Show HN: Minibrew – Run Homebrew packages without Homebrew

Python 3 (latest stable) packaged as a tiny ~12 MB signed DMG built from Homebrew bottles, with only the required dependencies included. I’m providing builds for the three most recent macOS major versions, both Intel and Apple Silicon.

The goal is simple: static, relocatable tooling without needing Homebrew installed at all. Download, mount, click install, enter a command, and use Python immediately. No Xcode. No CLT. No brew bootstrap, no environment churn.

The DMG themselves includes extensive docs explaining how they work and how to generate similar DMGs yourself from other Homebrew bottles. The only caveat: unless you sign + notarize your own builds like I did here, macOS will make you do the usual “System Settings → Privacy & Security → Approve Anyway” dance.

Basically: packaged brew software that behaves like a normal Mac app/tool instead of a package-manager dependency chain.

With this you can build and share a static snapshot of a collection of brew packages that can be saved and reused for as long as you have a macOS system of that major version ( which will be long after Homebrew itself abandons that macOS version )

All this has taken several years to develop, but was simply needed to simplify other software we produce. Sharing this freely for the community to use and enjoy as you wish because we find it useful and thought HN might as well.