I’ve been working on a native macOS app called Taphouse that puts a GUI on Homebrew, and I’m looking for some power users to try it out and share feedback.
I have gotten some pretty good reviews so far, and you can read all about it on the website: https://taphouse.multimodalsolutions.gr/
What is it?
Taphouse is a SwiftUI app (macOS 14+) that wraps the Homebrew CLI in a clean, native interface. It’s not trying to replace the terminal for those who prefer it—it’s for when you want to quickly browse what’s installed, check for updates, or manage services without context-switching.
Key features:
Browse and search installed formulae and casks
One-click install, uninstall, and upgrade
Bulk operations (select multiple packages, upgrade all at once)
Diagnostics (runs brew doctor, shows disk usage, cache cleanup)
Dependency tree visualization
Menu bar icon with background update checks
Mac App Store integration (via mas CLI)
“Adopt” existing apps—find apps in /Applications that have matching casks
Favorites and per-package notes
Installation history
What it’s not:
Not Electron or a web wrapper—pure SwiftUI
Not sandboxed (can’t be, since it needs to run brew commands)
Not trying to hide the terminal—you can still see command output in real-time
Why I built it:
I use Homebrew constantly but sometimes just want a quick visual overview of what’s installed, what needs updating, or to stop a runaway service. Opening Terminal and typing commands is fine, but a glanceable GUI has its place.
Install:
brew install --cask taphouse
I’d love feedback from this community—what works, what doesn’t, what features would make it more useful for your workflow. Happy to answer any questions.
Reading the description it looks very similar to @HugeIRL’s Updatest, which I bought recently (similar price as well; just dollars vs euros), but I might give your tool a try this afternoon anyway.
I see one feature that Updatest (currently?) doesn’t have that might be interesting (depending on the implementation / visualization):
Dependency tree visualization
On your company’s home page you mention “AI-Powered Web Development & Digital Solutions for the Modern World”. Did you use AI to create Taphouse?
Jared is quite active on GitHub to improve Updatest. What is your preferred way for communicating with users?
Hi, thanks for your message.
I got much feedack and suggestions on reddit since launch and pushed so far about 8 updates in a span of 10 days based on that feedback, implementing new features. You can see it all on the changelog.
As for AI, no, it wasn’t used at all for Taphouse. I have implemented AI features on some other european projects that i have partnered with.
My preferred method of communication is email, i answer to every single one of them (old school i know).
Let me know what you think if you decide to give it a try.
Thanks!
Installed it, but I’ll need to wait for some more app updates to test more.
Initial reaction:
app is very slow on the first run; nothing but spinners everywhere…
managing taps is a nice feature that Updatest does not have (yet?)
there’s no way to ignore updates/apps? (In particular those with erroneous suggestions for updates)
cask suggestions are rather bad; for several apps it suggests the cask of a font… (with “font” in the name)
app finds main quarantined apps (including itself!) and claims they cannot run… (but it’s running)
dependencies seem completely broken; whatever Brew formula I try, for all the app claims that there are no dependencies and no other packages depend on it - definitely not true!
“Send Anonymous Analytics” is enabled by default; so opt-out instead of opt-in
Hi,
i’ve got to say you caught all of the bugs already, so very good eye.
They are fixed internally and will be pushed today.
As for the analytics, this is not for taphouse. Taphouse doesn’t gather any data. This toggle is for Homebrew’s analytics which is enabled by default, so the app gives you the option to disable it.
They don’t appear in Adopt Apps either? If they do you can just adopt them.
Or check third-party updates, i am pretty sure they use Sparkle for updates.
Hello,
that’s normal. It’s macOS TCC prompt. Taphouse is scanning apps for sparkle/app updates.
If you want to disable this warning you can go to settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access and add Taphouse to the list
