macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install webarchiverlocal Homebrew formula metadata
MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install webarchiverMacPorts ports tree · www/webarchiver/Portfile · source: api.github.com
brew / rank 11281
Install webarchiver with Homebrew, MacPorts
Allows you to create Safari .webarchive files. Version 0.13 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. Also installable with macports: sudo port install webarchiver.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Allows you to create Safari .webarchive files
Project links
Commands and aliases
- webarchiver
history
Project history and usage
Webarchiver is a small macOS command-line utility for creating Safari `.webarchive` files. Its niche is narrow but clear: it exposes Safari/WebKit's single-file web archive format to shell scripts.
Project history
The public GitHub repository was created in November 2008, and the author's GitHub profile notes that the project was featured on the GitHub blog in December 2008. The README presents it as a simple Objective-C command-line tool that saves a URL and its associated page resources into a Safari webarchive file.
The project has stayed small and specialized rather than becoming a broad archiving framework. Later discussion of command-line Safari webarchives points back to it as prior art, while also noting that its Objective-C implementation uses older WebKit classes such as WebView and WebArchive.
Adoption history
Adoption appears to be niche and Mac-specific: the repository has modest stars and forks, but it has persisted in package managers because Safari webarchives remain a recognizable local archival format. Its value is mostly for people who want scriptable capture into a format Safari can open.
How it is used
The documented use is direct CLI capture, for example providing a source URL and an output `.webarchive` filename. This fits one-off page saving, shell loops over URLs, and personal archiving workflows where a Safari-compatible bundle is preferable to a directory of downloaded assets.
Why package nerds care
Webarchiver is package-nerd interesting because it packages a tiny bridge into an Apple-specific file format. It is not a general crawler like wget or a preservation system like WARC tooling; it is a small command that makes Safari's single-file archive format reachable from Homebrew-era automation.
Timeline
- 2008-11: The GitHub repository was created.
- 2008-12: The author's GitHub profile says the project was featured on the GitHub blog.
- 2024: A newer Safari webarchive CLI write-up cited newzealandpaul/webarchiver as prior art and contrasted it with newer WKWebView APIs.
Related projects
- Related tools include Safari's own Save As Web Archive feature, newer WKWebView-based scripts for creating webarchives, and broader web-archiving tools such as wget, SingleFile, and WARC-oriented crawlers.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: blue
broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.
Risk classifier
blue risk · medium confidence · tool
Why
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
Signals
- text:archive
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.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
webarchiver | 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 version0.13
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:webarchiver |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.13 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/newzealandpaul/webarchiver |
| Repository | https://github.com/newzealandpaul/webarchiver |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
MacPorts95%
webarchiver
sudo port install webarchiver- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Webarchiver
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
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation