Install attempt-cli with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• attempt

Project history

The official README presents attempt as a focused CLI for retrying commands that may fail temporarily. The Cargo metadata names the crate attempt-cli, exposes the binary as `attempt`, uses the 2021 Rust edition, and describes the project as public-domain software under the Unlicense.

The public release history is short: GitHub releases show v1.0.1 and v1.1.0 in September 2025, followed by v1.1.1 in January 2026. That makes it a relatively young tool compared with the older Unix packages in this batch.

Adoption history

The README documents installation through Cargo and Homebrew, placing attempt in the modern Rust CLI distribution pattern: publish a crate for Rust users and a Homebrew formula for macOS package-manager users.

Its adoption story is use-case-led rather than ecosystem-led. The manual explicitly compares one case to wait-for-it.sh: waiting for services in docker-compose-like environments when the user is not restricted to Bash. It also targets robust scripts that call temporarily unavailable services.

How it is used

The basic invocation is `attempt [BACKOFF] [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]...`. Official examples retry database migrations when output contains `server not ready`, use exponential backoff, change attempt counts, add jitter, and separate attempt arguments from child-command arguments with `--`.

The manual explains the mental model: classify failures with retry policy, choose a backoff schedule, set a retry limit, and optionally use exponential backoff to start aggressively while backing off during persistent outages.

Why package nerds care

attempt is package-nerd interesting because it turns a shell pattern into a dedicated binary. Instead of every script growing its own retry loop, timeout handling, jitter, and output predicate checks, the package offers a small auditable command.

It is also a tidy example of a Rust CLI whose package name and binary name differ: Homebrew packages attempt-cli, Cargo installs attempt-cli, but users run `attempt`.

Timeline

• 2025-09: GitHub release v1.0.1 published.
• 2025-09: GitHub release v1.1.0 published.
• 2026-01: GitHub release v1.1.1 published.

Related projects

• Related tools and patterns include wait-for-it.sh, retry loops in shell scripts, exponential-backoff libraries, timeout wrappers, and orchestration readiness checks in Docker Compose or CI scripts.

Sources

• Official Cargo.toml.
• Official GitHub releases API.
• Official README.
• Official mdBook manual intro and usage pages.