# Install zbctl with Homebrew, Nix

Zeebe CLI client. Version 8.6.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-25. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#zbctl.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:zbctl
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install zbctl
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#zbctl
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:zbctl
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 8.6.0
- **Source summary:** Zeebe CLI client
- **Homepage:** <https://docs.camunda.io/docs/apis-tools/community-clients/cli-client/>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/camunda-community-hub/zeebe-client-go>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-25T21:32:28+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- zbctl (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 8.6.0
## Project history and usage

zbctl is the command-line client for Zeebe and Camunda 8 workflows. It lives with the community-maintained Zeebe Go client and exposes operational commands for talking to a Zeebe gateway from a shell or automation job.

### Project history

zbctl came out of the Zeebe era of Camunda's process orchestration stack, when Zeebe exposed a gRPC API and needed a small CLI for testing gateways, creating workflow resources, and performing day-to-day broker operations. Camunda release notes already referenced a zbctl update alongside Zeebe 0.10.1 in June 2018, which places the CLI in the early public Zeebe toolchain.

The current Zeebe Go client README presents zbctl as a companion command-line interface for Camunda 8. In 2024 Camunda announced that zbctl and the Go client would stop receiving new official features from Camunda 8.6 onward and move to community-maintained status as Camunda focused on REST APIs.

### Adoption history

zbctl's adoption was mostly tied to Zeebe and Camunda users rather than general cloud operators. It appeared in tutorials, cloud getting-started flows, npm packaging, downloadable release binaries, Snap packaging, asdf plugins, Docker images, and Kubernetes job examples because it was a convenient way to script Zeebe deployments and inspect cluster status before the newer REST API direction took over.

### How it is used

Users point zbctl at a Zeebe or Camunda 8 gateway with environment variables or flags, then run commands such as status, deploy, create, activate, complete, fail, publish, cancel, and update. The CLI is especially suited to smoke tests, CI/CD deployment steps, local development, and administrative maintenance jobs against a workflow cluster.

### Why package nerds care

zbctl is a useful package-catalog artifact because it captures a specific moment in Camunda's API evolution: a standalone CLI wrapped around the Zeebe gRPC client, later preserved as a community-maintained tool after the vendor's center of gravity moved toward REST APIs.

### Timeline

- 2018-06: Camunda release notes mention a zbctl update alongside Zeebe 0.10.1.
- 2019: Camunda Cloud getting-started material used zbctl to test a cluster connection.
- 2024-09: Camunda announced deprecation of new official zbctl and Go client features from Camunda 8.6 onward.

### Related projects

- Zeebe: the workflow engine and gateway that zbctl talks to.
- Zeebe Go client: the Go client library that houses zbctl.
- Camunda 8 REST API: the newer API direction Camunda recommends for many zbctl-style automation workflows.

### Sources

- <https://camunda.com/blog/2018/06/announcing-zeebe-0-10-0-release/ - Camunda release note mentions a zbctl update with Zeebe 0.10.1.>
- <https://camunda.com/blog/2019/09/getting-started-camunda-cloud/ - Camunda Cloud tutorial uses zbctl to test cluster connectivity.>
- <https://camunda.com/blog/2024/09/deprecating-zbctl-and-go-clients/ - Camunda explains the shift from officially supported zbctl/Go client work toward REST APIs.>
- <https://github.com/camunda-community-hub/zeebe-client-go - README describes the Go client and states that it also provides zbctl for Camunda 8.>
- <https://github.com/camunda-community-hub/zeebe-client-go/blob/main/cmd/zbctl/zbctl.md - zbctl documentation covers installation, connection settings, commands, and package/distribution channels.>


## Security Notes

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

- **Geiger risk:** blue / medium
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

## Other Package-Manager Records

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