# Install veryfasttree with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts, Nix Efficient phylogenetic tree inference for massive taxonomic datasets. Version 4.0.5 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:veryfasttree ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install veryfasttree ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install veryfasttree ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: science/veryfasttree/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install veryfasttree ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: veryfasttree from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#veryfasttree ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ve/veryfasttree/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:veryfasttree - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 4.0.5 - **Source summary:** Efficient phylogenetic tree inference for massive taxonomic datasets - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-3.0-only AND BSD-3-Clause AND MPL-2.0 - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T18:08:21+00:00 ## Executables - VeryFastTree (cli) - VeryFastTree (alias) ## Dependencies - libomp ## Build dependencies - boost - cmake - robin-map - xxhash ## Uses from macOS - bzip2 ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 4.0.5 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/citiususc/veryfasttree - Upstream latest detected: v4.0.5 (current) - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. ## Project history and usage VeryFastTree is a phylogenetic tree inference tool for very large sequence alignments. It is a tuned implementation of FastTree-2 that keeps the same broad methods and command-line interface while adding parallelization, vectorization, deterministic execution, and later memory-management improvements. ### Project history The project began publicly in 2019 and was introduced in a 2020 Bioinformatics paper by researchers at CiTIUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. The paper framed VeryFastTree as a response to FastTree-2's limited scalability: FastTree-2 was already a successful large-phylogeny tool, but important maximum-likelihood rearrangement and posterior-distribution steps did not scale well across threads. VeryFastTree v3.0 refactored and optimized the FastTree-2 code in C++ with OpenMP, added more complete vector-instruction support, parallelized major tree-improvement phases, and made same-thread-count parallel runs deterministic. The authors reported that a 330,000-sequence alignment could be processed in 4.5 hours on a standard server, substantially faster than FastTree-2 in their benchmark. Version 4.0, described in a 2024 GigaScience paper, pushed the same idea to million-taxon datasets. It parallelized more tree traversal operations, including subtree pruning and regrafting moves, added compressed and new file-format support, improved compatibility, and introduced disk-computing functionality for users without enough RAM for the largest jobs. ### Adoption history The project deliberately preserved FastTree-2's command-line arguments so researchers could replace a FastTree-2 invocation with `VeryFastTree` and keep the same workflow. That compatibility is an important adoption mechanism in bioinformatics, where command lines are often embedded in scripts, notebooks, and pipeline definitions. The 2024 paper and project README point to research-community adoption by emphasizing availability, packaging in scientific software channels, and Python bindings. Its relevance grew with the scale of modern sequencing datasets, where tree-building for hundreds of thousands or millions of taxa is a practical bottleneck rather than an edge case. ### How it is used VeryFastTree is used to infer approximate maximum-likelihood phylogenies from nucleotide or protein alignments in formats such as FASTA, FASTQ, NEXUS, and PHYLIP. Users typically pass the same options they would pass to FastTree-2, adding VeryFastTree-specific controls when tuning thread count, deterministic mode, vector extensions, disk computing, or GPU-related experimental paths. Its package-nerd appeal is that it is a drop-in performance replacement rather than a new workflow to learn. In a field full of heavyweight scientific tools, keeping the old command surface while changing the performance envelope is a practical way to get into existing pipelines. ### Why package nerds care VeryFastTree matters because it turns a known scientific workhorse into something more suitable for current dataset sizes. It preserves the pragmatic FastTree-2 tradeoff of fast approximate maximum-likelihood inference, but makes that tradeoff viable on larger multicore servers and, with v4.0, on million-taxon alignments. ### Timeline - 2019-12-02: GitHub repository created. - 2020-06-23: Bioinformatics paper published introducing VeryFastTree for large alignments. - 2020-06-25: v3.0 GitHub release published. - 2023-06: v4.0 release introduced new thread levels and broader parallelization. - 2024-08-08: GigaScience paper published describing VeryFastTree 4.0 and million-taxon benchmarks. ### Related projects - FastTree-2: the direct methodological and command-line ancestor. - RAxML, PhyML, and IQ-TREE: other maximum-likelihood phylogeny tools discussed in the Bioinformatics paper as part of the large-tree inference landscape. - VeryFastTree Python bindings: a related package for embedding the tool in Python workflows. ### Sources - - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** veryfasttree - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - veryfasttree - 4.0.4+dfsg-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: veryfasttree from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Speeding up the estimation of phylogenetic trees from sequences | https://github.com/citiususc/veryfasttree - Nix - veryfasttree: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ve/veryfasttree/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - veryfasttree - 4.0.3+dfsg-1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: veryfasttree from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Speeding up the estimation of phylogenetic trees from sequences | https://github.com/citiususc/veryfasttree - MacPorts - veryfasttree: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: science/veryfasttree/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Scientific computing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/scientific-computing-tools/) - Matched scientific computing metadata. - [cmake](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cmake/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [xxhash](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/xxhash/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [fastme](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/fastme/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science. - [paml](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/paml/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science. - [trimal](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/trimal/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science. - [raxml-ng](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/raxml-ng/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science, tree-inference. - [hyphy](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/hyphy/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science. - [iqtree3](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/iqtree3/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science. - [mrbayes](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/mrbayes/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, phylogenetics, science. - [abpoa](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/abpoa/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: bioinformatics, cli, science. - [kraken2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/kraken2/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: bioinformatics, cli, libomp, science, taxonomic. - [btllib](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/btllib/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: bioinformatics, cli, libomp, science. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/veryfasttree.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/veryfasttree.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph