homebrew-new-log

A GitHub Actions–powered tracker that archives newly added Homebrew Formulae and Casks.
This repository automatically collects new additions from the Homebrew project every day and stores them as:

• A cumulative JSON archive (data/all_items.json)
• Per-repository upstream state (data/state.json)
• Daily human‑readable Markdown logs (logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md)

This makes it possible to review Homebrew’s “New Formulae” and “New Casks” history at any time, even if you missed the one‑time output shown by brew update.

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How it works

1. Daily scheduled workflow

A GitHub Actions workflow runs once per day. It:

• Loads the last processed upstream SHA for:
  • Homebrew/homebrew-core (Formulae)
  • Homebrew/homebrew-cask (Casks)
• Fetches the latest upstream SHA for each repository
• Walks git history since the previous SHA
• Detects newly added .rb files only
• Retrieves metadata (version, description, homepage) from the official Homebrew API when available
• Updates the cumulative JSON archive
• Updates the persisted upstream state
• Generates a Markdown log for the day when additions were found
• Commits the results back to this repository

All operations use the built‑in GITHUB_TOKEN, so no personal access token is required.

First run behavior

If data/state.json does not exist yet, the workflow records the current upstream SHAs as a baseline and exits without importing everything as new. The archive only grows after later runs detect newly added files in git history.

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Output files

data/all_items.json

A single JSON file containing the full historical list of newly added Formulae and Casks.
Each entry includes:

• type
• name
• version
• desc
• homepage
• date
• source_repo
• path
• commit_sha

This file grows over time as new items are discovered.

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data/state.json

This tracked file stores the last processed upstream SHA for each Homebrew repository:

{
  "homebrew-core": {
    "last_seen_sha": "40-hex-sha"
  },
  "homebrew-cask": {
    "last_seen_sha": "40-hex-sha"
  }
}

The workflow only advances this state after archive and log generation succeed, which keeps reruns retryable if a step fails midway through.

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logs/YYYY-MM-DD.md

A daily Markdown report formatted like:

# Homebrew updates 2026-03-01

## New Formulae

### foo

1.2.3
A fast and lightweight tool for X.
[Project Home](https://example.com/foo)

## New Casks

### bar

2.4.0
GUI application for Y.
[Project Home](https://example.com/bar)

Only items added on that specific day are included.

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Why this project exists

Homebrew shows “New Formulae” and “New Casks” only once during brew update, and the information disappears afterward.
This repository preserves that data permanently, making it easy to:

• Track new software entering the Homebrew ecosystem
• Analyze trends over time
• Discover new tools you might have missed
• Build downstream tools or dashboards using the JSON archive

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Automation details

The workflow:

• Runs daily via cron
• Uses Python plus the GitHub and Homebrew APIs to fetch and process data
• Commits changes automatically
• Requires no secrets or manual maintenance

You can inspect or modify the workflow in .github/workflows/update.yml.

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License

MIT License.
Homebrew additions are detected from the official Homebrew git history, and metadata is enriched from the official Homebrew API when available.