Coverage chart / Keybase

How to update Keybase on your Mac

Keybase is published as the Homebrew cask keybase, and the app can also update itself. Below is how to run that update yourself, then how Floodtide does it for you, alongside every other app on the Mac. Homebrew describes Keybase as "End-to-end encryption software".

Update Keybase by hand

  1. Let Keybase update itself. Open Keybase. It checks for new versions on its own, and if it has not offered one yet, look in the Keybase menu, or under Help or its preferences, for Check for Updates, then let it download and relaunch.
  2. Upgrade the Homebrew cask. If you installed Keybase with Homebrew, open Terminal and run brew upgrade --cask keybase. Homebrew downloads the current build and replaces the app in your Applications folder.
  3. Or download it from keybase.io. Otherwise get the current build from keybase.io, which is the same download Homebrew points at. Quit Keybase, open the download and put the new Keybase in Applications in place of the old one: a disk image is dragged across, an installer package runs its own steps. Your settings and documents live outside the app and are kept.
brew upgrade --cask keybase

That is one app. The same walk, through a different menu or page each time, is what every other app on the Mac asks of you, which is where Floodtide comes in.

The shorter route: one click in Floodtide

Floodtide reads the same Homebrew record for Keybase that the brew command above does, without needing Homebrew installed, to learn which version is current. When yours is behind, the row appears under Updates with the version it will move to and the download size. Pressing Update, or Update All, does the rest:

  • The vendor's own build is downloaded, several apps at a time, with real progress.
  • The download is verified against the developer signature of the installed copy; Gatekeeper must accept it before anything is replaced.
  • Keybase is asked to quit politely if it is open, and never forced.
  • The bundle is swapped and the old version kept for seven days, so Undo Last Update always works.
  • The replacement's code signature is checked; a build signed worse than the one you had is rolled back automatically.

Keybase's publisher does not publish a checksum, so Floodtide verifies each download by requiring the same developer signature as the copy already installed, and Gatekeeper has to accept it before anything is replaced.

If Keybase lives in a folder macOS protects, the swap asks for your administrator password once for the whole batch, exactly as the Finder does when you install anything by hand.

What Floodtide knows about Keybase

Floodtide reads
the Homebrew cask keybase
Developer
keybase.io
Version the source named on 18 October 2026
6.6.3
Downloads come from
prerelease.keybase.io
Installed by Floodtide
Yes, in one click, with the rest of your apps.
Updates itself
Yes, when you open it. Floodtide covers it anyway, so the Mac is checked whether or not you do.
Each download is checked against
the developer signature already on the installed copy, and Gatekeeper

Read from the source on 18 October 2026. The app reads it live.

Questions about Keybase

Does Floodtide update Keybase?

Yes. Keybase also ships its own updater, so it can keep itself current when you launch it. Floodtide covers it anyway, because a self-updating app only updates when you happen to open it, and it tells you nothing about the other apps on the Mac. Floodtide shows Keybase beside everything else and updates the whole set in one pass.

How does Floodtide install a new version of Keybase?

It downloads the vendor's official build, verifies it carries the same developer signature as the copy already installed and passes Gatekeeper, quits Keybase if it is running, swaps the bundle, and keeps the previous version for seven days so the update can be undone.

Will updating Keybase lose my settings?

No. Floodtide replaces the application only. Preferences, licences and documents live outside it and are untouched.