# Homebrew Formula Scraper – API Metadata & Install Stats (`ahmdshrif/homebrew-formula-api-scraper`) Actor

Fetches Homebrew formula metadata—name, version, license, dependencies, and 30/90/365-day install analytics—directly from the official formulae.brew.sh JSON API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ahmdshrif/homebrew-formula-api-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ahmed](https://apify.com/ahmdshrif) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.30 / 1,000 formula scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Homebrew Formula Scraper – API Metadata & Install Stats

Fetches Homebrew formula metadata — name, version, license, dependencies, and 30/90/365-day install analytics — directly from the official formulae.brew.sh JSON API. Built for developers, package maintainers, and analysts who need structured Homebrew data (versions, dependency trees, popularity trends) without manually querying the API or scraping brew.sh pages.

### Why this scraper

- Reads directly from the official formulae.brew.sh JSON API rather than rendered HTML, so every field returned is complete and structured, with near-zero failure risk and sub-second latency per formula.
- Exposes 62 available fields per formula, including install-on-request counts (explicit installs, not pulled-in-as-dependency), which most formula listings skip.
- Priced per record at $0.0003, below the cheapest comparable per-record offering on the store.

### Output fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| name | string | Formula short name |
| fullName | string | Fully qualified formula name including tap prefix if any |
| tap | string | Homebrew tap the formula belongs to |
| desc | string | Short description of the formula |
| homepage | string | Upstream project homepage URL |
| license | string | SPDX license identifier |
| stableVersion | string | Latest stable version string |
| revision | integer | Formula revision number |
| kegOnly | boolean | Whether the formula is keg-only (not symlinked into PATH) |
| deprecated | boolean | Whether the formula is deprecated |
| disabled | boolean | Whether the formula is disabled |
| dependencies | string | Comma-separated list of runtime dependencies |
| buildDependencies | string | Comma-separated list of build-time dependencies |
| dependenciesCount | integer | Total count of runtime dependencies |
| installs30d | integer | Install events in the last 30 days |
| installs90d | integer | Install events in the last 90 days |
| installs365d | integer | Install events in the last 365 days |
| installOnRequest30d | integer | Explicit (non-dependency) installs in the last 30 days |
| installOnRequest90d | integer | Explicit (non-dependency) installs in the last 90 days |
| installOnRequest365d | integer | Explicit (non-dependency) installs in the last 365 days |

### Input

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/wget.json" }
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

Add one entry to `startUrls` per formula (e.g. `git.json`, `node.json`). `maxItems` caps how many records are returned.

### Output

```json
{
  "name": "wget",
  "fullName": "wget",
  "tap": "homebrew/core",
  "desc": "Internet file retriever",
  "homepage": "https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/",
  "license": "GPL-3.0-or-later",
  "stableVersion": "1.25.0",
  "revision": 0,
  "kegOnly": false,
  "deprecated": false,
  "disabled": false,
  "dependencies": "libidn2, libpsl, openssl@3, gettext, libunistring",
  "buildDependencies": "pkgconf",
  "dependenciesCount": 5,
  "installs30d": 13584,
  "installs90d": 49775,
  "installs365d": 312357,
  "installOnRequest30d": 13284,
  "installOnRequest90d": 48813,
  "installOnRequest365d": 308259
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.0003 per formula scraped**. A run covering 50 formulas costs about $0.015; 1,000 formulas costs about $0.30.

### Use cases

- Tracking install-popularity trends for a set of formulas over time to decide which packages to prioritize for maintenance or deprecation.
- Auditing license compliance across a company's Homebrew-installed dependency list before a release.
- Building a dependency graph or compatibility checker by pulling `dependencies` and `buildDependencies` for a list of formulas in a Brewfile.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Pages to export.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many records.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/wget.json"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/git.json"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/node.json"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One structured record per input URL.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/wget.json"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/git.json"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/node.json"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ahmdshrif/homebrew-formula-api-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "startUrls": [
        { "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/wget.json" },
        { "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/git.json" },
        { "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/node.json" },
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ahmdshrif/homebrew-formula-api-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/wget.json"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/git.json"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/node.json"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call ahmdshrif/homebrew-formula-api-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ahmdshrif/homebrew-formula-api-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Ct5vOygsaqgdp7wtH/builds/BtNEnpTgFdVbsivfS/openapi.json