Applite

A native macOS app store for software that isn't on the App Store, backed by Homebrew Cask.

1. What Sets Applite Apart
2. Comparison
3. Key Features
4. Screenshots
5. Download
6. Built With
7. Development and AI
8. Contact
9. Roadmap
10. Contributing
11. Packages Used
12. Credits
13. License
14. Alternatives

Applite brings its own Homebrew. Every other Homebrew GUI expects brew to already be on the machine, which means the user has opened a Terminal and installed the Xcode Command Line Tools first. Applite downloads a Homebrew tarball into its own Application Support directory on first launch and runs it from there, in API mode behind a git shim.

• No Terminal, no Command Line Tools. Applite can be the first app on a fresh Mac.
• Brewfile import and export, so restoring your apps on a new machine is a file and a checklist.
• Casks only, by design. No formulae, no services, no CLI surface. Apps in categories, with icons and a search field.
• Uses your existing Homebrew if you have one. Point it at any prefix in Settings.

Three actively developed alternatives worth knowing about. All of them are good software solving a slightly different problem.

Comparison drawn in August 2026; check the projects themselves for current state.

• Install, update, and uninstall apps in one click
• Self-contained Homebrew installation, no Command Line Tools required
• Works with an existing Homebrew installation if you have one
• Handpicked gallery of apps, plus full-catalog FTS5 search
• Brewfile import and export for migrating to a new Mac
• Casks from custom taps
• System proxy support (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5)
• Localized in 7 languages
• Free and open source, no telemetry

Download DMG

or

$ brew install --cask applite

Minimum OS version: macOS 14+. Universal binary, Apple Silicon and Intel.

Swift and SwiftUI, targeting macOS 14 so @Observable and NavigationSplitView are available without back-deployment shims. No Combine. The cask catalog is a local SQLite database (GRDB.swift, WAL mode) synced from the Homebrew JSON API, with FTS5 and BM25 ranking for full-catalog search. Loading is two-stage: SQLite paints the UI immediately, then brew list --cask and brew outdated --cask fill in installed and outdated state reactively, so nothing blocks on the brew CLI.

Architecture notes are in CLAUDE.md.

I'm the sole maintainer of Applite. Starting with version 1.4, I use Claude Code as part of my development workflow, and I'd rather state that plainly than leave people to guess.

The reason is capacity. This is a side project maintained by one person, and the realistic alternative to AI-assisted development is not hand-written code, it's a much slower release cycle or no releases at all. Several things that shipped recently, the SQLite migration and the six-language localization among them, would have sat in the backlog indefinitely otherwise.

Scope of what that actually means:

• The core of the app was written by hand, before any AI involvement.
• AI assistance is used for refactoring and reorganization work, and for small to medium sized new features.
• Architecture decisions, code review, and what does and doesn't go into the app are mine. Nothing merges that I haven't read.

If you object to AI-assisted code on principle, that's a legitimate position and Cork is explicitly developed without it.

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me: milan@aerolite.dev

Or join the Official Discord Server.

FAQ on the official website.

I don't have much time for development, but I release updates periodically.

View the roadmap.

The project is open to contributions. See the Contribution Guidelines for more information.

For typos and minor bugs, open a PR directly. For anything larger, open an issue or bring it up on Discord first, so we don't both spend time on something that doesn't fit the project's scope.

• Homebrew - the package manager everything is built on
• GRDB.swift, Gwendal Roué - SQLite database and FTS5 search
• Sparkle - app updates
• Kingfisher, Wei Wang - image downloading and caching
• ButtonKit, Thomas Durand - async buttons
• SwiftUI-Shimmer, Vikram Kriplaney - loading placeholders

App icons are sourced from CaskFlow by Ali Elsokary (MIT), a metadata pipeline that extracts icons from vendor .icns files. Casks without a CaskFlow icon fall back to a generated monogram tile.

Applite is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more details.

Compared above:

• CaskHub - cask-focused app store with strong discovery features
• BrewUI - Homebrew's official GUI, in early development
• Cork - full-featured Homebrew GUI for power users

Others:

• WailBrew (Go, Wails, React)
• Brewer X (paid)
• BrewMate (Electron based)
• Brewlet (menu bar app)
• App Fair (looks discontinued)
• Cakebrew (discontinued)