aspm - AI Skill Package Manager

A Git-based package manager designed for AI-assisted development, similar to npm but supporting skills, agents, commands, hooks, and any AI resource types.

Features

• 📦 Two Project Modes: Publish project (aspub.yaml) and consumer project (aspkg.yaml)
• 🔗 Distributed Dependency Management: Reference packages directly via Git URL, no central registry needed
• 🏷️ Flexible Version Control: Support for Git tag/branch/commit
• 📥 Simplified Version Rules: Auto-selects the maximum version satisfying all dependencies
• 🔧 Universal Design: Not limited to skills, supports any AI resource type
• 🔌 Multi-Format Support: Install both aspm packages and Claude Code plugin repositories

Installation

Quick Install

Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arkylab/aspm/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arkylab/aspm/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/arkylab/aspm.git
cd aspm
cargo build --release

The compiled binary will be at target/release/aspm (or aspm.exe on Windows).

Quick Start

Creating a Consumer Project (If you are a skill consumer)

# Initialize a consumer project
aspm init --consumer

# This creates aspkg.yaml

Configure aspkg.yaml

# Installation target directory
install_to: 
  - .claude    # Install to Claude Code plugin directory

dependencies:
  superpowers:
    git: "https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git"
    branch: "main"

Install Dependencies

aspm install
# After running `aspm install`, all dependencies are ready. If you are using Claude Code, you can now restart Claude code to load the new skills. Sometimes, you may need to restart it twice.

✅ That's all you need to do as a skill consumer

Creating a Publish Project (If you are a skill provider)

Publish projects allow you to share your AI resources with others.

Supported Repository Formats:

Format	Description	Recommended
aspm Format	Repository with aspub.yaml at root	✅ Yes
Claude Plugin Format	Repository with skills/, agents/, etc. directories at root	⚠️ No
Single Skill Format	Repository with only SKILL.md at root	⚠️ No

aspm recommends the aspm Format because it provides:

• ✅ Explicit control over what gets published
• ✅ Support for transitive dependencies
• ✅ Automatic dependency resolution

# Initialize a publish project
aspm init my-skill-pack
# This creates aspub.yaml (publish configuration).
# aspub.yaml and aspkg.yaml can coexist in the same project - one for publishing your own resources, one for consuming dependencies.

Configure aspub.yaml

name: my-skill-pack
version: 1.0.0
description: "A pack of useful AI resources"
author: "Your Name"
license: MIT

# Install target for this package's own dependencies (optional)
install_to:
  - .claude

# Dependencies (optional)
dependencies:
  core-utils:
    git: "https://github.com/user/utils.git"
    tag: "v1.0.0"

# Resources to publish (paths relative to aspub.yaml location)
publish:
  skills:
    - skills/brainstorming/
    - skills/writing-plans.md
  commands:
    - commands/code-review.md

Create Your Skills

The directory structure is fully customizable via aspub.yaml:

# aspub.yaml
name: my-skill-pack
version: 1.0.0

# Publish specific resources with optional regex patterns
# Paths are relative to aspub.yaml location
publish:
  skills:
    - skills/brainstorming/      # match directory (trailing /)
    - skills/writing-plans.md      # match file
    - "skills/^test-.*/"         # regex: match directories starting with test-
  commands:
    - commands/code-review.md       # match file

Corresponding directory structure:

my-skill-pack/
├── aspub.yaml
├── skills/
│   ├── brainstorming/
│   │   └── SKILL.md
│   ├── writing-plans.md
│   └── test-helpers/           # matched by "^skills/test-.*/"
└── commands/
    └── code-review.md             # file (no trailing /)

Publish Path Rules:

Pattern	Behavior
skills/brainstorming	Match skills/brainstorming file only
skills/brainstorming/	Match skills/brainstorming/ directory only (trailing /)
skills/^test-.*/	Regex - match directories under skills/ starting with test-
commands/^.*\.md$	Regex - match all .md files

Regex is auto-detected when path contains metacharacters: ^ $ . * + ? [ ] ( ) { } | \

Supported Repository Formats

aspm supports three repository formats:

1. aspm Format (Recommended)

Repositories with aspub.yaml at root. This is the recommended format because:

• ✅ Explicit control over what gets published
• ✅ Support for selective publishing (only specified resources)
• ✅ Transitive dependency support

2. Claude Code Plugin Format

Repositories without aspub.yaml but with resource directories at root:

superpowers/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json
├── skills/
│   └── brainstorming/
│       └── SKILL.md
├── agents/
├── commands/
├── hooks/
└── rules/

Installing Claude Code Plugins

# aspkg.yaml
dependencies:
  superpowers:
    git: "https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git"
    branch: "main"

3. Single Skill Format

Repositories with only a SKILL.md file at root (no standard directories). aspm auto-wraps it in a skills/ directory structure during installation.

