Homebrew

Easily install BoxLang or our BoxLang Version Manager (BVM) with Homebrew!

🥊 The official Homebrew tap for the BoxLang JVM Language!

Make sure you have Homebrew installed: https://brew.sh/

HomebrewHomebrew

Installation

First, add this tap to Homebrew:

brew tap ortus-boxlang/boxlang

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Formulas

bvm — BoxLang Version Manager

Installs BVM, the BoxLang Version Manager, which lets you install and switch between multiple BoxLang versions.

brew install ortus-boxlang/boxlang/bvm

After installation, install and activate BoxLang:

bvm install latest
bvm use latest
boxlang --version

Common BVM commands:

bvm install latest    # Install the latest stable BoxLang
bvm install snapshot  # Install the latest snapshot
bvm use latest        # Switch to the latest version
bvm list              # List locally installed versions
bvm current           # Show the active version
bvm help              # Show all available commands

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boxlang — BoxLang Quick Installer

Installs the BoxLang Quick Installer, which sets up BoxLang (runtime and MiniServer) in a single step.

brew install ortus-boxlang/boxlang/boxlang

After installation, run the installer to set up BoxLang:

install-boxlang

Additional options:

install-boxlang --with-jre     # Auto-install Java 21 JRE if not found
install-boxlang --yes          # Accept all defaults (non-interactive)
sudo install-boxlang --system  # Install system-wide (all users)

After the installer completes, add the following to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc) and restart your terminal:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

You can then run BoxLang:

boxlang               # Start the BoxLang REPL
boxlang --version     # Check the installed version
boxlang-miniserver    # Start the BoxLang MiniServer

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Prerequisites

Both formulas automatically pull in the following dependencies via Homebrew:

• curl

• unzip

• jq

• openjdk@21

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Auto-updates

This tap ships with a GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/update-formulas.yml) that keeps the formulas up to date automatically:

• Scheduled: runs daily at 06:00 UTC.

• Manual: trigger the Update Homebrew Formulas workflow from the Actions tab at any time.

• On release: the ortus-boxlang/boxlang-quick-installer repository can trigger an update immediately after publishing a new release by dispatching a repository_dispatch event of type installer-released to this repository.

When a new version of the BoxLang Quick Installer is published the workflow updates both formulas and commits the change automatically. Once the tap formula is updated, users running brew upgrade will receive the latest installer version.

Note on BoxLang runtime versions: the formulas install the installer tool, not a pinned BoxLang runtime. After upgrading the formula you can get the latest BoxLang runtime with bvm install latest && bvm use latest or by re-running install-boxlang.