freshly

A fast, terminal-based update checker for macOS applications.

freshly scans your /Applications folder and checks for available updates across multiple sources — App Store, Homebrew Cask, and Sparkle feeds — all from your terminal.

Outdated apps	All apps

Features

• Three update sources — checks App Store, Homebrew Cask catalog, and Sparkle appcast feeds concurrently
• No package manager required — detects updates for apps installed via DMG, drag-and-drop, or direct download
• Update apps inline — run Homebrew upgrades with a live output overlay, open App Store updates, or launch Sparkle apps to self-update
• Interactive TUI — browse apps, view changelogs, open apps, hide apps, filter by update status, search by name
• JSON output — pipe results to other tools with --json
• Fast — parallel scanning with async I/O, typically completes in a few seconds

Installation

Homebrew

brew install skydiver/freshly/freshly

Download binary

Download the latest release from the releases page (universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel).

The binary is code-signed and notarized by Apple, so it's verified as safe to run. However, browsers add a quarantine attribute to downloaded files that may trigger a Gatekeeper warning. To resolve this, remove the quarantine attribute:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine freshly

From source

Requires Rust 1.75 or later.

git clone https://github.com/skydiver/freshly.git
cd freshly
cargo install --path .

Build only

cargo build --release
# Binary at target/release/freshly

Usage

# Launch the interactive TUI
freshly

# Output as JSON (non-interactive)
freshly --json

# Filter by update source
freshly --source homebrew

# JSON with error details
freshly --json --verbose

Keyboard Controls

Key	Action
↑ / ↓ or j / k	Navigate list or detail actions
Enter	List: open detail pane · Detail: run action
Esc	Detail: back to list · Search: cancel
Tab	Switch between app list and detail pane
f	Cycle filter: Outdated → All → Up to date
s	Cycle sort: Name → Source → Status
/	Search by app name
? / H	Show keyboard shortcuts
e	Show scan errors
r	Refresh scan
PageUp / PageDown	Scroll by page
Mouse click	Switch between list and detail pane
q	Quit

Update Sources

Tag	Source	How it works
[A]	App Store	Queries the iTunes lookup API for apps with a MAS receipt
[H]	Homebrew	Matches .app filenames against the full Homebrew Cask catalog
[S]	Sparkle	Fetches appcast XML feeds defined in the app's Info.plist

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue to discuss larger changes before submitting a PR.

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run clippy
cargo clippy -- -D warnings

License

MIT