# Install cmus with Homebrew, apk, apt, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper Music player with an ncurses based interface. Version 2.12.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-06. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:cmus ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install cmus ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install cmus ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: audio/cmus/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add cmus ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cmus from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install cmus ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: cmus from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#cmus ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/cm/cmus/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S cmus ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: cmus from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install cmus ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:cmus - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 2.12.0 - **Source summary:** Music player with an ncurses based interface - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-2.0-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-07-06T22:52:18Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - cmus (cli) - cmus-remote (cli) - cmus (alias) - cmus-remote (alias) ## Dependencies - faad2 - ffmpeg - flac - libao - libvorbis - mad - ncurses - opusfile ## Build dependencies - pkgconf ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 2.12.0 - Package-manager updated: 2026-07-06 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/cmus/cmus - Upstream latest detected: v2.12.0 (current) ## Project history and usage cmus is a small, fast console music player for Unix-like systems, built around an ncurses interface, plugin-based audio I/O, a keyboard-driven library, playlists, filters, and the cmus-remote control tool. ### Project history The official repository credits Timo Hirvonen for 2004-2008 copyright and later work to various authors, reflecting a long-running community-maintained C project. The project now lives at github.com/cmus/cmus with an official website at cmus.github.io. ### Adoption history cmus became a standard terminal-audio package across Unix package managers. The batch input lists packages in Alpine, Homebrew, Debian, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Ubuntu, and openSUSE, and the upstream README documents build dependency sets for Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/RHEL, Arch, Alpine, Termux, and Homebrew. ### How it is used Users run cmus in a terminal, add music to the library, switch among numbered views for library, sorted library, playlist, queue, browser, filters, and settings, and control playback through keybindings or cmus-remote. ### Why package nerds care cmus is a classic package-manager favorite because it is small, ncurses-native, scriptable, and useful on headless machines or minimal desktops. It also exercises distro audio stacks through optional input and output plugins while remaining a compact C package. ### Timeline - 2004: Earliest copyright year credited to Timo Hirvonen in the official README. - 2008: Copyright attribution expands to various authors. - 2015: 2.6.x and 2.7.x releases added features such as JACK, Opus, sndio, and optional mouse support. - 2019: 2.8.0 added CoreAudio output, D-Bus MPRIS support, and multiple-playlist support. - 2024: 2.11.0 and 2.12.0 releases continued UI, build, and plugin maintenance. ### Related projects - cmusfm integrates with cmus as a Last.fm scrobbler via cmus status_display_program. - mpd and MOC occupy nearby terminal/daemon music-player space, while cmus-remote is the official companion control command. ### Sources - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Configuration and credential file locations These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval. ## Configuration files - Unix: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/cmus/rc ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** cmus - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 3 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - cmus - 2.12.0-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: cmus from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | lightweight ncurses audio player | https://cmus.github.io/ - Debian apt - cmus-plugin-ffmpeg - 2.12.0-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: cmus-plugin-ffmpeg from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | lightweight ncurses audio player (FFmpeg plugin) | https://cmus.github.io/ - Nix - cmus: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/cm/cmus/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - cmus - 2.10.0-4build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: cmus from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | lightweight ncurses audio player | https://cmus.github.io/ - Ubuntu apt - cmus-plugin-ffmpeg - 2.10.0-4build3: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: cmus-plugin-ffmpeg from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | lightweight ncurses audio player (FFmpeg plugin) | https://cmus.github.io/ - apk - cmus - 2.12.0-r3: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cmus from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | feature-rich ncurses-based music player | https://cmus.github.io/ - apk - cmus-bash-completion - 2.12.0-r3: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cmus-bash-completion from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Bash completions for cmus | https://cmus.github.io/ - apk - cmus-doc - 2.12.0-r3: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cmus-doc from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | feature-rich ncurses-based music player (documentation) | https://cmus.github.io/ - apk - cmus-zsh-completion - 2.12.0-r3: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: cmus-zsh-completion from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Zsh completions for cmus | https://cmus.github.io/ - pacman - cmus - 2.12.0-5: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: cmus from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Feature-rich ncurses-based music player | https://cmus.github.io/ - zypper - cmus - 2.12.0-3.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Text-mode music player | https://cmus.github.io/ - zypper - cmus-plugin-cdio - 2.12.0-3.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus-plugin-cdio from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | CDIO plugin for the C* Music Player | https://cmus.github.io/ - zypper - cmus-plugin-cue - 2.12.0-3.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus-plugin-cue from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | CUE input plugin for the C* Music Player | https://cmus.github.io/ - zypper - cmus-plugin-ffmpeg - 2.12.0-3.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus-plugin-ffmpeg from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | FFmpeg input plugin for the C* Music Player | https://cmus.github.io/ - zypper - cmus-plugin-flac - 2.12.0-3.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus-plugin-flac from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | FLAC input plugin for the C* Music Player | https://cmus.github.io/ - zypper - cmus-plugin-jack - 2.12.0-3.5: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: cmus-plugin-jack from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | JACK output plugin for the C* Music Player | https://cmus.github.io/ ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Media and graphics packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/media-graphics-tools/) - Matched media, image, audio, video, or graphics metadata. - [faad2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/faad2/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [ffmpeg](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffmpeg/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [flac](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/flac/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [ncurses](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ncurses/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [moc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/moc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, console, media, music-player. - [adplay](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/adplay/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, music-player. - [cava](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cava/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, terminal. - [kew](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/kew/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, music-player, terminal. - [mikmod](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mikmod/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, music-player. - [mp3blaster](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mp3blaster/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, ncurses, terminal. - [mpd](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mpd/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, music-player. - [rmpc](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rmpc/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: audio, cli, media, music-player. - [audacious](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/audacious/) - Both packages work with overlapping file formats or content types. Shared terms: audio, cli, faad2, ffmpeg, flac. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/cmus.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/cmus.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated configuration and credential file locations - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph