What causes "brew is not available: {}" in jdx/mise?

Confirm with `command -v brew` in the same shell mise runs from — if empty, install Homebrew (macOS: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)")

jdx/mise · error · eyre::Report

brew is not available: {}

Error message

brew is not available: {}

What it means

`mise bootstrap packages prune --manager brew` needs the Homebrew CLI. `brew::BrewManager::is_available()` (which locates the `brew` executable) returned false, so run_brew bails with the reason from `unavailable_reason()` — typically that `brew` is not installed or not found on PATH.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/system/prune.rs:61

        {
            bail!(
                "manager '{}' is excluded by the system_packages.managers setting",
                self.manager
            );
        }
        match self.manager.as_str() {
            "brew" => self.run_brew().await,
            "brew-cask" => self.run_brew_cask().await,
            _ => unreachable!(),
        }
    }

    #[cfg(unix)]
    async fn run_brew(self) -> Result<()> {
        debug_assert_eq!(self.manager, "brew");
        let manager = brew::BrewManager::new();
        if !manager.is_available() {
            bail!("brew is not available: {}", manager.unavailable_reason());
        }
        let config = Config::get().await?;
        let configured = system::packages_from_config_and_tracked_config_files(&config)
            .await?
            .into_iter()
            .find(|mp| mp.manager.name() == "brew")
            .map(|mp| mp.requests)
            .unwrap_or_default();
        let plan = brew::prune_plan(&configured).await?;
        if plan.is_empty() {
            info!("brew: nothing to prune");
            return Ok(());
        }
        if self.dry_run {
            brew::apply_prune_plan(&plan, true)?;
            return Ok(());
        }
        let remove = plan

View on GitHub (pinned to 9dcfcaa0dc)

Solutions

Confirm with `command -v brew` in the same shell mise runs from — if empty, install Homebrew (macOS: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)")
If brew is installed but not found, add its bin dir to PATH (eval "$(brew shellenv)") in the shell profile or set MISE_ENV_PATH/PATH accordingly
On Linux, install Linuxbrew or prune with a manager that exists on the host

Example fix

# before
$ mise bootstrap packages prune --manager brew
# error: brew is not available: ...

# after
$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
$ eval "$(brew shellenv)"
$ mise bootstrap packages prune --manager brew

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if ! command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "skip: brew not installed" >&2
  exit 0
fi
mise bootstrap packages prune --manager brew

Try / catch

mise bootstrap packages prune --manager brew || { echo "brew unavailable — install Homebrew or fix PATH (eval \"$(brew shellenv)\")" >&2; exit 1; }

Prevention

Bootstrap scripts should install Homebrew (or eval brew shellenv) before mise package commands
In CI, cache the brew prefix and add it to PATH explicitly at job start
Gate brew-based steps on `command -v brew` so non-brew hosts skip cleanly

When it happens

Trigger: Pruning with `--manager brew` on a host without Homebrew installed, or where the brew binary directory (e.g. /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin or /opt/homebrew/bin) is missing from the PATH that mise inherits.

Common situations: Fresh CI container without brew; running mise from a non-login shell or GUI-launched process whose PATH omits the brew prefix; Linux machine where only linuxbrew would provide brew and it was never installed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@9dcfcaa0dc (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1e692afb7d0a2b79. Report an issue: GitHub.