Installing Mac Apps With Homebrew

This quick guide shows how to install Mac apps with Homebrew Casks and automate App Store installs using the mas CLI.

Homebrew makes it easy to search, inspect, and install third‑party apps, while mas brings similar convenience for Mac App Store apps so you can script and standardize your setup.

Prerequisites

Install Homebrew if not already installed.

Using Homebrew Casks

Casks are Homebrew packages for installing macOS applications. To browse the full directory and read explanations, use the Homebrew Casks directory or run:

brew search chatgpt

To get information about an app:

brew info minecraft

To install a cask, use the --cask flag, otherwise it will try to install the CLI tool:

brew install --cask whatsapp

Installing App Store Apps

Some apps aren’t available as Casks in Homebrew. For example:

brew search goodnotes

…returns no Goodnotes results.

Goodnotes’ website indicates the Mac app is only available via the Mac App Store. To install App Store apps from the command line, use the mas CLI.

mas - Mac App Store CLI

You can install mas using brew:

brew install mas

Then to download Goodnotes, use its ID:

mas install 1444383602

Finding the ID

Open the app in the Mac App Store and click the Share button on the app’s page. Copy the link and extract the numeric ID from the URL path.