How to Fix Homebrew Command Not Found After Installing It on macOS Without Pretending the Shell Will Discover It by Telepathy

Why this issue is embarrassingly common: Homebrew often installs correctly. The shell just never got told where to find it.

Typical failure:

brew: command not found

Step 1: know the likely install path

On Apple Silicon Macs, Homebrew usually lives at:

/opt/homebrew/bin/brew

On Intel Macs, it is often:

/usr/local/bin/brew

Test both:

ls /opt/homebrew/bin/brew
ls /usr/local/bin/brew

Step 2: initialize the shell correctly

If Apple Silicon:

echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

If Intel:

echo 'eval "$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"

Step 3: reload and verify

source ~/.zprofile
which brew
brew --version

If which brew still returns nothing, your shell config file may not be the one this terminal session loads.

Step 4: inspect PATH

echo $PATH

You should see either /opt/homebrew/bin or /usr/local/bin in the path depending on your machine.

Bottom line

When brew is not found after installation, it is usually a shell initialization problem, not a failed Homebrew install. Put the right brew shellenv line in the right profile and verify the active PATH.

Sources

• Homebrew installation docs
• Homebrew FAQ