install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install comby

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#comby

nixpkgs package indexes · comby · source: raw.githubusercontent.com

overview

Package summary

Tool for changing code across many languages

Project links

Commands and aliases

comby

history

Project history and usage

Comby is a structural search-and-replace tool for source code. It occupies the space between regex-based text replacement and full language-specific refactoring engines.

Project history

Comby's documentation presents the core idea as lightweight matching of syntactic structures such as balanced delimiters, strings, and comments across many languages. The README frames it as a practical alternative when regular expressions become fragile for nested code constructs.

Adoption history

The official README documents Homebrew installation on macOS, binaries for Ubuntu-like Linux systems, Docker images, Windows use through WSL, and source builds through OCaml/opam. The supplied package-manager metadata lists Homebrew and Nix, while the upstream distribution story emphasizes prebuilt binaries and containers.

How it is used

Users write templates with holes such as `:[condition]` to match code structures and replacements that preserve or transform matched parts. Comby is commonly used for large mechanical code changes, interactive review of rewrites, and language-aware searches where plain `sed` or regexes are too coarse.

Why package nerds care

Comby matters to package nerds because it packages a source-to-source transformation engine as a single CLI spanning many languages. Its OCaml implementation, PCRE linkage, binary distribution, Docker image, and Homebrew/Nix formulas make it a useful case study in shipping a specialized developer tool beyond one language ecosystem.

Timeline

2019: Public Comby materials and README examples emphasized structural matching compared with regex approaches.
2020: The Comby website and documentation moved into a refreshed Docusaurus site.
2022: Comby blog posts documented experiments with type information for safer rewrites.

Related projects

Comby is related to `sed`, regular-expression search tools, language-server and code-intelligence workflows, Sourcegraph-style code search, and language-specific refactoring engines.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
Installs with 3 runtime dependencies.
Build metadata lists 5 build dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`comby`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08

manager version1.8.1

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamcurrent

latest detected1.8.1

https://github.com/comby-tools/comby

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:comby
Version	1.8.1
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/comby
Homepage	https://comby.dev
Repository	https://github.com/comby-tools/comby
Upstream docs	https://comby.dev/docs/basic-usage
License	Apache-2.0
Source archive	https://github.com/comby-tools/comby/archive/refs/tags/1.8.1.tar.gz
Dependencies	gmp, libev, pcre
Build dependencies	autoconf, gmp, ocaml@4, opam, pkgconf
Uses from macOS	m4, sqlite, unzip
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	comby
Version Scheme	0
Revision	1
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	yes
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

comby

nix profile install nixpkgs#comby

normalized package name match
Matched by: Comby

nixpkgs package indexes · raw.githubusercontent.com · nixpkgs package indexes: comby from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/comby.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install comby with Homebrew, Nix