Install iamb with Homebrew, apk, Nix, winget, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• iamb

Project history

The GitHub repository was created on August 25, 2021. The public origin issue, opened on December 30, 2022, states the goal plainly: a Matrix client for the terminal that uses Vim keybindings for editing messages and managing windows.

The documentation describes iamb as a terminal-based Matrix client for Vim users, with features including threads, spaces, end-to-end encryption, read receipts, image previews, notifications, room management, message editing and redaction, custom keybindings, and multiple profiles. It also notes that much of the Vim emulation comes from the author's modalkit crate.

The release stream visible on GitHub begins with v0.0.7 in March 2023 and includes v0.0.8 in July 2023, v0.0.9 in March 2024, v0.0.10 in August 2024, and v0.0.11 in January 2026.

Adoption history

iamb's adoption follows the route of Rust terminal applications: crates.io installation, source builds with Cargo, and distribution packages. The README lists package-manager installation paths for Arch AUR, FreeBSD, Gentoo GURU, Homebrew, NetBSD, Nix/NixOS, openSUSE Tumbleweed, and Snap.

Homebrew packages iamb as a Matrix client for Vim addicts and records Rust and pkgconf as build-time dependencies. Repository metadata showed more than a thousand stars by 2026, consistent with a recognizable terminal-chat niche.

How it is used

Users configure iamb with a TOML file under the XDG config directory, defining profiles with Matrix user IDs and optional homeserver URLs. The application is then used as an interactive terminal client for rooms, direct messages, spaces, invitations, message sending, editing, reactions, and navigation.

Its strongest usage pattern is keyboard-first chat for users who already expect Vim motions and split/window metaphors. The feature set also makes it interesting for terminal environments that support richer image protocols such as sixel, Kitty, or iTerm2.

Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about iamb because it is a good example of the newer Rust TUI packaging wave: a networked end-user app, not only a developer utility, distributed through Cargo and several operating-system package managers.

Its PACKAGING.md also gives maintainers explicit guidance about system SQLite/TLS linking, LTO, desktop metadata, icons, examples, and man pages, which is exactly the sort of upstream packaging surface that makes distribution maintainers' lives easier.

Timeline

• 2021: GitHub repository created.
• 2022: Origin issue opened for a Vim-keybinding Matrix terminal client.
• 2023: v0.0.7 and v0.0.8 releases published.
• 2024: v0.0.10 added features including direct-message room marking, external editor suffix configuration, notification controls, alias commands, and packaging metadata work.
• 2026: v0.0.11 release published; Homebrew packaged iamb as a Rust-built Matrix terminal client.

Related projects

• iamb is built around Matrix and relates to the Matrix Rust SDK ecosystem.
• modalkit supplies much of its Vim-style editing and window-management behavior; terminal UI and image-preview dependencies are part of the surrounding Rust TUI ecosystem.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/iamb
• https://github.com/ulyssa/iamb
• https://github.com/ulyssa/iamb/blob/main/PACKAGING.md
• https://github.com/ulyssa/iamb/issues/1
• https://github.com/ulyssa/iamb/releases
• https://iamb.chat/