
## 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

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/notmuch.json>
- <https://notmuchmail.org/>
- <https://notmuchmail.org/doc/latest/>
- <https://notmuchmail.org/frontends/>
- <https://notmuchmail.org/news/>
- <https://notmuchmail.org/releases/>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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


## 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: $NOTMUCH_CONFIG, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/notmuch/<profile>/config, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/notmuch/default/config, ~/.notmuch-config.<profile>, ~/.notmuch-config

## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/notmuch.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/notmuch.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation