FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json"

[rupuengg]

Output of brew config

I am trying to install mongodb-community edition on my Mac OS 13.7

Trying to run below command
-> brew install mongodb-community@7.0
or
-> brew install mongodb-community


Getting below error


==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula.jws.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask.jws.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula_tap_migrations.jws.json
==> Downloading https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask_tap_migrations.jws.json
Warning: You are using macOS 13.
We (and Apple) do not provide support for this old version.

This is a Tier 3 configuration:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-3
You can report Tier 3 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document instead before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Fetching downloads for: mongodb-community@7.0
==> Fetching dependencies for mongodb/brew/mongodb-community@7.0: node and mongosh
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/9f64a6f8fe333d6fdd9563aa74522ab532d32757/Formula/n/node.rb
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
==> Fetching node
==> Downloading https://registry.npmjs.org/npm/-/npm-11.6.0.tgz
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
==> Downloading https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.9.0/node-v24.9.0.tar.xz
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/mongosh/manifests/2.5.8
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
==> Fetching mongosh
==> Downloading https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core/mongosh/blobs/sha256:f79e8236d5f43600af99d27057124f9fe0bac04702210437e3f73cfd6732b0da
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
==> Fetching mongodb/brew/mongodb-community@7.0
==> Downloading https://fastdl.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-macos-x86_64-7.0.25.tgz
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
==> Installing mongodb-community@7.0 from mongodb/brew
==> Installing dependencies for mongodb/brew/mongodb-community@7.0: node and mongosh
==> Installing mongodb/brew/mongodb-community@7.0 dependency: node
==> Installing node dependency: llvm
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/9f64a6f8fe333d6fdd9563aa74522ab532d32757/Formula/l/llvm.rb
############################################################################################################################################################### 100.0%
Error: An exception occurred within a child process:
  FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json".

Output of brew doctor

Nothing

Description of issue

Trying to install mongo but getting llvm issue.

[gromgit]

brew doctor outputting nothing is definitely not normal. Please post the output of brew config.

[rhysd]

I encountered this issue yesterday and could resolve it by reinstalling llvm formula.

brew reinstall llvm

[Calorion]

Had the same problem, with the same solution, with z3 (though I used “install” rather than “reinstall”).

[MariannaAtPlay]

Thank you so much! This saved me!

[micseydel]

I hit this issue, tried reinstalling llvm and that didn't work, but brew upgrade seems to have fixed it after taking >90 minutes.

[micseydel]

I tried installing Tkinter today and brew upgrade caused me to hit this again. Last time my environment broke, it took hours of waiting on brew to fix and (evidently) I didn't take good notes on it 🙃

Here's what the end of the output looked like this time, if it helps anyone:

==> Upgrading harfbuzz
  12.1.0 -> 12.2.0_1 
==> meson setup build --default-library=both -Dcairo=enabled -Dcoretext=enabled 
==> meson compile -C build --verbose
==> meson install -C build
🍺  /opt/homebrew/Cellar/harfbuzz/12.2.0_1: 77 files, 12.3MB, built in 20 seconds
==> Running `brew cleanup harfbuzz`...
Removing: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/harfbuzz/12.1.0... (77 files, 12.3MB)
Removing: /Users/micseydel/Library/Caches/Homebrew/harfbuzz--12.1.0.tar.gz... (35.5MB)
Removing: /Users/micseydel/Library/Caches/Homebrew/harfbuzz--12.2.0.tar.gz... (35.5MB)
==> Upgrading python@3.14
  3.14.0_1 -> 3.14.0_1 
Error: An exception occurred within a child process:
  FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json".

[micseydel]

I'll add... it happened on a Sunday last time too - October 19th. I doubt this is a "can't print on Tuesdays" bug but 🤷

[churris-x]

I'm getting the same error here while trying to brew install node. I get the error on some dependencies, but if I install them manually, it works, and then get's stuck on the very next formula

[varvashenya]

got same issue with brew install npm

...

Error: An exception occurred within a child process:
  FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json".

fixed by brew install llvm prior brew install npm
Took forever, but worked

==> Summary
🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/llvm/21.1.7: 9,238 files, 1.6GB, built in 259 minutes 19 seconds
...
==> Summary
🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/node/25.2.1: 2,270 files, 94.8MB, built in 188 minutes 16 seconds

Edit:

Warning: You are using macOS 13.
We (and Apple) do not provide support for this old version.

[jacktose]

Can you reproduce it with --debug?

Oddly, no in my case.

$ nice brew upgrade
...
==> Upgrading util-linux
  2.41.2 -> 2.41.3
==> Installing dependencies for util-linux: python@3.14, libgpg-error and gtk-doc
==> Installing util-linux dependency: python@3.14
[fails]

==> Upgrading libgpg-error
  1.57 -> 1.58
Error: An exception occurred within a child process:
  FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json".

$ nice brew upgrade --debug libgpg-error
==> Upgrading 1 outdated package:
libgpg-error 1.57 -> 1.58
==> Fetching downloads for: libgpg-error
✔︎ API Source libgpg-error.rb                                                                                                                                          Verified      1.7KB/  1.7KB
Warning: Building libgpg-error from source as the bottle needs:
- `HOMEBREW_CELLAR=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar` (yours is /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar)
- `HOMEBREW_PREFIX=/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew` (yours is /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew)
✔︎ Formula libgpg-error (1.58)                                                                                                                                         Verified      1.1MB/  1.1MB
==> Upgrading libgpg-error
  1.57 -> 1.58
==> ./configure --disable-silent-rules --enable-install-gpg-error-config --enable-static
==> make install
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/bin/gpg-error permissions from 755 to 555
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/bin/gpg-error-config permissions from 755 to 555
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/bin/gpgrt-config permissions from 755 to 555
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/bin/yat2m permissions from 755 to 555
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/lib/libgpg-error.a permissions from 644 to 444
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/lib/libgpg-error.so.0.41.1 permissions from 755 to 555
==> Fixing /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58/lib/pkgconfig/gpg-error.pc permissions from 644 to 444
🍺  /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.58: 51 files, 1.9MB, built in 47 seconds
==> Running `brew cleanup libgpg-error`...
Disable this behaviour by setting `HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP=1`.
Hide these hints with `HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1` (see `man brew`).
Removing: /data/shared/lusers/jacktose/homebrew/Cellar/libgpg-error/1.57... (51 files, 1.9MB)
Removing: /usr/lusers/jacktose/.cache/Homebrew/libgpg-error--1.57.tar.bz2... (1.1MB)
==> Installation times
libgpg-error             47.384 s

So that's nice I guess, but leaves me confused, and without any clean reproduction.

[crhoads1024]

Installing in another directory and Tah-Dahhh! Got the same issue again on the LLVM dependency.

==> Installing node dependency: llvm
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/0d929e42d1bc49f25add2b0abd8ee34c79ee1561/Formula/
################################################################################################################### 100.0%
Error: An exception occurred within a child process:
FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json".

Trying again with debug.

Be right back....

[crhoads1024]

Results with using --debug

$ brew install node --debug
Warning: You are using macOS 12.
We (and Apple) do not provide support for this old version.
You may have better luck with MacPorts which supports older versions of macOS:
https://www.macports.org

This is a Tier 3 configuration:
https://docs.brew.sh/Support-Tiers#tier-3
You can report Tier 3 unrelated issues to Homebrew/* repositories!
Read the above document before opening any issues or PRs.

==> Fetching downloads for: node
✔︎ API Source node.rb Verified 12.1KB/ 12.1KB
✔︎ Resource node--npm Verified 2.7MB/ 2.7MB
✔︎ Formula node (25.2.1) Verified 53.3MB/ 53.3MB
==> Installing node dependency: llvm
==> Downloading https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/2465001ca48e5dfb4e411e044c9ca560f1a2be2c/Formula/l/llvm.rb
############################################################################################################################################################################## 100.0%
Error: An exception occurred within a child process:
FormulaUnavailableError: No available formula with the name "formula.jws.json".
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb:875:in 'Formulary::NullLoader#get_formula'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb:1038:in 'Formulary.factory'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb:1084:in 'Formulary.factory_stub'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:367:in 'block in Homebrew::CLI::NamedArgs#load_formula_or_cask'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/api.rb:380:in 'Homebrew.with_no_api_env_if_needed'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:360:in 'Homebrew::CLI::NamedArgs#load_formula_or_cask'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:350:in 'Homebrew::CLI::NamedArgs#load_and_fetch_full_formula_or_cask'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:87:in 'block in Homebrew::CLI::NamedArgs#to_formulae_and_casks'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:86:in 'Array#each'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:86:in 'Enumerable#flat_map'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:86:in 'Homebrew::CLI::NamedArgs#to_formulae_and_casks'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/cli/named_args.rb:60:in 'Homebrew::CLI::NamedArgs#to_formulae'
/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/build.rb:270:in '

'

[crhoads1024]

Gave up using Home Brew to install node due to being on an older MacOS 12.7.6

Installed MacPorts and tried again....

The results were not much better than what I got with Homebrew.

---> Building nodejs24
Error: Failed to build nodejs24: command execution failed
Error: See /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_macports_release_tarballs_ports_lang_nodejs24/nodejs24/main.log for details.
Error: Follow https://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets if you believe there is a bug.
Error: Processing of port nodejs24 failed
---> Some of the ports you installed have notes:
db48 has the following notes:
The Java and Tcl bindings are now provided by the db48-java and
db48-tcl subports.

libomp has the following notes:
To use this OpenMP library:
* For clang-3.8+, or clang-3.7 with +openmp variant:
add "-fopenmp" during compilation / linking.
* For clang-3.7 without +openmp variant, use:
"-I/opt/local/include/libomp -L/opt/local/lib/libomp -fopenmp"
python313 has the following notes:
To make this the default Python or Python 3 (i.e., the version run by the 'python' or 'python3' commands), run one or
both of:

    sudo port select --set python python313
    sudo port select --set python3 python313

Full error log if anyone is interested.
main.log

[basilevs]

I had to uninstall tcl-tk to get past this error on MacOS Monterey 12.7.6

[jacktose]

Does anyone have a clue how this could happen?

I know that formula.jws.json is one of the files fetched from the API (see brew update --verbose etc.), but how & where did it get passed to something that expects a formula name?

[nick-bull]

rm -rf $(brew --cache) worked for me

[MariannaAtPlay]

Running into the same error when trying to install shopify-cli 😢
I am on Ventura 13.7.8

Solution offered by @rhysd earlier worked for me 🙏

brew reinstall llvm