brew services subcommands not tab-completing anymore

[atticusmatticus]

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.4.26
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: f1041842141f20bc701b522d4371d7843d905580
Last commit: 4 days ago
Branch: stable
Core tap JSON: 27 Mar 15:11 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 27 Mar 15:11 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: nvim
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 16
HOMEBREW_NO_ANALYTICS: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.3.7 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.3.7/bin/ruby
CPU: 16-core 64-bit arm_palma
Clang: 16.0.0 build 1600
Git: 2.49.0 => /opt/homebrew/bin/git
Curl: 8.7.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 15.3.2-arm64
CLT: 16.2.0.0.1.1733547573
Xcode: 16.2
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

Please note that these warnings are just used to help the Homebrew maintainers
with debugging if you file an issue. If everything you use Homebrew for is
working fine: please don't worry or file an issue; just ignore this. Thanks!

Warning: The following formulae have the same name as core formulae:
  sandreas/tap/mp4v2
  saulpw/vd/visidata
  smudge/smudge/imagesnap
Their taps are in use, so you must use these full names throughout Homebrew.

Warning: Putting non-prefixed coreutils in your path can cause GMP builds to fail.

Description of issue

When attempting to start/stop/list or use other subcommands of brew services tab-completion doesn't work anymore. So for example, I can tab-complete brew and services but when I type the following and try to complete list it doesn't work:

brew services l<TAB>

This worked as expected a few weeks ago. I haven't made any changes to my dot-files so I'm not sure why this is happening. Has anything changed in the homebrew code recently that would cause this kind of change? I have followed the instructions here for zsh-completions https://docs.brew.sh/Shell-Completion#configuring-completions-in-zsh. I am also running zinit and Oh My Zsh.

[Jonnyan404]

I'm having this issue as well

[cho-m]

This was a side effect of merging homebrew/services tap into main brew repo.

The following PR should be available on next brew release and will at least complete the subcommands:

• cmd/services: add named arguments. brew#19638

The descriptions won't be available yet. The following issue is for tracking improvements:

• Support subcommands in Homebrew::CLI::Parser brew#19639

[atticusmatticus]

Thanks for this explanation. I'll mark this as the answer for now and post here again if the next brew release doesn't fix this.

[cho-m]

I did give it a try as I am on developer mode (master branch). The fix should handle the first subcommand, e.g.

❯ brew config | grep VERSION
HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.4.26-144-g458c126

❯ brew services <tab>
- subcommand -
cleanup  info     kill     list     restart  run      start    stop

❯ brew services r<tab>
- subcommand -
restart  run

But as mentioned in follow up issue, it won't handle the next arg correctly. A proper fix requires a refactor of command handling so I wouldn't expect it in a short time frame (more likely in months unless anyone is interested in submitting a PR).

---

Currently, only fish users will get detailed completions as it uses separate logic:

❯ brew services <tab>
cleanup                                                  (Remove all unused services)
info
kill
list                                 (List all running services for the current user)
restart  (Stop and start service immediately and register it to launch at login/boot)
run                                      (Run service without starting at login/boot)
start             (Start service immediately and register it to launch at login/boot)
stop        (Stop service immediately and unregister it from launching at login/boot)

❯ brew services r<tab>
restart  (Stop and start service immediately and register it to launch at login/boot)
run                                      (Run service without starting at login/boot)

❯ brew services run <tab>
colima