Skip to content
Agent Package Manager

Your First Package

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

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”

1. Scaffold the Package

Section titled “1. Scaffold the Package”
Terminal window
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

Section titled “2. Add an Instruction”

Create a coding standard that applies to all Python files:

Terminal window
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

Section titled “3. Add a Prompt”

Create a reusable slash command:

Terminal window
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

Section titled “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

Section titled “5. Publish”

Push to a git repository:

Terminal window
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

Section titled “6. Install in Another Project”

In any project:

Terminal window
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. Optional: Compile for Other Tools

Section titled “7. Optional: Compile for Other Tools”

If you use tools beyond GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor, and OpenCode (which read deployed primitives natively), generate compiled instruction files:

Terminal window
apm compile

This produces AGENTS.md (for Codex, Gemini) and CLAUDE.md for tools that need a single instructions file. Copilot, Claude, and Cursor users can skip this step — OpenCode users need apm compile only if their packages include instructions (OpenCode reads AGENTS.md for those).

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”