brew-services

Manage background services for Homebrew packages

TLDR

List all services

$ brew services list

Start a service

$ brew services start [postgresql]

Stop a service

$ brew services stop [postgresql]

Restart a service

$ brew services restart [postgresql]

Run service in foreground

$ brew services run [postgresql]

Stop all services

$ brew services stop --all

Clean up unused services

$ brew services cleanup

SYNOPSIS

brew services [subcommand] [formula] [options]

brew services manages background services for installed Homebrew formulae. On macOS, it uses launchd with LaunchAgent plist files. On Linux, it uses systemd user units.
Services configured with this command start automatically on user login.

PARAMETERS

--all

Apply to all services

--json

Output in JSON format

--file path

Use custom service file

SUBCOMMANDS

list

List all managed services and their status

start formula

Start service and configure for login startup

stop formula

Stop service and disable login startup

restart formula

Restart service

run formula

Run service in foreground (no login startup)

cleanup

Remove unused service files

info formula

Show service information

SERVICE FILES

macOS

~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.<formula>.plist

Linux

~/.config/systemd/user/homebrew-<formula>.service

CAVEATS

On Linux, requires a running user systemd instance. Common use cases include databases (postgresql, mysql), caches (redis), and web servers. Use run for development to avoid startup configuration.

HISTORY

Introduced in Homebrew 0.9.9 (February 2014) for macOS launchd support. Linux/systemd support was added via Linuxbrew and merged into core Homebrew by 2020.