diff --git a/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift b/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift
index c43e4e0..ce7fb7b 100644
--- a/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift
+++ b/BrewBar/BrewBarApp.swift
@@ -150,26 +150,28 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
     /// prompt whenever brew needs admin rights (no terminal is attached to
     /// Process). If two brew commands overlap, the later one's text wins —
     /// harmless, since prompts realistically only appear during upgrades.
-    static func writeAskpassScript(for command: String) -> URL {
+    static func writeAskpassScript(message: String) -> URL {
         let dir = FileManager.default.urls(for: .applicationSupportDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0]
             .appendingPathComponent("BrewBar", isDirectory: true)
         try? FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: dir, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
 
         // the text lands inside shell single quotes AND an AppleScript string;
         // whitelist characters that cannot break out of either
-        let safeCommand = command.filter { $0.isLetter || $0.isNumber || " ._@+=:/-".contains($0) }
+        let safeMessage = message.filter { $0.isLetter || $0.isNumber || " ._@+=:/-".contains($0) }
 
         let url = dir.appendingPathComponent("askpass.sh")
         let script = """
         #!/bin/zsh
-        osascript -e 'display dialog "BrewBar needs your administrator password to run:\\n\\nbrew \(safeCommand)" default answer "" with hidden answer with title "BrewBar" with icon caution buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button "OK"' -e 'text returned of result'
+        osascript -e 'display dialog "BrewBar needs your administrator password to \(safeMessage)." default answer "" with hidden answer with title "BrewBar" with icon caution buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button "OK"' -e 'text returned of result'
         """
         try? script.write(to: url, atomically: true, encoding: .utf8)
         try? FileManager.default.setAttributes([.posixPermissions: 0o700], ofItemAtPath: url.path)
         return url
     }
 
-    func runBrew(_ command: String, completion: @escaping (String) -> Void = { _ in }) {
+    /// askpassMessage customizes the sudo dialog ("...password to <message>.");
+    /// defaults to naming the brew command.
+    func runBrew(_ command: String, askpassMessage: String? = nil, completion: @escaping (String) -> Void = { _ in }) {
         DispatchQueue.global().async {
             let brew = self.resolveBrewPath()
             let cleaned = command.replacingOccurrences(of: "brew ", with: "")
@@ -184,7 +186,7 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
             process.arguments = arguments
 
             var environment = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment
-            environment["SUDO_ASKPASS"] = Self.writeAskpassScript(for: cleaned).path
+            environment["SUDO_ASKPASS"] = Self.writeAskpassScript(message: askpassMessage ?? "run: brew \(cleaned)").path
             process.environment = environment
 
             let pipe = Pipe()