Install iceberg-cli with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• iceberg

Project history

The CLI inherits its significance from Apache Iceberg, the open table format originally developed at Netflix and contributed to the Apache Software Foundation in 2018. Iceberg's format made table metadata, snapshots, schema evolution, hidden partitioning, and multi-engine access central to data-lake operations.

The Go implementation made Iceberg usable in Go services and small operational tools without requiring a JVM. Its CLI documentation explicitly says the command is built from `./cmd/iceberg` and that its usage is similar to PyIceberg's CLI, placing it in the growing family of non-Java Iceberg implementations.

Adoption history

The CLI reflects Iceberg adoption moving from engine-integrated libraries into packageable operational tools. The Apache Iceberg site lists Go alongside Python, Rust, and C++ as other implementations, while the Homebrew formula exposes the Go CLI directly as `iceberg`.

Its package-manager role is strongest for data engineers who want quick catalog checks, snapshot inspection, and maintenance commands from scripts, CI jobs, or a laptop shell.

How it is used

Typical use starts with a REST, Glue, Hive, or Hadoop catalog URI, optionally read from `~/.iceberg-go.yaml`. Commands cover listing namespaces, creating and describing tables, inspecting snapshots and refs, expiring snapshots, cleaning orphan files, rolling back tables, upgrading table format versions, and emitting JSON for downstream tooling.

The CLI is useful as a small operational companion to larger engines such as Spark, Flink, Trino, and Hive rather than as the primary compute engine for queries.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, `iceberg-cli` is the small executable edge of a very large lakehouse ecosystem. It packages the Iceberg control plane as a Go binary, avoiding a JVM for routine table metadata operations.

It also shows the maturation of Apache Iceberg beyond its reference Java library: the same table format is represented by dedicated Go docs, releases, and a Homebrew formula.

Timeline

• 2018: Iceberg was contributed to the Apache Software Foundation.
• 2020: Apache Iceberg graduated as an Apache top-level project.
• 2024: Apache Iceberg Go began publishing 0.x releases for the Go implementation.
• 2026: The Go CLI documentation covers catalog flags, config files, maintenance commands, refs, branches, tags, and JSON automation.

Related projects

• Apache Iceberg is the table format and Java reference implementation behind the ecosystem.
• PyIceberg is the Python implementation whose CLI behavior is referenced by the Go CLI documentation.
• Apache Iceberg Rust and C++ are sibling non-Java implementations listed by the Apache Iceberg documentation.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/iceberg-cli
• https://github.com/apache/iceberg-go
• https://github.com/apache/iceberg-go/releases
• https://go.iceberg.apache.org/cli.html
• https://iceberg.apache.org/
• https://news.apache.org/foundation/entry/asf-project-spotlight-apache-iceberg