Applite
A native macOS app store for software that isn't on the App Store, backed by Homebrew Cask.
Table of Contents
- What Sets Applite Apart
- Comparison
- Key Features
- Screenshots
- Download
- Built With
- Development and AI
- Contact
- Roadmap
- Contributing
- Packages Used
- Credits
- License
- Alternatives
What Sets Applite Apart
Applite brings its own Homebrew. Every other Homebrew GUI expects brew to already be on the machine, which means the user has opened a Terminal and installed the Xcode Command Line Tools first. Applite downloads a Homebrew tarball into its own Application Support directory on first launch and runs it from there, in API mode behind a git shim.
- No Terminal, no Command Line Tools. Applite can be the first app on a fresh Mac.
- Brewfile import and export, so restoring your apps on a new machine is a file and a checklist.
- Casks only, by design. No formulae, no services, no CLI surface. Apps in categories, with icons and a search field.
- Uses your existing Homebrew if you have one. Point it at any prefix in Settings.
Comparison
Three actively developed alternatives worth knowing about. All of them are good software solving a slightly different problem.
| Applite | CaskHub | BrewUI | Cork | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installs Homebrew itself | Yes, no CLT or Terminal needed | No, guided manual setup | No | No |
| Scope | Casks only | Casks only | Formulae and casks | Formulae, casks, services, taps |
| Audience | Non-technical | Non-technical | All Homebrew users | Power users |
| Price | Free | Free | Free | 25 € prebuilt, free if self-compiled |
| License | MIT | MIT | AGPL-3.0 | Commons Clause (source available) |
| Minimum macOS | 14 | 15.6 | 14 | 13 |
| Brewfile import/export | Yes, with a per-app selection sheet | No | Not yet | Yes |
| Telemetry | None | Sentry + TelemetryDeck | None | None |
| Status | Released | Released | Early development | Released |
Comparison drawn in August 2026; check the projects themselves for current state.
Key Features
- Install, update, and uninstall apps in one click
- Self-contained Homebrew installation, no Command Line Tools required
- Works with an existing Homebrew installation if you have one
- Handpicked gallery of apps, plus full-catalog FTS5 search
- Brewfile import and export for migrating to a new Mac
- Casks from custom taps
- System proxy support (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5)
- Localized in 7 languages
- Free and open source, no telemetry
Screenshots
Download
or
$ brew install --cask applite
Minimum OS version: macOS 14+. Universal binary, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Built With
Swift and SwiftUI, targeting macOS 14 so @Observable and NavigationSplitView are available without back-deployment shims. No Combine. The cask catalog is a local SQLite database (GRDB.swift, WAL mode) synced from the Homebrew JSON API, with FTS5 and BM25 ranking for full-catalog search. Loading is two-stage: SQLite paints the UI immediately, then brew list --cask and brew outdated --cask fill in installed and outdated state reactively, so nothing blocks on the brew CLI.
Architecture notes are in CLAUDE.md.
Development and AI
I'm the sole maintainer of Applite. Starting with version 1.4, I use Claude Code as part of my development workflow, and I'd rather state that plainly than leave people to guess.
The reason is capacity. This is a side project maintained by one person, and the realistic alternative to AI-assisted development is not hand-written code, it's a much slower release cycle or no releases at all. Several things that shipped recently, the SQLite migration and the six-language localization among them, would have sat in the backlog indefinitely otherwise.
Scope of what that actually means:
- The core of the app was written by hand, before any AI involvement.
- AI assistance is used for refactoring and reorganization work, and for small to medium sized new features.
- Architecture decisions, code review, and what does and doesn't go into the app are mine. Nothing merges that I haven't read.
If you object to AI-assisted code on principle, that's a legitimate position and Cork is explicitly developed without it.
Contact
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me: milan@aerolite.dev
Or join the Official Discord Server.
FAQ on the official website.
Roadmap
I don't have much time for development, but I release updates periodically.
View the roadmap.
Contributing
The project is open to contributions. See the Contribution Guidelines for more information.
For typos and minor bugs, open a PR directly. For anything larger, open an issue or bring it up on Discord first, so we don't both spend time on something that doesn't fit the project's scope.
Packages Used
- Homebrew - the package manager everything is built on
- GRDB.swift, Gwendal Roué - SQLite database and FTS5 search
- Sparkle - app updates
- Kingfisher, Wei Wang - image downloading and caching
- ButtonKit, Thomas Durand - async buttons
- SwiftUI-Shimmer, Vikram Kriplaney - loading placeholders
Credits
App icons are sourced from CaskFlow by Ali Elsokary (MIT), a metadata pipeline that extracts icons from vendor .icns files. Casks without a CaskFlow icon fall back to a generated monogram tile.
License
Applite is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more details.
Alternatives
Compared above:
- CaskHub - cask-focused app store with strong discovery features
- BrewUI - Homebrew's official GUI, in early development
- Cork - full-featured Homebrew GUI for power users
Others: