Workbrew 1.1 Release Notes

We’ve shipped a whole bunch of new features and capabilities since 1.0 in only a few months!

Here’s a roundup of the powerful new features to help MacAdmins, IT professionals, and security teams to better manage their Homebrew environments at scale.

From role-based access control to automated remote management, this update is designed to streamline workflows, enhance security, and improve collaboration across your teams.

Policies: Keep Your Fleet Secure and Compliant

Workbrew now enables a dedicated device policy enforcement view, ensuring your team stays within security and compliance guidelines.

For Admins:

• Prevent unauthorized or non-compliant Homebrew packages from being installed.
• Reduce security risks by blocking restricted software across all devices.

For Your Team:

• Get real-time feedback when blocked by viewing the Admin contact information directly from Homebrew in your Terminal, so you know who to reach out to for help.

And coming soon!

• Automated package updates to keep your fleet secure by upgrading outdated or vulnerable software.
• Allow list for Taps to restrict which sources of Homebrew packages employees can install from.
• Deny list for software licenses to help enforce open-source compliance and avoid legal risks.

‍Policies are now available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

Multiple Default Packages: Target the Right Software to the Right Devices

Workbrew now supports multiple lists of Default Packages, allowing admins to create any number of custom Brewfiles which can then be targeted at either a team of people’s devices (via Device Groups), an individual device or your entire fleet.

For Admins:

• Assign software packages dynamically – apply a default set of packages to:
  
  • Specific teams or departments (e.g. Engineering, Security, Machine Learning).
  • The entire company for core applications.
  • Individual devices that require custom setups.
• Ensure consistency across teams without manual intervention.
• Reduce onboarding time by automatically installing the right tools for new employees.

For Your Team:

• Start working immediately with a pre-configured environment which is optimised for your organisation or team – no need to find and install all the default tools manually.

‍Multiple Default Packages are now available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

Automated Remote Management: Reduce Manual Work

Automate device provisioning and software management with scheduled and on-demand tasks to help you manage software across your fleet without logging into each device manually.

For Admins:

• Auto-run commands on newly provisioned devices.
• Schedule brew commands to ensure consistency.

For Your Team:

• Devices are always up to date with the latest approved software—no manual updates needed.

‍Automated Remote Management capabilities are now available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC) for your workspace

Admins now have fine-grained control over who can access what within their Workbrew workspace.

For Admins:

• Manage who has permission to make changes in Workbrew.

For Your Team:

• Reduce accidental misconfigurations by limiting access based on user roles.

New Roles & Permissions:

• Read – Can view data but cannot make changes or invite new users.
• Write – Can read and write data but cannot manage users.
• Administrator – Full access, including user management and invites.

Role Based Access Controls (RBAC) is now available on Enterprise plans only.

Easily Manage and Distribute Internal Tools

Simplify how your team accesses private taps and internal tools – no more token management juggling or need for unnecessary GitHub access. Just connect a private tap to your Workbrew workspace and all of your enrolled devices now have instant access to the internal software they need to be productive at work.

For Admins:

• Simplified authentication – no more managing personal GitHub tokens.
• Centralized software management – track who has access and who is using what internal tools.

For Your Team:

• Installing private software is now as easy as: brew install internal-tool

‍Workspace Private Tap Support for one Tap connection is now available on Pro plans. Enterprise plans can connect unlimited Taps.

Export Just the Table Data You Need to JSON/CSV

Need to analyze different types of Workbrew data across your fleet? Workbrew now supports exporting any page’s table data to JSON or CSV – so that you can gain instant access to critical data for reporting & compliance checks.

‍Page-by-Page Table Data Exports are now available on all plans. Exporting a ‘firehose’ of all JSON/CSV data is Enterprise only.

REST API for Exporting Data & Remote Management

Take full control of Workbrew from your existing DevOps workflows.

• Send monitoring data to Splunk, Datadog, or other analytics tools.
• Automate package upgrades and other common brew commands programmatically – no need to log into the Workbrew Console.

Check out our REST API documentation which includes example commands which dynamically handle your API key in order to help you get started quicker.

‍Read-only REST APIs are now available on all plans. The REST API for Creating Brew Commands is for Pro and Enterprise plans only.

Notifications: New Event Types for Real-Time Alerts

We’ve expanded the Workbrew notifications system with new event types to help you stay informed about critical events as they happen. You can continue to choose email, Slack, or webhooks (or any combination) to deliver alerts for:

• New Vulnerabilities – Take action quickly when potential security risks are identified.
• Brew Command Failures on Specific Devices – Catch errors early and troubleshoot before they escalate.
• Billing Failures – Stay on top of payment issues to keep your Workbrew subscription running smoothly.

Email and Slack notifications are available on all plans. Webhooks are an Enterprise only feature.

Login: Expanded Microsoft Account Support

We’ve enhanced the Workbrew login process to support Microsoft corporate/business accounts, in addition to personal Microsoft logins. This update makes it easier for teams in enterprise environments to seamlessly access Workbrew using their existing organizational credentials.

‍Microsoft Business Account Login is available on all plans.

New Integrations for Popular MDMs: JumpCloud & Microsoft Intune

Workbrew now integrates seamlessly with two important enterprise MDM solutions, making the connection between brew and your MDM even easier.

• Sync device inventory and ownership data across systems.
• Quickly navigate between Workbrew and your MDM platform.
• Easily track and manage enrolled devices.

JumpCloud and Microsoft Intune MDN Integrations are now available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

Security and Compliance

In case you missed it, Workbrew has achieved SOC 2 compliance and recently completed a security audit by leading cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits. We’re committed to maintaining enterprise-grade security and trust for our users. You can find both reports in Workbrew’s Trust Center for detailed insights into our security posture and processes.

What’s Next?

Workbrew is continuing to evolve based on your feedback. Let us know what features would make it even better for your team!

Got questions? Reach out to us or check out the documentation for detailed guides on all our features.