braeburn

A macOS system updater CLI. Keeps tools installed via Homebrew, npm, pip, .NET, and others up to date.

Install

npm install -g braeburn

Usage

braeburn              # run all enabled steps interactively
braeburn -y           # run all steps, auto-accept everything
braeburn homebrew npm # run specific steps only
braeburn config add --name "Oh My Zsh" --command "omz update"

Commands

Command	Description
braeburn [steps...] [-y]	Run update steps (default)
braeburn log [step]	View the latest output log for a step
braeburn config	Show config subcommand help
braeburn config list	Print current configuration
braeburn config update	Open interactive configuration editor
braeburn config update --no-<step>	Disable a step
braeburn config update --<step>	Re-enable a step
braeburn config add --name <name> --command <command>	Add a custom update command
braeburn config remove <id>	Remove a custom update command

Steps

Steps are grouped by system capability. For new setups, braeburn uses a conservative default profile: only package-manager-driven CLI/tooling updates are enabled by default.

Step	Category	Default (new setup)	Requires
pyenv	Runtimes	off	pyenv or Homebrew
nvm	Runtimes	off	~/.nvm
rustup	Runtimes	off	rustup
homebrew	Apps & Packages	on	brew (required)
mas	Apps & Packages	off	mas
macos	Apps & Packages	off	—
npm	CLI Tools	on	npm
braeburn	CLI Tools	on	npm
pip	CLI Tools	on	pip3
uv	CLI Tools	off	uv
gh	CLI Tools	off	gh
dotnet	CLI Tools	on	dotnet
aspire	Aspire	off	aspire
ohmyzsh	Shell	off	~/.oh-my-zsh
cleanup (homebrew cleanup)	Maintenance	off	brew

User-managed commands

Add a named shell command to the default update run:

braeburn config add --name "Oh My Zsh" --command "omz update"

Braeburn stores it in the config as a [[custom]] block:

[[custom]]
id = "oh-my-zsh"
name = "Oh My Zsh"
command = "omz update"

User-managed commands run after enabled built-in steps when running braeburn or braeburn -y. They are not included when explicitly selecting built-in steps such as braeburn homebrew -y. Commands run through your shell, show a user-managed warning before interactive execution, and receive the normal confirmation prompt unless -y is supplied.

List configured commands with braeburn config list, remove one with braeburn config remove oh-my-zsh, and view its latest log with braeburn log custom-oh-my-zsh.

Requirements

• macOS
• Node.js ≥ 24
• Homebrew (required)