macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install metashelllocal Homebrew formula metadata
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Install metashell with Homebrew
Metaprogramming shell for C++ templates. Version 5.0.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Metaprogramming shell for C++ templates
Project links
Commands and aliases
- metashell
- templight_metashell
history
Project history and usage
Metashell is a C++ template metaprogramming REPL: its project README describes the goal as providing an interactive shell for template metaprogramming, and the project documentation frames it as the C++ template analogue of Python, Haskell, or Erlang interactive shells. Its core niche is making compile-time C++ template evaluation inspectable without forcing developers to encode every experiment as compiler diagnostics.
Project history
The tool is tied to the mid-2010s wave of C++ metaprogramming tooling around Clang and Templight. Public Templight material names Abel Sinkovics and Andras Kucsma in connection with Metashell, and a Meeting C++ 2014 talk presented an interactive metaprogramming shell based on Clang. Metashell's own documentation says it uses Clang to evaluate metaprograms, while later discussion of Metashell 2.0.0 highlighted a GDB-like template metaprogram debugger.
How it is used
In practice, Metashell is used by C++ library authors and template-heavy codebases to experiment with types, evaluate metaprograms, and debug template instantiation flows. Boost.Metaparse documentation explicitly assumes Metashell can be used while building compile-time parsers, which places it in the same ecosystem as Boost.MPL, Metaparse, Clang, and Templight rather than in general-purpose C++ build tooling. The Homebrew package exposes both metashell and templight_metashell, matching that role as a specialist command-line tool for template metaprogramming work.
Sources
- https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/metashell
- https://github.com/metashell/metashell
- https://lists.boost.org/archives/list/boost%40lists.boost.org/thread/HCSZTS5QAA5UK3JPUYACBMKDDSTGMSY6/
- https://llvm.org/devmtg/2015-04/slides/EuroLLVM2015Templight.pdf
- https://plc.inf.elte.hu/templight/
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metashell/metashell/master/docs/index.md
- https://www.boost.org/doc/libs/latest/doc/html/metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html
security posture
Risk level: yellow
generalized runtime or code generation signal.
Risk classifier
yellow risk · medium confidence · runtime
Why
- generalized runtime or code generation signal
Signals
- text:shell
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
- Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.
- Build metadata lists 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
metashell | cli | global executable | |
templight_metashell | 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 version5.0.0
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamcurrent
latest detectedv5.0.0
https://github.com/metashell/metashell
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:metashell |
|---|---|
| Version | 5.0.0 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/metashell |
| Homepage | http://metashell.org |
| Repository | https://github.com/metashell/metashell |
| Upstream docs | http://metashell.org |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Source archive | https://github.com/metashell/metashell/archive/refs/tags/v5.0.0.tar.gz |
| Dependencies | zstd |
| Build dependencies | cmake |
| Uses from macOS | libedit, libxml2 |
| 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 | metashell |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
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.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment