I last tested these instructions on macOS Ventura 13.3.1.

Introduction

In this step-by-step guide, you'll learn how to install Git with Homebrew in six easy steps.

What is Git?

Git is a distributed version control system widely used in software development to track changes made to source code files. GitHub and BitBucket are services built on top of Git.

If you're new to Git, head to my Introduction to Git. You can check all my posts about Git here.

Prerequisite 1: Command Line Developer Tools

Installing the Command Line Developer Tools is the first thing you must do to start setting up your Mac for software development. When you do that, you get Git as part of the package.

The problem is that it takes work to keep that Git installation updated. That's why we install a new version of Git with Homebrew and one that's easy to update.

But first things first, if you still need to install the Command Line Developer Tools or need clarification, head to my guide on How to install Command Line Developer Tools on macOS, then get back here to proceed.

Prerequisite 2: Homebrew

Homebrew is a popular package manager for macOS that simplifies the installation and management of software packages and libraries. It allows users to easily install, update, and uninstall a wide range of command-line tools and applications from a vast repository of packages.

If you still need to install Homebrew or need clarification, head to my guide on How to install and use Homebrew on macOS, then get back here to proceed.

Step 1. Check your Git version

Let's check which version of Git you have installed by running the following command:

You should see something like the following:

Also, take a look at where this Git version is installed by running this:

You should see an output like this:

Step 2. Update Homebrew itself

Before proceeding, let's update Homebrew itself to have everything fresh:

Step 3. Check if you don't have a Homebrew-installed Git version already

You might already have Git installed with Homebrew and can't remember it, or maybe you're just curious to learn how to check that.

To see all packages you have installed with Homebrew, run the following command:

If you can't see Git listed, you don't have it installed!

An easier way to check for a specific package when you have too many installed with Homebrew is by running the list command with the name of the package after it, like the following:

If you have Git installed, you'll get an output with several lines starting with something like this:

In that case, you can head to the How to update Git section at the end of this post.

Otherwise, you should get this:

In that case, let's move on.

Step 4. Check the latest available Git version on Homebrew

It's pretty easy to install Git using Homebrew, but before proceeding, let's find out the latest version of Git available on Homebrew. To do that, run the following command:

The first line of the output should be something like the following:

With that information, you can compare this version with the one you already have installed (we checked that in Step 1). So after the installation, you can ensure the latest version, the Homebrew-installed version, takes precedence over the one installed with the Command Line Developer Tools.

Step 5. Install Git with Homebrew on macOS

Now let's finally install the latest Git version using Homebrew. To do that, run the following command:

You should see a bunch of output and something like the following close to the bottom:

That means Homebrew installed Git successfully!

Step 6. Check the installation

Now, if you open a new Terminal window or tab and run $ git --version, you should see the just installed version.

To make it work on your current Zsh instance, you must run the following command to reload it, making the installation changes take effect:

Now if you run $ git --version, you should see the latest one!

And if you run $ which git, you should see this:

Instead of this (as before):

Congrats, you now have Git installed with Homebrew and can easily update it! 🎉

Let's see how next.

How to update Git

The whole point of installing another version of Git with Homebrew is that you can easily update it by running the following command:

And that's it. 😎

Bonus: Global settings

The first thing you should do when you install Git is to set your name and email address. That's important because every Git commit uses this information to identify its author.

To do that, run the following commands:

Don't forget to replace Your Name and youremail@example.com.

Using the --global argument makes it globally available for Git, so it's used in any Git repository you work with. If you want to override that information for a specific repo, go to that repo's root directory and run that command without the --global argument.

You can run the following command to double-check your info:

You should see a bunch of information, including user.name and user.email.

Conclusion

And that's it for this guide. I hope you enjoyed it!

Thank you for reading, and let me know if you have any issues or suggestions in the comments below.

Related posts

How to set up your Mac for software development
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How to sign Git commits with SSH keys on macOS
How to install and run Node.js with nvm on macOS
Introduction to Git
Git Workflow
Git Basic Commands Explained
Git Branching and Merging
Git Tagging
Git Remote and Tracking Branches

Interesting links

Git
Pro Git Book