Homebrew Services: Complete Tutorial

Need to run MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, or other services on your Mac? Homebrew Services makes it easy to start, stop, and manage background services without dealing with launchctl directly.

This guide covers everything you need to know about brew services — from basic commands to troubleshooting common issues.

What are Homebrew Services?

Many development tools need to run as background processes (daemons). Databases like MySQL, caching systems like Redis, and web servers like nginx all need to stay running in the background.

Homebrew Services is a wrapper around macOS's native launchctl that makes managing these services simple. Instead of writing complex plist files, you use straightforward commands.

Essential Commands

Listing All Services

To see all services and their status:

brew services list

Example output:

Name       Status  User     File
mysql      started johndoe  ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
postgresql stopped
redis      started johndoe  ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.redis.plist
nginx      none

Status meanings:

• started: Running and will auto-start on boot
• stopped: Not running
• none: Installed but never configured as a service
• error: Failed to start (check logs)

Starting and Stopping Services

Start a Service

# Start MySQL and enable auto-start on boot
brew services start mysql

# Start without auto-start (runs until you stop it or reboot)
brew services run mysql

Stop a Service

# Stop MySQL and disable auto-start
brew services stop mysql

Restart a Service

# Restart MySQL (useful after config changes)
brew services restart mysql

Common Services Setup

# Install and start MySQL
brew install mysql
brew services start mysql

# Secure the installation
mysql_secure_installation

# Install and start PostgreSQL
brew install postgresql@16
brew services start postgresql@16

# Create a database
createdb myapp_development

# Install and start Redis
brew install redis
brew services start redis

# Test connection
redis-cli ping

# Install and start nginx
brew install nginx
brew services start nginx

# Test: open http://localhost:8080

# Install and start Mailhog
brew install mailhog
brew services start mailhog

# Web UI: http://localhost:8025

Service Logs and Troubleshooting

Check Service Info

brew services info mysql

This shows the plist file location, log file paths, and current status.

View Service Logs

Most services log to ~/Library/Logs/Homebrew/ or their own log directories:

# MySQL logs
tail -f /opt/homebrew/var/mysql/*.err

# PostgreSQL logs
tail -f /opt/homebrew/var/log/postgresql@16.log

# nginx logs
tail -f /opt/homebrew/var/log/nginx/error.log

Common Issues

Service shows "error" status

# Check what went wrong
brew services info service-name

# Try restarting
brew services restart service-name

# Check logs for details
cat ~/Library/Logs/Homebrew/service-name.log

Port already in use

# Find what's using the port (e.g., 3306 for MySQL)
lsof -i :3306

# Kill the process if needed
kill -9 PID

Service won't stop

# Force stop by removing the plist
launchctl remove homebrew.mxcl.service-name

# Clean up
brew services cleanup

Running Services as Root

By default, services run as your user. To run as root (needed for ports below 1024):

sudo brew services start nginx

Root services use /Library/LaunchDaemons/ instead of ~/Library/LaunchAgents/.

Managing Multiple Services

Start All Services

brew services start --all

Stop All Services

brew services stop --all

Restart All Services

brew services restart --all

Service Files Location

Homebrew stores service plist files in:

• User services: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.*.plist
• Root services: /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.*.plist

You can edit these files for advanced configuration, but changes may be overwritten on package updates.

Quick Reference

# List all services
brew services list

# Start a service (with auto-start)
brew services start mysql

# Start without auto-start
brew services run mysql

# Stop a service
brew services stop mysql

# Restart a service
brew services restart mysql

# Get service info
brew services info mysql

# Clean up old service files
brew services cleanup

Summary

Homebrew Services makes managing background processes on macOS straightforward. Whether you're running a development database, cache server, or web server, a few simple commands handle everything.

For an even easier experience, Taphouse lets you manage services with a visual toggle — no Terminal required.