diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/readall.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/readall.rb
index 399618dd80..9216f63770 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/readall.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/readall.rb
@@ -34,12 +34,9 @@ module Homebrew
     if ARGV.named.empty?
       formulae = Formula.full_names
     else
-      user, repo = tap_args
-      user.downcase!
-      repo.downcase!
-      tap = HOMEBREW_LIBRARY/"Taps/#{user}/homebrew-#{repo}"
-      raise "#{tap} does not exist!" unless tap.directory?
-      tap.find_formula { |f| formulae << f }
+      tap = Tap.new(*tap_args)
+      raise "#{tap} does not exist!" unless tap.installed?
+      formulae = tap.formula_files
     end
 
     formulae.sort.each do |n|
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/tap.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/tap.rb
index 6dc8c4da0a..3a0a1156b3 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/tap.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/tap.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
+require "tap"
+
 module Homebrew
   def tap
     if ARGV.empty?
-      each_tap do |user, repo|
-        puts "#{user.basename}/#{repo.basename.sub("homebrew-", "")}" if (repo/".git").directory?
-      end
+      puts Tap.names
     elsif ARGV.first == "--repair"
       migrate_taps :force => true
     else
@@ -14,35 +14,25 @@ module Homebrew
   end
 
   def install_tap user, repo, clone_target=nil
-    # we special case homebrew so users don't have to shift in a terminal
-    repouser = if user == "homebrew" then "Homebrew" else user end
-    user = "homebrew" if user == "Homebrew"
-
-    # we downcase to avoid case-insensitive filesystem issues
-    tapd = HOMEBREW_LIBRARY/"Taps/#{user.downcase}/homebrew-#{repo.downcase}"
-    return false if tapd.directory?
-    ohai "Tapping #{repouser}/#{repo}"
-    if clone_target
-      args = %W[clone #{clone_target} #{tapd}]
-    else
-      args = %W[clone https://github.com/#{repouser}/homebrew-#{repo} #{tapd}]
-    end
+    tap = Tap.new user, repo, clone_target
+    return false if tap.installed?
+    ohai "Tapping #{tap}"
+    args = %W[clone #{tap.remote} #{tap.path}]
     args << "--depth=1" unless ARGV.include?("--full")
     safe_system "git", *args
 
-    files = []
-    tapd.find_formula { |file| files << file }
-    puts "Tapped #{files.length} formula#{plural(files.length, 'e')} (#{tapd.abv})"
+    formula_count = tap.formula_files.size
+    puts "Tapped #{formula_count} formula#{plural(formula_count, 'e')} (#{tap.path.abv})"
 
-    if check_private?(clone_target, repouser, repo)
+    if !clone_target && tap.private?
       puts <<-EOS.undent
         It looks like you tapped a private repository. To avoid entering your
         credentials each time you update, you can use git HTTP credential
         caching or issue the following command:
 
-          cd #{tapd}
-          git remote set-url origin git@github.com:#{repouser}/homebrew-#{repo}.git
-        EOS
+          cd #{tap.path}
+          git remote set-url origin git@github.com:#{tap.user}/homebrew-#{tap.repo}.git
+      EOS
     end
 
     true
@@ -58,33 +48,9 @@ module Homebrew
 
   private
 
-  def each_tap
-    taps = HOMEBREW_LIBRARY.join("Taps")
-
-    if taps.directory?
-      taps.subdirs.each do |user|
-        user.subdirs.each do |repo|
-          yield user, repo
-        end
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
   def tap_args(tap_name=ARGV.named.first)
     tap_name =~ HOMEBREW_TAP_ARGS_REGEX
     raise "Invalid tap name" unless $1 && $3
     [$1, $3]
   end
-
-  def private_tap?(user, repo)
-    GitHub.private_repo?(user, "homebrew-#{repo}")
-  rescue GitHub::HTTPNotFoundError
-    true
-  rescue GitHub::Error
-    false
-  end
-
-  def check_private?(clone_target, user, repo)
-    !clone_target && private_tap?(user, repo)
-  end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/untap.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/untap.rb
index 937439e9df..dd66cec1be 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/untap.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/untap.rb
@@ -4,26 +4,16 @@ module Homebrew
   def untap
     raise "Usage is `brew untap <tap-name>`" if ARGV.empty?
 
-    ARGV.each do |tapname|
-      user, repo = tap_args(tapname)
+    ARGV.named.each do |tapname|
+      tap = Tap.new(*tap_args(tapname))
 
-      # We consistently downcase in tap to ensure we are not bitten by
-      # case-insensitive filesystem issues, which is the default on mac. The
-      # problem being the filesystem cares, but our regexps don't. So unless we
-      # resolve *every* path we will get bitten.
-      user.downcase!
-      repo.downcase!
+      raise "No such tap!" unless tap.installed?
+      puts "Untapping #{tap}... (#{tap.path.abv})"
 
-      tapd = HOMEBREW_LIBRARY/"Taps/#{user}/homebrew-#{repo}"
-
-      raise "No such tap!" unless tapd.directory?
-      puts "Untapping #{tapname}... (#{tapd.abv})"
-
-      files = []
-      tapd.find_formula { |file| files << file }
-      tapd.rmtree
-      tapd.dirname.rmdir_if_possible
-      puts "Untapped #{files.length} formula#{plural(files.length, 'e')}"
+      formula_count = tap.formula_files.size
+      tap.path.rmtree
+      tap.path.dirname.rmdir_if_possible
+      puts "Untapped #{formula_count} formula#{plural(formula_count, 'e')}"
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.rb
index c8e1dec54d..c01fb827a9 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.rb
@@ -27,14 +27,14 @@ module Homebrew
     # this procedure will be removed in the future if it seems unnecessasry
     rename_taps_dir_if_necessary
 
-    each_tap do |user, repo|
-      repo.cd do
-        updater = Updater.new(repo)
+    Tap.each do |tap|
+      tap.path.cd do
+        updater = Updater.new(tap.path)
 
         begin
           updater.pull!
         rescue
-          onoe "Failed to update tap: #{user.basename}/#{repo.basename.sub("homebrew-", "")}"
+          onoe "Failed to update tap: #{tap}"
         else
           report.update(updater.report) do |key, oldval, newval|
             oldval.concat(newval)