Distribute standards and recipes

This guide shows you how to install your Standards and Recipes locally using the Packmind CLI, making them available to your AI coding assistant.

This approach downloads content directly to your local machine without requiring Git configuration.

Create your first package

Before distributing your standards and recipes, organize them into Packages. A package is a curated collection of recipes and standards grouped together—for example, "Frontend Guidelines" or "Backend API Standards".

Packages make it easy to distribute related guidelines as a single unit.

To create a package:

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

You can organize packages by technology, domain, team, or architectural layer—whatever matches how your team works.

For more details on managing packages, see the Packages Management documentation.

Install packages with CLI

API Key Required

The install command requires a valid API key to authenticate with Packmind.

See the CLI documentation for setup instructions.

Use the Packmind CLI to install packages locally:

List available packages:

packmind-cli install --list

View package details:

packmind-cli install --show <package-slug>

Install one or more packages:

packmind-cli install <package-slug> [additional-package-slugs...]

This downloads all recipes and standards from the specified packages and creates the appropriate files for your AI coding assistant.

Example - First installation:

packmind-cli install backend frontend

When you run install for the first time, it creates a packmind.json file in the current directory that tracks which packages are installed. Subsequent runs of packmind-cli install (without arguments) will automatically install all packages listed in this file.

Example - Update from packmind.json:

packmind-cli install

This installs all packages defined in your packmind.json file.

For detailed CLI usage, see the CLI documentation.

Understanding packmind.json

The packmind.json file is automatically created in your directory when you first run packmind-cli install with package names. This file tracks which packages are installed locally, making it easy to keep your standards and recipes up to date.

File Structure

The file has a simple JSON structure:

{
  "packages": {
    "backend": "*",
    "frontend": "*",
    "security": "*"
  }
}

Each package slug maps to a version number. Currently, all packages use "*" which means "latest version".

How It Works

First Installation:

When you run packmind-cli install <package-slug> for the first time, the CLI:

1. Downloads the specified packages
2. Creates a packmind.json file in the current directory
3. Adds the installed packages to the file

Subsequent Installations:

When you run packmind-cli install (without package names), the CLI:

1. Reads the packmind.json file
2. Installs all packages listed in the file
3. Updates your local standards and recipes to the latest versions

Adding More Packages:

You can add more packages to an existing installation:

packmind-cli install additional-package

This merges the new package with your existing packmind.json configuration.

Managing packmind.json Manually

You can edit the packmind.json file directly to add or remove packages.

To add a package manually:

1. Open packmind.json
2. Add the package slug to the packages object:

{
  "packages": {
    "backend": "*",
    "frontend": "*",
    "new-package": "*"
  }
}

3. Run packmind-cli install to download the new package

To remove a package manually:

1. Open packmind.json
2. Remove the package slug from the packages object
3. Run packmind-cli install to update your local files

Removal Limitations

Currently, when you remove a package from packmind.json and run install, only the CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md files are updated to remove references. Files specific to GitHub Copilot (.github/copilot-instructions.md) and Cursor (.cursor/rules/) are not yet automatically removed. This functionality will be added in a future update.

You may need to manually delete these files if you remove packages.

Using Multiple packmind.json Files

You can run packmind-cli install in different directories within your project, and each directory will have its own packmind.json file with its own set of packages.

This is useful for:

• Monorepos: Different packages or applications can have different standards
• Layered architectures: Frontend and backend directories can have separate guidelines
• Team boundaries: Different teams working in different directories can maintain their own standards

Example directory structure:

my-project/
├── packmind.json          # Root-level packages (e.g., general coding standards)
├── frontend/
│   └── packmind.json      # Frontend-specific packages
└── backend/
    └── packmind.json      # Backend-specific packages

Each packmind.json file operates independently. When you run packmind-cli install in a directory, it only affects that directory's configuration.

Alternative: Distribute to Git repositories

Instead of pulling locally, you can distribute packages directly to your Git repositories. This pushes standards and recipes as files that are committed to your codebase.

To learn about distributing to Git repositories, see the Distribution documentation.

Use your artifacts

When you prompt your coding assistant, Standards and Recipes are automatically included in its context. For complex tasks, the context can grow large, and the generated code may stop following your standards and recipes.

If this happens, re-add the .packmind directory to the agent's context and try again.