Install Modes

aspm supports two installation modes:

Plain Mode (Default)

Copies resources to <target>/<type>/<pkg>/:

.agents/
├── skills/
│   └── my-pack/
│       └── my-skill/
└── commands/

Note: Supported directories: skills, agents, commands, hooks, rules

Claude Mode

Copies entire repo to <target>/-plugins/<pkg>/ and updates settings.local.json:

.claude/
├── -plugins/
│   └── my-pack/
│       ├── .claude-plugin/
│       │   └── marketplace.json
│       └── skills/
└── settings.local.json

Note: If the source repository lacks .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, aspm auto-generates it with the package name as marketplace name (suffixed with -dev).

Mode Configuration

# Multiple targets with auto mode: .claude path → Claude mode, others → Plain mode
install_to:
  - .claude
  - .agents
# Or
# Explicit mode configuration
# install_to:
#   - path: .claude
#     mode: claude
#   - path: .agents
#     mode: plain

dependencies:
  superpowers:
    git: "https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git"
    branch: "main"

Installation Directory Structure

All packages are installed with namespace isolation to prevent conflicts. Example with install_to: [.claude, .agents]:

.claude/                          # Claude mode (auto-detected)
├── -plugins/
│   └── superpowers/              # Package name
│       ├── commands/
│       ├── skills/
│       │   ├── brainstorming/
│       │   │   └── SKILL.md
│       │   └── writing-plans/
│       │       └── SKILL.md
│       └── .claude-plugin/
│           └── marketplace.json
└── settings.local.json           # Updated with plugin paths

.agents/                          # Plain mode (auto-detected)
├── skills/
│   └── superpowers/              # Package name as subdirectory
│       ├── brainstorming/
│       │   └── SKILL.md
│       └── writing-plans/
│           └── SKILL.md
└── commands/
    └── superpowers/

CLI Commands

# Initialization
aspm init <name>              # Create a publish project
aspm init --consumer          # Create a consumer project

# Dependency Management
aspm install                                                # Install all dependencies
aspm install --to <dir>       # Install to specific directory
aspm install --extra <file>   # Merge extra config
aspm install --aspkg <file>   # Use custom aspkg.yaml path
aspm install --extra local.yaml --to .cursor --aspkg ./config/aspkg.yaml  # Combined options
aspm add <name> --git <url>                        # Add dependency (auto-detect default branch)
aspm add <name> --git <url> [--branch | --tag | --commit] <ref>  # Add with specific branch or tag or commit
aspm add <name> --git <url> --aspkg <file>          # Add to specific aspkg.yaml
aspm add <name> --git <url> --aspub                 # Add to aspub.yaml
aspm add <name> --git <url> --overwrite             # Overwrite existing dependency
aspm remove <name>            # Remove dependency
aspm remove <name> --aspkg <file>  # Remove from specific aspkg.yaml
aspm remove <name> --aspub         # Remove from aspub.yaml

# Cache Management
aspm cache clean              # Clear all cached repositories
aspm cache dir                # Show cache directory
aspm cache list               # List cached repositories

Configuration Files

Publish Project (aspub.yaml)

name: my-skill-pack
version: 1.0.0
description: "A pack of useful AI resources"
author: "Your Name"
license: MIT

# Install target for this package's own dependencies
# Required if you have dependencies defined below
install_to:
  - .claude

# Resources to publish (paths relative to aspub.yaml location)
# Supports regex patterns (auto-detected by metacharacters)
publish:
  skills:
    - skills/brainstorming/      # match directory (trailing /)
    - skills/writing-plans.md      # match file
    - "skills/^test-.*/"         # regex: match directories starting with test-
  commands:
    - commands/code-review.md       # match file

# Dependencies (optional)
dependencies:
  core-utils:
    git: "https://github.com/user/utils.git"
    tag: "v1.0.0"

Consumer Project (aspkg.yaml)

# Global install targets (used if dependency has no own install_to)
install_to:
  - .claude

dependencies:
  my-skill-pack:
    git: "https://github.com/user/pack.git"
    tag: "v1.0.0"
    # Optional: override global install_to for this dependency
    install_to:
      - .cursor

Extra Config File

Use --extra to merge additional dependencies (extra file overrides aspkg.yaml):

# extra.yaml
install_to:
  - .cursor

dependencies:
  my-skill-pack:
    git: "https://github.com/user/pack.git"
    branch: develop
    install_to:
      - .cursor

aspm install --extra extra.yaml

Version Rules

aspm uses simplified version rules:

• Auto-selects the maximum version satisfying all dependencies
• Tags/branches matching version format (e.g., v1.0.0) participate in version comparison

dependencies:
  skill-a:
    git: "https://..."
    tag: "v1.2.0"      # Exact tag
  
  skill-b:
    git: "https://..."
    branch: "develop"  # Specific branch
  
  skill-c:
    git: "https://..."
    commit: "a1b2c3d4" # Exact commit

License

MIT