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+# Taps (third-party repositories)
+
+`brew tap` adds more repositories to the list of formulae that `brew` tracks, updates,
+and installs from. By default, `tap` assumes that the repositories come from GitHub,
+but the command isn't limited to any one location.
+
+## The command (`brew tap`)
+
+* `brew tap` without arguments lists the currently tapped repositories. For
+  example:
+
+```sh
+$ brew tap
+homebrew/core
+mistydemeo/tigerbrew
+dunn/emacs
+```
+
+* `brew tap <user/repo>` makes a shallow clone of the repository at
+  https://github.com/user/repo. After that, `brew` will be able to work on
+  those formulae as if they were in Homebrew's canonical repository. You can
+  install and uninstall them with `brew [un]install`, and the formulae are
+  automatically updated when you run `brew update`. (See below for details
+  about how `brew tap` handles the names of repositories.)
+
+* `brew tap <user/repo> <URL>` makes a shallow clone of the repository at URL.
+  Unlike the one-argument version, URL is not assumed to be GitHub, and it
+  doesn't have to be HTTP. Any location and any protocol that Git can handle is
+  fine.
+
+* Add `--full` to either the one- or two-argument invocations above, and Git
+  will make a complete clone rather than a shallow one. Full is the default for
+  Homebrew developers.
+
+* `brew tap --repair` migrates tapped formulae from a symlink-based to
+  directory-based structure. (This should only need to be run once.)
+
+* `brew untap user/repo [user/repo user/repo ...]` removes the given taps. The
+  repositories are deleted and `brew` will no longer be aware of their formulae.
+  `brew untap` can handle multiple removals at once.
+
+## Repository naming conventions and assumptions
+
+* On GitHub, your repository must be named `homebrew-something` in order to use
+  the one-argument form of `brew tap`.  The prefix 'homebrew-' is not optional.
+  (The two-argument form doesn't have this limitation, but it forces you to
+  give the full URL explicitly.)
+
+* When you use `brew tap` on the command line, however, you can leave out the
+  'homebrew-' prefix in commands.
+
+  That is, `brew tap username/foobar` can be used as a shortcut for the long
+  version: `brew tap username/homebrew-foobar`. `brew` will automatically add
+  back the 'homebrew-' prefix whenever it's necessary.
+
+## Formula duplicate names
+
+If your tap contains a formula that is also present in
+[`homebrew/core`](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core), that's fine,
+but it means that you must install it explicitly by default.
+
+If you would like to prioritize a tap over `homebrew/core`, you can use
+`brew tap-pin username/repo` to pin the tap,
+and use `brew tap-unpin username/repo` to revert the pin.
+
+Whenever a `brew install foo` command is issued, `brew` will find which formula
+to use by searching in the following order:
+
+* pinned taps
+* core formulae
+* other taps
+
+If you need a formula to be installed from a particular tap, you can use fully
+qualified names to refer to them.
+
+For example, you can create a tap for an alternative `vim` formula. Without
+pinning it, the behaviour will be
+
+```sh
+brew install vim                     # installs from homebrew/core
+brew install username/repo/vim       # installs from your custom repo
+```
+
+However if you pin the tap with `brew tap-pin username/repo`, you will need to
+use `homebrew/core` to refer to the core formula.
+
+```sh
+brew install vim                     # installs from your custom repo
+brew install homebrew/core/vim       # installs from homebrew/core
+```
+
+Do note that pinned taps are prioritized only when the formula name is directly
+given by you, i.e. it will not influence formulae automatically installed as
+dependencies.