# Install tagref with Homebrew, Nix

Refer to other locations in your codebase. Version 1.13.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-19. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#tagref.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:tagref
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install tagref
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#tagref
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ta/tagref/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:tagref
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.13.0
- **Source summary:** Refer to other locations in your codebase
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/stepchowfun/tagref>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/stepchowfun/tagref>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-19T02:28:30Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- tagref (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.13.0
## Project history and usage

Tagref is a source-code cross-reference checker that lets comments define tags and refer to those tags elsewhere in a repository. It is a small developer CLI for keeping informal code comments from silently rotting.

### Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in May 2018. The README describes Tagref as a tool for annotating code comments with `[tag:...]` markers and checking `[ref:...]`, `[file:...]`, and `[dir:...]` references for existence and uniqueness.

### Adoption history

The input package facts list Homebrew and Nix packages. That distribution pattern fits a narrow code-quality utility: easy to install globally, useful in CI, and independent of a single programming language because it scans comments and paths rather than compiling code.

### How it is used

Users place tags and references in comments, then run the `tagref` CLI to verify that referenced tags exist, tags are unique, and file or directory references still resolve. The README explicitly notes that Tagref does not prove the comment is true; it only keeps the cross-reference unambiguous and present.

### Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about Tagref as a tiny example of language-agnostic repository hygiene distributed through general-purpose package managers. It turns documentation links inside comments into something CI can check without adding a documentation system or a language-specific linter.

### Timeline

- 2018: Public GitHub repository created.
- 2026: Input package facts list Homebrew and Nix packages.

### Related projects

- Tagref relates to linters, documentation checkers, dead-link checkers, CI quality gates, and language-agnostic repository maintenance tools.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/stepchowfun/tagref>
- <https://github.com/stepchowfun/tagref>
- source_facts.package-manager


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

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

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - tagref: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ta/tagref/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/tagref.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/tagref.yml)


## Sources

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