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Uninstalls one or more formulas from your system, removing both the symlinks and the installation metadata.

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Usage

zb uninstall <FORMULAS>... [OPTIONS]

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Arguments

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FORMULAS
string[]
One or more formula names to uninstall. Required unless --all is used.Examples: jq, wget, git

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Options

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--all
boolean
Uninstall all currently installed formulas. When this flag is used, you don’t need to specify individual formula names.Warning: This will remove all packages installed with zerobrew.
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--root
path
Environment: ZEROBREW_ROOTOverride the root directory for zerobrew’s content-addressable store.
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--prefix
path
Environment: ZEROBREW_PREFIXOverride the prefix directory where packages are linked.
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--concurrency
number
Default: 20Number of concurrent operations to perform.
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--auto-init
boolean
Alias: --yesEnvironment: ZEROBREW_AUTO_INITAutomatically initialize zerobrew if not already set up.

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Examples

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Uninstall a single package

zb uninstall jq

==> Uninstalling jq...

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Uninstall multiple packages

zb uninstall wget git

==> Uninstalling wget, git...
    ○ wget... ✓
    ○ git... ✓

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Uninstall all packages

zb uninstall --all

==> Uninstalling jq, wget, git, openssl@3, pcre2...
    ○ jq... ✓
    ○ wget... ✓
    ○ git... ✓
    ○ openssl@3... ✓
    ○ pcre2... ✓
If no packages are installed: 
No formulas installed.

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Behavior

When you uninstall a formula, zerobrew:
  1. Removes symlinks from the prefix directory (e.g., /usr/local/bin)
  2. Removes installation metadata from the local database
  3. Keeps store entries - the actual files remain in the content-addressable store
To clean up unused store entries, use zb gc after uninstalling packages.

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Error Handling

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Formula not installed

If you try to uninstall a package that isn’t installed: 
Error: Formula 'nonexistent' is not installed

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Partial failures

When uninstalling multiple packages, zerobrew will attempt to uninstall all of them even if some fail: 
zb uninstall jq wget nonexistent

==> Uninstalling jq, wget, nonexistent...
    ○ jq... ✓
    ○ wget... ✓
    ○ nonexistent... ✗
Error: Failed to uninstall nonexistent: Formula 'nonexistent' is not installed

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Comparison with Homebrew

FeaturezerobrewHomebrew
Uninstall commandzb uninstallbrew uninstall
Uninstall allzb uninstall --allbrew uninstall $(brew list)
Remove dependenciesManual with zb gcbrew autoremove
Store cleanupzb gcAutomatic
  • zb install - Install packages
  • zb list - List installed packages
  • zb gc - Clean up unused store entries
  • zb reset - Uninstall everything and reset zerobrew

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