What Brewlight collects
Nothing. Brewlight has no servers, accounts, analytics, advertising or crash reporting, and doesn't know who you are.
When Brewlight goes online
Brewlight only goes online to do the job you opened it for. None of these requests include anything about you beyond what any web request carries: your IP address and a Brewlight/<version> user agent. The optional ones can be switched off under Settings → Privacy.
Homebrew's package catalog formulae.brew.sh
The list of every formula and app, so you can search it. Brewlight checks whether it has changed first and skips the download when it hasn't.
If you pick a download mirror or your own API address, these requests go there instead.
Install counts formulae.brew.sh/api/analytics
Homebrew's public, already-aggregated download totals, used for Discover and sorting by popularity. Brewlight reads them; it doesn't send any.
Turn off with “Fetch install statistics from formulae.brew.sh”.
Package icons github.com and package homepages
For packages that aren't installed, Brewlight tries the homepage's icon or the GitHub owner's avatar. Installed apps use the icon already on your Mac. Icons are cached so each is fetched once.
Turn off with “Fetch package icons from the web” to show letter tiles instead.
Homebrew's installer api.github.com
Only if Homebrew isn't installed yet: Brewlight looks up the latest official installer so it can offer to set Homebrew up for you.
What stays on your Mac
Everything Brewlight remembers is stored locally, in your user Library. It isn't synced or uploaded anywhere.
~/Library/Application Support/Brewlight~/Library/Caches~/Library/Logs/BrewlightYou can export, import or erase all of it from Settings → Advanced, and clear the caches from Settings → Privacy. Your settings are kept in the usual macOS preferences file, like any other app's.
If you turn on “Keep a copy in iCloud Drive” for Brewfiles, the Brewfile you export is copied to your own iCloud Drive. It's off unless you switch it on.
Your administrator password
Some Homebrew steps need administrator rights. When that happens Brewlight shows a password prompt and hands what you type directly to sudo. It isn't saved, logged or sent anywhere, and the prompt closes on its own after two minutes.
Permissions
What Brewlight asks macOS for, and why:
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Notifications | To tell you when updates are available. Turn them off in Brewlight's Settings or in System Settings. |
| Your files | To read Homebrew's folders and, when you fully remove an app, to find its leftover files in your Library. You see every file and pick what goes, and it goes to the Trash. |
| Administrator password | Only when Homebrew needs it, through sudo, each time. It's never stored. |
| Terminal | Only when you click Run in Terminal, for the few commands that need one. Brewlight shows the command first, then opens it in Terminal. |
This website
This site is hosted on GitHub Pages, which, like any web host, may log your IP address. Fonts load from Google Fonts, and the star count comes from GitHub's public API. The site sets no cookies and runs no analytics. The palette demo on the home page runs entirely in your browser.
Children
Brewlight isn't aimed at children and collects nothing from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is published here and in the app's source repository, where every change can be seen.
Contact
Questions or concerns: open an issue at github.com/PremPoddar/Brewlight/issues, or email prempoddar@yandex.com.