Agent Package Manager

An open-source dependency manager for AI agents. Think package.json, requirements.txt, or Cargo.toml — but for AI agent configuration.

AI coding agents need context and capabilities to be useful — instructions, skills, prompts, plugins, MCP servers. But today, every developer configures theirs differently. Copying files, writing instructions from scratch, sharing knowledge in Slack threads. None of it is portable. None of it is versioned.

APM fixes this. You declare your project’s agent configuration once in apm.yml — skills, prompts, instructions, agents, hooks, plugins, MCP servers — and every developer who clones your repo gets a fully configured agent setup in seconds. New developer joins the team? git clone, cd, apm install. Done.

One Manifest, Every Primitive

apm.yml declares skills, instructions, prompts, agents, hooks, plugins, and MCP servers. Like package.json for agent configuration.

Dependencies That Resolve

Packages depend on packages. APM resolves the full tree — transitive dependencies just work, like npm or pip.

Any Git Host

Install from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, or any self-hosted git server.

Copilot & Claude Ready

Works with GitHub Copilot and Claude today. The same manifest, the same setup, across agents.

Quick Start

# Install APM
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/apm/main/install.sh | sh

# Add packages to your project
apm install microsoft/apm-sample-package
apm install anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design

Example: apm.yml

# apm.yml — ships with your project, like package.json
name: your project
version: 1.0.0
dependencies:
  apm:
    # Skills from any GitHub repository
    - anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design
    - microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure/plugin/skills/azure-compliance
    # A full package with rules, skills, prompts, hooks...
    - microsoft/apm-sample-package
    # Plugins
    - github/awesome-copilot/plugins/context-engineering#v2.1
    # Agents
    - github/awesome-copilot/agents/api-architect.agent.md
    # GitLab, Azure DevOps, any git host — with version pinning
    - git: https://gitlab.com/acme/coding-standards.git
      path: instructions/security
      ref: v2.0
    - git: dev.azure.com/org/project/repo
      path: prompts/review.prompt.md

New developer joins the team:

git clone <org/repo> && cd <repo> && apm install

That’s it. Copilot, Claude — every harness is configured with the right context and capabilities. The manifest defines the project’s custom and portable Agentic SDLC setup installable in a single command.

Open Source & Community

APM is an open-source, MIT-licensed community project under the microsoft org. It’s early days — the tool is evolving fast, shaped by developers building real agent workflows. We ship frequently, welcome contributions, and value feedback over perfection.

Built on the standards the community has already adopted: AGENTS.md · Agent Skills · MCP

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We’ve enforced dependency management on code for decades. It was only a matter of time before AI agents needed it too.