Read-only inventory
Scans on-disk package metadata and Mac App Store receipts using folders you explicitly grant through macOS.
Now on the Mac App Store
Understand every developer package on your Mac.
Installory brings Homebrew, pip, pipx, npm, Cargo, RubyGems, and Mac App Store receipts into one read-only inventory. It then adds plain-English context, duplicate and review-candidate analysis, and optional local install provenance.
Read-only
Scans package metadata. It does not uninstall packages.
No network
No analytics, accounts, ads, or package inventory uploads.
Manual cleanup
Generates scripts for you to review and run in Terminal.
Built for cautious cleanup.
Installory separates understanding from removal. It shows what exists, explains what it can, and leaves destructive work in your hands.
Reviewable cleanup scripts
When you choose cleanup, Installory generates commands for you to inspect, copy, save, and run manually in Terminal.
Private by design
No tracking, analytics, ads, account system, network calls, or package inventory transmission.
Know what arrived and why it may be here.
Package managers show their own lists. Installory brings those lists together, adds bundled explanations, and helps you inspect relationships across managers without changing the system.
Plain-English context
See a package's manager, version, install location, dependencies, and a bundled description without a network lookup.
Cross-manager duplicates
Find tools installed by more than one manager or in multiple managed locations, then see which copy your current PATH is likely to use.
Review candidates, not verdicts
Surface explicitly installed packages with no same-manager dependents. Installory calls them review candidates, never “unused,” because it does not monitor how you work.
Optional install provenance
If you opt in, Installory can compare package timestamps with local shell install commands and Claude Code Bash events. The result is best-effort evidence, stays on your Mac, and can be erased in Settings.
Built for the AI-coding era
Your coding assistant added another tool. Where did it come from?
Whether you work with Claude Code, Cursor, or another assistant, the resulting package-manager metadata can outlive the session that created it. Installory gives you a local inventory after the fact. For Claude Code, optional install tracing can also connect matching Bash events to nearby package timestamps.
- Install tracing is off by default and requires an explicit folder grant.
- Shell-history and Claude Code evidence is processed and stored locally, never uploaded.
- Attribution is deliberately labeled as evidence, not certainty.
- Installory does not read Cursor transcripts; it still inventories packages those sessions leave in supported manager directories.
More context than seven separate package lists.
Installory does not replace your package managers. It gives you one place to understand what their separate inventories mean together.
| Capability | Installory | Separate manager commands |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory | One view across Homebrew, pip, pipx, npm, Cargo, RubyGems, and receipt-bearing Mac App Store apps | A separate command and output format for each manager |
| Explanations | Bundled plain-English descriptions with no network request | Usually names, versions, and manager-specific metadata |
| Duplicate analysis | Cross-manager and multi-location groups, with PATH context where available | Manual comparison across command output and shell configuration |
| Review candidates | Same-manager dependency clues, explicitly labeled as review signals | Separate dependency graphs that you interpret yourself |
| Install provenance | Optional local shell-history and Claude Code evidence | Not part of ordinary list commands |
| Cleanup | Generates a reviewable script and never executes it | You compose and run live manager commands yourself |
Snapshot first, script second, run last.
Cleanup is a three-step flow you control. Installory can record the current inventory, generate a shell script for you to inspect, and then step out of the way.
- A snapshot records what was present before cleanup. Installory can compare it later and generate reinstall guidance, but exact versions and sources are not recoverable for every manager.
- Dependency and common-essential warnings provide review signals; they are not a guarantee that removing a package is safe.
- Installory never runs the script for you. It stays in your hands until you decide.
Nothing is hidden behind an uninstall button.
Generated scripts are plain text. Common essentials are treated cautiously, and Installory does not execute the script for you.
- Review every command before running it.
- Run cleanup manually in Terminal only when you are comfortable.
- Installory never emits network requests or sends your inventory anywhere.
#!/usr/bin/env bash # Cleanup script generated by Installory. # Review every line before running. # Installory did not run this script. set -euo pipefail echo "brew uninstall wget" brew uninstall wget # WARNING: common essential. Uncomment only if certain. # brew uninstall openssl@3
Questions before you grant access.
Installory is intentionally conservative about what it can see, what it claims, and what it leaves for you to decide.
Is Installory safe to scan with?
Scanning is read-only. Installory parses package metadata only inside folders you grant through macOS. It does not run package-manager commands, modify those folders, or execute generated scripts.
Can a cleanup script break my system?
Any uninstall command can remove something you still need. Installory comments out known essentials and shows dependency clues, but those checks cannot prove a removal is safe. Review every generated command and run only the lines you understand.
Why not just use brew list, pip list, or npm list?
Those commands are useful within one ecosystem. Installory combines supported managers, adds offline descriptions, highlights cross-manager duplicates and review candidates, and keeps a consistent snapshot and script workflow around the result.
Does Installory need administrator access?
Installory does not request administrator privileges to scan. macOS asks you to choose readable folders. A package-manager command that you later run yourself may have its own permission requirements.
What does install tracing read?
Only after you enable it in Settings → Privacy and grant access, Installory can read local zsh, bash, and fish history plus selected Claude Code project-log fields. It looks for install events near package timestamps, processes them locally, and lets you revoke access or erase saved evidence.
Does Installory read Cursor conversations?
No. Installory can inventory supported packages left behind by any coding tool, but optional AI-session attribution currently uses local Claude Code evidence only.
Is Installory really free?
Yes. Installory is free on the Mac App Store, has no ads, accounts, subscriptions, or in-app purchases, and its source is available under the MIT License. Ko-fi support is optional.
Get Installory for macOS.
Free, native, and read-only. Download it on the Mac App Store and inventory your packages in seconds. Privacy label: Data Not Collected. MIT-licensed open source.
Installory is free software. If it saved you time, you can chip in. It is completely optional.
Privacy label: Data Not Collected.
The app has no tracking, analytics, ads, accounts, or package-inventory transmission. Its optional local provenance and the website's support form are disclosed separately and plainly.
Questions or bug reports?
Support covers folder access, scans, and cleanup scripts, with a contact form and direct email. We aim to reply within two business days.