Your First Package

This tutorial walks you through creating an APM package from scratch, publishing it, and installing it in another project.

Prerequisites

• APM installed (Installation guide)
• A GitHub account and a repository to publish to

1. Scaffold the Package

apm init my-coding-standards
cd my-coding-standards

This creates:

my-coding-standards/
├── apm.yml              # Package manifest
└── .apm/
    ├── instructions/    # Coding standards (.instructions.md)
    ├── prompts/         # Slash commands (.prompt.md)
    ├── skills/          # Agent skills (SKILL.md)
    ├── agents/          # Personas (.agent.md)
    └── hooks/           # Event handlers (.json)

2. Add an Instruction

Create a coding standard that applies to all Python files:

cat > .apm/instructions/python.instructions.md << 'EOF'
---
applyTo: "**/*.py"
---
# Python Standards
- Use type hints for all function parameters and return values
- Follow PEP 8 style guidelines
- Write docstrings for all public functions
- Prefer `pathlib.Path` over `os.path`
EOF

3. Add a Prompt

Create a reusable slash command:

cat > .apm/prompts/security-audit.prompt.md << 'EOF'
---
description: Run a security audit on the current file
---
Review this code for common security issues:
1. Input validation and sanitization
2. Authentication and authorization checks
3. Sensitive data exposure
4. SQL injection and XSS vulnerabilities
Provide specific line numbers and suggested fixes.
EOF

4. Update the Manifest

Edit apm.yml to describe your package:

name: my-coding-standards
version: 1.0.0
description: Team coding standards and security prompts

5. Publish

Push to a git repository:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial APM package"
git remote add origin https://github.com/you/my-coding-standards.git
git push -u origin main

6. Install in Another Project

In any project:

apm install you/my-coding-standards

APM automatically:

• Downloads the package to apm_modules/
• Copies instructions to .github/instructions/
• Copies prompts to .github/prompts/
• Updates apm.yml with the dependency

7. Compile

Generate the compiled context files:

apm compile

This produces AGENTS.md (for Copilot, Cursor, Codex) and CLAUDE.md (for Claude) with all your instructions optimized for each agent.

Next Steps

• Add skills to your package
• Set up dependencies on other packages
• Explore the CLI reference for more commands