# Install sylph with Homebrew

Ultrafast taxonomic profiling and genome querying for metagenomic samples. Version 0.9.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:sylph
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install sylph
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:sylph
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.9.0
- **Source summary:** Ultrafast taxonomic profiling and genome querying for metagenomic samples
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/bluenote-1577/sylph>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/bluenote-1577/sylph>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- sylph (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.9.0
## Project history and usage

sylph is a Rust command-line tool for fast metagenomic profiling and containment average nucleotide identity querying from shotgun sequencing samples. It is packaged for scientists who want a small executable that can query or profile large genome databases quickly from the shell.

### Project history

The official documentation describes sylph as a program for metagenomic profiling and containment ANI querying. Its core method uses k-mer containment with a statistical technique for low-coverage genomes, and the documentation cites the 2024 Nature Biotechnology paper by Jim Shaw and Yun William Yu.

### Adoption history

The upstream README and documentation document installation through Bioconda, source builds with Rust/Cargo, and prebuilt x86-64 Linux binaries; the input package facts show Homebrew packaging as well. That mix reflects a bioinformatics CLI moving through both scientific package channels and general-purpose developer package managers.

### How it is used

Common usage is to run sylph profile against a prebuilt or custom database, such as GTDB, with paired-end or single-end FASTQ files, or to run ANI querying to test whether a sample contains a genome related to a queried reference. The docs emphasize fast multi-sample profiling, custom databases, prebuilt databases, and support for short or long reads.

### Why package nerds care

Package nerds care because sylph is a modern scientific CLI distributed as a Rust binary: it needs reproducible installation, large external databases, predictable CPU/RAM behavior, and channels such as Bioconda and Homebrew to reach different user communities.

### Timeline

- 2024: Official documentation cites the sylph Nature Biotechnology paper by Jim Shaw and Yun William Yu.
- Current README era: The GitHub README says all documentation moved to sylph-docs.github.io.
- Homebrew packaging: The input package facts identify sylph as a Homebrew formula exposing the sylph executable.

### Related projects

- Related tools and references named by the official docs include Kraken, MetaPhlAn, mOTUs, GTDB databases, Bioconda, Rust/Cargo, and sylph-tax.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/bluenote-1577/sylph>
- <https://github.com/bluenote-1577/sylph/blob/main/README.md>
- <https://sylph-docs.github.io/>
- source_facts.executables
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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


## Combined YAML source

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


## Sources

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