YKYH Picks
☰ Menu
CLI Open source 129,171 installs/mo

git for Mac

Distributed revision control system

Quick answer: git is a developer tool for macOS. Install it with brew install git. It is distributed under the GPL-2.0-only AND GPL-2.0-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause AND MIT licence. It has 129,171 Homebrew installs in the last 30 days.

What git is

git is a developer tool for macOS: distributed revision control system.

It is distributed as a Homebrew formula, which builds or pours a binary and puts it on your PATH. It is distributed under the GPL-2.0-only AND GPL-2.0-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause AND MIT licence.

How to install git

  1. Open Terminal (press ⌘ + Space and type “Terminal”).
  2. If Homebrew is not installed yet, run the installer below once.
  3. Run brew install git.

Homebrew installer, if you need it:

Prefer a graphical installer? Download it from the official site. MacPicks never hosts or mirrors binaries — the Homebrew command always pulls from the vendor's own release.

Similar apps in Developer Tools

Closest apps in the same category, ordered by description similarity and install base. These are related tools, not confirmed substitutes; the comparison pages cover hand-picked head-to-head matchups.

Frequently asked questions

How do I install git on Mac?

Run brew install git in Terminal. This requires Homebrew; if you do not have it, install it first with the command below.

Is git open source?

Yes — Homebrew distributes it under the GPL-2.0-only AND GPL-2.0-or-later AND LGPL-2.1-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause AND MIT licence.

Does git run on Apple silicon?

Homebrew publishes this formula for macOS. If upstream does not ship an Apple silicon build, Rosetta 2 handles the Intel binary.

How popular is git?

It was installed 129,171 times in the last 30 days according to Homebrew analytics, ranking #7 in this catalogue.

What version of git is current?

The latest packaged version is 2.56.0.