> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.packmind.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Packages: organize your artifacts

## What are Packages?

A **Package** is a curated collection of commands, standards, and skills grouped together. Packages organize your artifacts in a way that matches how your team actually works—whether by technology, domain, team, or architectural layer.

Instead of managing dozens of individual items, packages let you group related artifacts and distribute them as a single unit.

## How to Distribute Packages

There are two ways to distribute packages to your team:

1. **Install locally via CLI** - Download packages directly to your local machine (no Git required)
2. **Distribute to Git repositories** - Push packages to your repositories (requires Git configuration)

These are alternative distribution methods—you can choose the approach that fits your workflow. You don't need to use both.

## Creating Packages

### Via Web Interface

1. Navigate to **Packages** in the Packmind UI
2. Click **Create Package**
3. Provide a name and description
4. Select commands, standards, and skills to include
5. Save the package

### Via CLI

Create an empty package from the command line:

```bash theme={null}
packmind-cli packages create "My Package" -d "Package description"
```

See the [CLI documentation](/tools/cli#packages-command) for details.

### Adding Items to Packages

There are two ways to add items to packages:

* **Via CLI** — Use `packmind-cli packages add` to add existing standards, commands, or skills to a package:
  ```bash theme={null}
  packmind-cli packages add --to backend --standard error-handling
  packmind-cli packages add --to backend --command create-api-endpoint
  packmind-cli packages add --to backend --skill debugging-workflow
  ```
* **Via Web Interface** — Add items to packages through the Packmind UI

## Using Packages

Once you've created packages, you can distribute them using either of these methods:

### Option 1: Install Locally

Download package content directly to your machine using the CLI:

```bash theme={null}
packmind-cli install backend-api frontend-web
```

This creates the appropriate files for your AI coding assistant on your local machine without requiring Git.

See the [CLI documentation](/tools/cli#install-command) for details.

### Option 2: Distribute to Repositories

Push packages to your Git repositories through the web interface:

1. Navigate to **Packages**
2. Select packages to distribute
3. Choose target paths
4. Click **Distribute**

All commands, standards, and skills in the package are committed together to your repository.

<Note>
  **Default skills included** — All distributions automatically include
  Packmind's default skills (such as `packmind-update-playbook` for creating and
  updating playbook artifacts). These are added alongside your package contents.
</Note>

Learn more in the [Distribution documentation](/governance/distribution).

## Package Versions

Packages are dynamic collections without their own versions. When you distribute a package, it always includes the latest version of each command, standard, and skill it contains.

To see which repositories have outdated versions, check the [distribution overview](/governance/distribution).