Install oxen with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• oxen

Project history

Oxen began as a Rust data-version-control project focused on making dataset versioning as straightforward as source-code versioning. It was designed for arbitrary data including machine-learning training sets, model weights, game assets, and studio media.

The project later broadened into Oxen.ai's data infrastructure for organizing, versioning, collaborating on, and serving AI data, while retaining an open-source client and self-hostable server.

Adoption history

Oxen expanded from a Rust data-version-control library into a toolchain comprising the oxen CLI, an embeddable liboxen crate, a Python package, an HTTP API, the self-hostable oxen-server, and hosted collaboration through Oxen.ai.

Development formerly housed in oxen-archive was consolidated into the main Oxen repository; the old repository was officially deprecated and archived in 2025.

How it is used

Initialize or clone a repository, stage files with oxen add, commit them, and synchronize branches with a remote using Git-like commands.

Use ~/.config/oxen/auth_config.toml for per-host bearer tokens configured by oxen config --auth. Each client working tree stores repository metadata and remotes in .oxen/config.toml.

Choose the Python or HTTP interfaces for application integration, or run oxen-server when repository storage must remain under local organizational control.

Why package nerds care

Oxen applies familiar Git vocabulary—init, add, commit, branch, push, pull, and clone—to repositories containing large structured and unstructured datasets. Its distinguishing goal is handling millions of files and terabytes of data rather than storing only lightweight pointers beside a separate Git history.

For package enthusiasts, it is notable as a Rust-native attempt to make data version control a complete repository system, with the same core exposed through CLI, server, library, Python, and HTTP interfaces.

Timeline

• 2025: The former oxen-archive repository was archived after development moved into the main Oxen repository.
• The project expanded from a Rust data-versioning core into CLI, Python, HTTP, hosted, and self-hosted interfaces.

Related projects

• DVC takes a Git-centered approach in which small metadata files represent data stored in a cache or remote storage. git-annex also extends Git, moving large contents into a key-value store while versioning links or pointers. Oxen instead presents its own Git-like repository implementation optimized for very large data collections.

Sources

• https://docs.oxen.ai/getting-started/data
• https://docs.oxen.ai/getting-started/intro
• https://github.com/Oxen-AI/Oxen
• https://github.com/Oxen-AI/oxen-archive