Install odinfmt with Homebrew, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• odinfmt

Project history

The OLS repository was created on November 3, 2020 as editor tooling for Odin. Its README describes the project as a language server intended to stay aligned with the master branch of Odin, which explains why formatter packaging is tied to fast-moving Odin tooling rather than a separate formatting standard project.

The official Odin showcase page for OLS, dated July 2, 2023, describes editor support and the implementation goal of fast completion and go-to-definition, with additional features layered around that core. odinfmt fits into the same practical-tooling layer: keep Odin code mechanically consistent while the language evolves.

Adoption history

Adoption follows Odin's editor ecosystem rather than broad standalone popularity. The OLS README lists clients including VS Code, Sublime, Vim, Neovim, Emacs, Helix, and Micro, and Homebrew and Arch package odinfmt for users who want formatting without building the repository themselves.

On July 1, 2026, the GitHub repository API reported 1,048 stars and 163 forks for OLS, a useful signal that the language-server-and-formatter toolchain has become part of the working Odin developer setup.

How it is used

Developers use `odinfmt` to format Odin source files and can control style options through `odinfmt.json`. The OLS README documents options such as tab handling, tab width, brace style, case indentation, line endings, and import sorting.

Because OLS tracks Odin master, odinfmt is most useful for developers working near the language's development edge, where editor tooling and formatter behavior need to follow syntax and style changes quickly.

Why package nerds care

The package is a neat example of a subtool split out of a larger upstream repository: the Homebrew formula exposes only the formatter while pointing to the language-server source tree. That makes packaging metadata more precise than upstream branding, which is exactly the kind of distinction package indexes need to preserve.

For package managers, odinfmt also shows the cost of immature language ecosystems: formatter behavior, editor integration, and compiler syntax can all move together, so packagers must decide whether to follow snapshots, development tags, or source builds.

Timeline

• November 3, 2020: The OLS GitHub repository was created.
• July 2, 2023: Odin's official showcase published a page for OLS, describing its role in editor support.
• May 2026: Arch Linux packaged odinfmt from the OLS base package, and Homebrew listed odinfmt as a standalone formula for the Odin formatter.

Related projects

• odinfmt is directly related to Odin and OLS. It is also adjacent to Odin editor extensions because language-server setup, completion, go-to-definition, and formatting are usually installed together.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/DanielGavin/ols
• https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/odinfmt/
• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/odinfmt
• https://github.com/DanielGavin/ols
• https://odin-lang.org/showcase/ols/